The Bullroarer Atlas

No. JENSEN1936-002

Gato Kusume field bird-scarer bullroarer

Gatoland · southern Ethiopia · Africa

Play / practical

The Munge Kikuyu ke-hu-ru-ta bullroarer: a narrow wooden blade linked by a long bark-twine thong to a stick handle.
Plate I. Representative — not this record’s object. The Munge Kikuyu ke-hu-ru-ta bullroarer Public domain · Image source

Source term: Schwirrholz

Among the Gato, or Kusume, children carried the bullroarer into the fields to drive birds from the crops. The roaring blade was both toy and practical guardian of the ripening harvest.

Das Schwirrholz, bei den Darassa noch ein kultisches Werkzeug und vor den Frauen ängstlich verborgen, ist hier ein Kinderspielzeug, das dazu dient, die Vögel von den Feldern zu vertreiben.

The bullroarer, among the Darassa still a cult implement anxiously hidden from women, is here a children's toy that serves to drive the birds from the fields.

Jensen, Wohlenberg and Wohlenberg 1936:178

Particulars

Object
Bullroarer identified by instrument class; no material, dimensions, cord, perforation, blade shape, mechanics, handle, or object figure is supplied.

Source

Jensen, Wohlenberg and Wohlenberg, Im Lande des Gada (1936; reprinted as Im südlichen Abessinien), p. 178

View the source · archived

Part of The Bullroarer Atlas, companion to The Eve Theory of Consciousness.