JENSEN1936-002 - ethnographic attestation
Gato Kusume field bird-scarer bullroarer
Gatoland - southern Ethiopia - Africa
Play / practical
Source term: Schwirrholz
No Gato/Kusume bullroarer name is recorded
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 ... ist hier ein Kinderspielzeug, das dazu dient, die Vogel von den Feldern zu vertreiben.
The bullroarer is here a children's toy used to drive birds from the fields.
Jensen and Wohlenberg 1936:178
- Object
- Bullroarer identified by instrument class; no material, dimensions, cord, perforation, blade shape, mechanics, handle, or object figure is supplied.
- Function
- Children used it as a toy to drive birds from cultivated fields.
- Map confidence
- medium - Present Gato locality/Kusume-area anchor; not a household, field, or object findspot.
- Source location
- p. 178
- Agriculture / crop magic