The Bullroarer Atlas

MUS2026-139 - museum specimen

Finnish (Savonian-settled Ostrobothnia), Sarjankylä village, Nivala

Finland - Pohjois-Pohjanmaa (North Ostrobothnia) - Nivala - Northern Europe

Play / practical

The Sarjankylä suhistuspuu itself — a dark wooden slat photographed in black and white, its long braided cord running from the end hole and...
The Sarjankylä suhistuspuu itself — a dark wooden slat photographed in black and white, its long braided cord running from the end hole and trailing off to the frayed splint that serves as the handle. Finnish Heritage Agency / Suomen kansallismuseo (K7145:6) CC BY 4.0 Image source

suhistuspuu Finnish

Source term: suhistuspuu; hyrrä (catalog heading)

suhistuspuu = "whirring-wood" (suhista, to whirr/swish + puu, wood)

In 1928 Kustaa Vilkuna brought the Finnish National Museum a suhistuspuu from his native Nivala: a dark 26-centimetre slat on a 77-centimetre braided cord, ending in a small wooden handle. Children whirled the “whirring-wood” for fun; herders used its noise to frighten cattle out of crops and drive them home.

Eräänlainen suhistuspuu, jota lapset pyörittelevät huvikseen ja jolla paimenet pelottelevat lehmiä.

A kind of whirring-wood that children spin for amusement and with which herders frighten the cows.

Suomen kansallismuseo, catalogue entry K7145:6 (via Finna)
Object
Dark wooden slat 26 cm long, pierced at one end for a 77 cm braided cord that ends in a wood splint (päre); the splint is used to whirl the blade. Suomen kansallismuseo K7145:6, ethnological collections, accessioned 1928 through Kustaa Vilkuna.
Function
Whirled by children for amusement and by herders to frighten cows out of crops and toward home — a working noisemaker as much as a toy.
Map confidence
high - Sarjankylä village centre, Nivala (OSM); the record names the village explicitly.
Source location
K7145:6

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