The Bullroarer Atlas

No. MUS2026-140

Forest Finn seäntikku toy

Sweden · Norway (Finnskogen belt) · Värmland–Hedmark Finnskogen (Forest Finn settlement belt) · Northern Europe

Play / practical

Plain pale wooden seäntikku with a rectangular blade, one curved shoulder, and a long cord through a hole near that end.
Plate I. The seäntikku itself — a plain pale board with one curved shoulder. CC BY 4.0 · Image source

seäntikku

Source term: suhistuspuu; seäntikku (tilapäinen nimitys — provisional name)

seäntikku = local Forest Finn name (tikku, stick)

In the Forest Finn settlements along the Swedish–Norwegian border, children spun the seäntikku until it buzzed: a pale wooden board only twelve centimetres long, pierced at one corner and threaded with coarse cord. Karl Persson made this surviving example.

Leikkikalu, suhistuspuu. Tilapäinen nimitys seäntikku. Pyöritettiin nuorasta niin että surisi.

A toy, a whirring-wood. Provisional name seäntikku. It was whirled on a cord so that it buzzed.

Suomen kansallismuseo, catalogue entry SU5161:130 (via Finna)

Particulars

Object
Pale 12 cm wooden board pierced at one corner and threaded with coarse two-ply cord; made by Karl Persson.

Source

Suomen kansallismuseo (National Museum of Finland), Finno-Ugric collections, SU5161:130, catalogued as a toy (leikkikalu); Forest Finns; maker Karl Persson

View the source · archived

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