The Bullroarer Atlas

No. MUS2026-144

Vrbnik grmavica, a handheld storm

Croatia · Krk Island (Bodulija), Primorje-Gorski Kotar · Southeast Europe

Function not recorded

The five Vrbnik grmavica boards themselves, bundled on their string as the museum keeps them.
Plate I. The five Vrbnik grmavica boards themselves, bundled on their string as the museum keeps them. Image source

grmavica / grmjavica / germjavica; zujača

Source term: zujalica / zujača (HS 412.22)

grmavica / grmjavica / germjavica = Vrbnik and Krk names for the whirled noisemaker; the museum relates the name to grmljavina, thunder. zujača = another Krk name for the buzzing/whirring instrument.

Five small wooden boards from Vrbnik carried names built around thunder: grmavica, grmjavica and germjavica. Whirled rapidly above the head, the blades answered with a thunder-like roll, the storm compressed into a blade small enough to hold in one hand. Krešimir Galin heard in those names a memory of ancient rain and fertility magic.

Svirač velikom brzinom okreće drvene pločice, obično iznad svoje glave.

The player turns the wooden plaques rapidly, usually above their head.

Ethnographic Museum Zagreb, Et 9765a-e

Particulars

Object
Five corded wooden boards, 18.8–25 cm long and 4.5–5.6 cm wide, whirled rapidly overhead; Ethnographic Museum Zagreb Et 9765a-e.
Function
Whirled overhead to produce a thunder-like sound.

Sources

  1. Ethnographic Museum Zagreb, Et 9765a-e, grmavica – germjavica, Vrbnik, Krk, 1910s. View · archived
  2. Krešimir Galin, “Archeological Findings of Musical Instruments in Yugoslavia,” Narodna umjetnost, special issue 2 (1988), p. 136. View · archived
  3. Krešimir Galin, “Folklorna glazbala pokladnih veselja” (1988), p. 185. View · archived
  4. Lada Dražin-Trbuljak, interview with Krešimir Galin (2003), p. 56. View · archived

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