The Bullroarer Atlas

No. MUS2026-351

East Greenland serrated blade-and-handle rig

Ammassalik (Tasiilaq), East Greenland · Arctic

Play / practical

The East Greenland rig 1935.52.7, with a serrated blade and separate handle stick connected by a hide line.
Plate I. The East Greenland rig 1935.52.7: serrated blade, handle stick, and hide line. Image source

Source term: Bullroarer

William Thalbitzer described what East Greenlanders whirled: a lancet-shaped wooden leaf fastened by a short string to a short stick, spun until it roared. That is exactly the three-part arrangement lying here — a blade toothed down both edges, its cord, and the grip it answers to. In the Ammassalik district Thalbitzer knew the thing only as a toy for children, and made a point of saying so, because elsewhere in the world the same object was sacred. On this coast the roaring belonged to whoever was small enough to want it.

Particulars

Object
A 227 × 56 mm serrated wooden blade with separate handle and full connecting cord.
Function
A children's toy: in the Ammassalik district Thalbitzer knew the bull-roarer only as a plaything for children.

Source

Pitt Rivers Museum 1935.52.7; blade, handle and cord; Exchanged in 1935 from the National Museum of Denmark, East Greenland, Angmagssalik district; William Thalbitzer, The Ammassalik Eskimo (Meddelelser om Grønland 39, 1914), p. 663

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