Eastern Cherokee Birdtown children's bullroarer

Source term: roarer; typical bull-roarer

Among the Eastern Cherokee of Birdtown, on the Qualla Boundary in the North Carolina mountains, the "roarer" was a child's plaything rather than a secret of the men's house: a narrow length of poplar bored with a single hole, fastened to a long string, and swung in fast circles around the head until its beveled edges threw off "a deep, roaring note." John Parris, chronicling the old toys that Cherokee boys once made alongside willow whistles and elderberry popguns, carefully sets the roarer apart from the "buzzer" — a notched disc of soft wood or gourd strung through two central holes and spun between the hands. The one-hole board on its cord is, in his words, "a typical bull-roarer," and unlike the sacred roarers of Australia or the Papuan Gulf, this one carries no spirit voice and no taboo: it is simply a toy that has now, like most of the old Cherokee playthings, all but disappeared.

Particulars

Object

Narrow poplar board fastened to a long string by a hole at one end; swung around the head to make a deep roaring note.

Function

Cherokee children's toy bullroarer, explicitly distinguished from a separate two-hole buzzer.