Guaraŝug'wä ivirapähĩm̃'ne bullroarer, Santa Anita

ivirapähĩm̃'ne

Source term: Schwirrholz, ivirapähĩm̃'ne

ivirapähĩm̃'ne: the Guaraŝug'wä (Pauserna) name for the bullroarer, recorded by Riester at Santa Anita, 1964-65

When Jürgen Riester came to live with the Guaraŝug'wä in 1964, the whole people fit into a single settlement: seven houses called Santa Anita, on a low rise in the Campo Grande grassland between the Paraguá and the Guaporé. The ivirapähĩm̃'ne still sounded there — a cedar blade barely a hand-span long on well over a metre of totaí-palm cord, whirled in circles overhead until its dull note carried far across the pampa. Making one remained the men's work; swinging one had become the business of boys, who kept the instrument alive as a toy.

Die Herstellung des „ivirapähĩm̃'ne" obliegt den Männern. Das Schwirrholz wird heute als Spielzeug der Knaben verwendet.

Making the ivirapähĩm̃'ne falls to the men. Today the bullroarer is used as a toy by the boys.

Riester 1972:171

Particulars

Object

Cedar blade 19 by 5.5 cm, pierced at the blunt end and knotted to a single 135 cm cord of totaí palm fibre.

Function

Made by the men; by Riester's 1964-1965 stay, swung by boys as a toy. Whirled in circles overhead on its cord, sounding a dull note audible at a distance as the blade spun on its axis.