Nganasan biakhery wind howler

биахеры

Source term: вращаемая завывалка (rotated howler), Sheikin school

биахеры shares its final element with the buzzer сани херы; the two names divide the Nganasan whirled sound-tools between the howler and the buzzer.

The Nganasan biakhery did more than make noise: whirled on its cord, it opened a magical connection with the wind. By the time ethnographers described it, the old ritual instrument had passed into children’s hands, its former power surviving in memory.

Вихревой аэрофон-жужжалка сани херы и вращаемая завывалка биахеры ныне известны как детские игрушки, но в прошлом выполняли ритуальную функцию установления магической связи с ветром.

The vortex-aerophone buzzer sani khery and the rotated howler biakhery are now known as children's toys, but in the past performed the ritual function of establishing a magical connection with the wind.

Arctic Megapedia, «Фольклор нганасан», after Sheikin 2002

Particulars

Object

Biakhery, a howling blade whirled on a cord.

Function

Former ritual instrument for establishing a magical connection with the wind; later a children’s toy.