The Bullroarer Atlas

SA-Z1953-028 - ethnographic attestation

Yuracare

Eastern Bolivia - South America

Play / practical

Yuracaré bull-roarer, a narrow corded blade drawn in outline with its cord knotted through the top — the documented culture, from this entry's...
Yuracaré bull-roarer, a narrow corded blade drawn in outline with its cord knotted through the top — the documented culture, from this entry's own source (Nordenskiöld 1922, Abb. 31). Erland Nordenskiöld, Indianer und Weisse in Nordostbolivien (1922), Abb. 31 Public domain Image source

Source term: Schwirrgerät / Schwirrholz / bullroarer

Among the Yuracaré of the eastern Bolivian lowlands, the bullroarer was a children's plaything. Erland Nordenskiöld recorded it there during his northeastern Bolivia fieldwork, noting it at page 68 of his 1922 account "Indianer und Weisse in Nordostbolivien"; Otto Zerries later folded that line into his South American survey, grouping the Yuracaré with two neighboring peoples, the Chacobo and the Guarayú, who likewise whirled the instrument for amusement rather than in any rite. No ceremony or spirit attaches to the Yuracaré example in the record; it is logged simply as a toy.

In Northeastern Bolivia the bull-roarer is used as a children's toy by the Chacobo (Nordenskiöld 1922, p. 110), Yuracaré (l. c. p. 68) and Guarayu (l. c. p. 168).

Zerries 1953:288 (Revista do Museu Paulista, n.s., vol. VII)
Function
Bullroarer used as children's toy
Map confidence
medium - regional_anchor: No live ritual function extracted
Source location
Nordenskiöld 1922:68; via Zerries 1953:288

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