SEA-004 - museum specimen
Tinguian / Patoc
Philippines - Abra - Patoc - Luzon - Southeast Asia
Play / practical
pabilbil English
Source term: bull roarer
pabilbil (Tinguian/Itneg) — a whirled bull-roarer: a thin strip of bamboo tied by a red cord to a pole and swung to roar; used to drive or frighten horses and as a boy's plaything. Distinct in Manuel's nomenclature from bilbil/bungkaka, the struck bamboo buzzer of Cordillera women.
At Patoc, boys swung the pabilbil overhead for the pleasure of its roar—and to send stray horses running. Fay-Cooper Cole collected this complete bamboo rig in 1907–08: a thin blade suspended by red cord from a long handle.
pabilbil, bull roarer, used to drive or frighten horses; bamboo pole has thin strip of bamboo attached by red cord; usually a boy's plaything
E. Arsenio Manuel, 'Toward an Inventory of Philippine Musical Instruments,' Asian Studies 14, no. 1 (1976): 10 (FMNH Tinguian inventory, Sp. No. 109123).
- Object
- Thin bamboo blade tied by a red cord to a long bamboo handle; Field Museum 109123.
- Function
- A boys’ plaything swung overhead to make a pleasing roar and drive stray horses.
- Map confidence
- high - Patoc Bucay Abra coordinate from Mindat/GeoNames; Field Museum gives locale Patoc and province Abra, not an object findspot GPS
- Source location
- Manuel 1976, p. 10 (Tinguian inventory, entry for Sp. No. 109123); glossary p. 60 ('PABILBIL, Ting., bull roarer')
- Toy / secular survival