The Bullroarer Atlas

TUCCI1969-003 - ethnographic attestation

Poffabro (Frisanco), Colvera valley, Pordenone

Friuli - Val Colvera - Southern Europe (NE Italy)

Play / practical

The Ballycastle bullroarer itself.
Representative — not this record’s object. · The Ballycastle bullroarer itself Image source

spatola Italian

spatola — 'spatula', for the blade's shape; rombo is the standard Italian name.

At Poffabro, a stone village in the Colvera valley of Friuli, the rombo — locally the spatola, for its spatula shape — belonged above all to Holy Week. Cut from whatever wood was to hand and swung on a cord held between two fingers, it sounded through the fields and streets; but it was never carried into the church.

Object
Cut from any wood to hand, in the shape of a spatula, of any size; whirled on a cord held between two fingers.
Function
Played above all during Holy Week, in the fields and streets — but never carried into the church.
Map confidence
medium - Poffabro village, Comune di Frisanco.
Source location
Tucci 1969, p. 366

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