Marzi whip-handled bullroarer

At Marzi in the Cosenza mountains boys kept two elaborate rombi side by side, each under its own name. One, a cane cylinder whirled on a horsehair, was the raganella — the tree frog. The other, and the finer, put the whirling blade on the end of a whip: a flat slat, bored and corded, tied to a long handle, so the player swung it in circles like a lash.

Le due forme riscontrate contemporaneamente a Marzi (Cosenza), e per ciascuna i ragazzi usano una denominazione diversa.

The two forms were found together at Marzi (Cosenza), and for each the boys use a different name.

Giovanni Tucci, 'Studi e ricerche sul rombo in Italia', Rivista di Etnografia XXIII (1969), pp. 372-373

Particulars

Object

Flat rectangular blade, terminal cord-hole, the single cord tied to a long handle-stick; a cane-cylinder variant existed beside it.

Function

Boys' toy in a complex whip-handled form.