A klopotec (pronounced ) is a wooden mechanical device on a high wooden pole, similar to a
windmill
A windmill is a machine operated by the force of wind acting on vanes or sails to mill grain (gristmills), pump water, generate electricity, or drive other machinery.
Windmills were used throughout the high medieval and early modern period ...
. It is used as a
bird scarer in the
vineyard
A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...
s of traditional wine-growing landscapes of
Slovenia
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
,
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, and
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
. It is one of the symbols of Slovenia and
Styria
Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...
.
The windmill in the
Slovene Hills
The Slovene Hills or the Slovenian Hills (, or ) is the largest hilly region of Slovenia, a smaller part is located in the Austrian province of Styria. It is situated in the northeast of the country and has an area of . It comprises the ''Western ...
typically has four blades, and in
Haloze
Haloze () is a geographical sub-region of Slovenia. It is in the northeast of the country, in the Styria region.
General characteristics
Haloze is a hilly area, running roughly east–west bounded by the border with Croatia to the south and the ...
six blades, driving an axis with a
sail
A sail is a tensile structure, which is made from fabric or other membrane materials, that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may b ...
or vane that is constructed to swivel so it is always positioned perpendicular to the wind. As the axis rotates, wooden
hammer
A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...
s are lifted off their resting position by fixed notches. As they fall back, they rhythmically impact on a
wooden board. While the quality of the sound is dependent on the wood of which the hammers and sounding boards are made, the rattle frequency depends on the number of hammers, as well as changes in wind speed.
The device is used primarily to scare
starling
Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine (perching) birds known for the often dark, glossy iridescent sheen of their plumage; their complex vocalizations including mimicking; and their distinctive, often elaborate swarming behavior, know ...
s and other birds off the vineyards so that they do not peck grapes. A
folk belief
In folkloristics, folk belief or folk-belief is a broad genre of folklore that is often expressed in narratives, customs, rituals, foodways, proverbs, and rhymes. It also includes a wide variety of behaviors, expressions, and beliefs. Examples o ...
also states that klopotecs drive
snake
Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...
s from the vineyards and soften grapes. In
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
of its region of origin, it is sometimes combined with an
organ stop
An organ stop is a component of a pipe organ that admits pressurized air (known as ''wind'') to a set of organ pipes. Its name comes from the fact that stops can be used selectively by the organist; each can be "on" (admitting the passage of a ...
and used as a rural church instrument (e.g. in
Gleisdorf
Gleisdorf is a town in the district of Weiz (district), Weiz in the Austrian state of Styria. As of 2023, the town had a population of 11,362.
Geography
Gleisdorf lies about east of Graz in the valley of the Rába, Raab. There is a train station ...
parish church).
Name
The device has many names. In
Slovene and
Kajkavian Croatian it is called ''klopotec'' and in some dialects ''klapoc''. Both words derive from ''klopotati'', that is to produce cut off, rhythmic sounds. In
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
it is called ''Windradl''; ever increasing is the use of the word ''Klapotetz'' and also ''Klapotez''. In English it could be described as a ''bird-scaring rattle'', a ''wind-rattle'' or a ''wind-clapper''.
History
Although a local historian from
Maribor
Maribor ( , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is the seat of the ...
claims that the device appeared in
Haloze
Haloze () is a geographical sub-region of Slovenia. It is in the northeast of the country, in the Styria region.
General characteristics
Haloze is a hilly area, running roughly east–west bounded by the border with Croatia to the south and the ...
and in
Zagorje
Hrvatsko Zagorje (; Croatian Zagorje; ''zagorje'' is Croatian language, Croatian for 'backland' or 'behind the hills') is a cultural region in northern Croatia, traditionally separated from the country's capital Zagreb by the Medvednica mount ...
already in the 16th century, nothing particular is known about its origin. An educated guess has been made that it developed during the period of the
Enlightenment. According to the most plausible theory held by the majority of
ethnologists
Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology).
Scien ...
, including the German ethnologist
Leopold Kretzenbacher, the bird-scaring rattle is of Slovene origin. Another theory claims that it was first used in the 18th century in the fields by the French.
The first written mentions of klopotec date to the second half of the 18th century, whereas its oldest depictions date to the first half of the 19th century. The device is also mentioned in the oldest Slovene social poem, ''Lamentation of a Winedresser'', written in 1797 by
Leopold Volkmer.
Archduke Johann of Austria (1782–1859), the youngest brother of the last
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...
Francis II, had it in his vineyard in 1836.
Still earlier than this, however, is the mention of the Klappermühle in German writings from at least the 16th century, which could signify either a true mill intentionally designed to scare birds away especially from fruit trees, or a smaller windmill-like device similar to the klopotec.
Construction
A klopotec consists of different parts, each of which should (ideally) be made of a specific type of wood to produce a fine and melodic sound. The wood of hammers and of the board is especially important, as only the right combination enables that the device produces the
ultrasound
Ultrasound is sound with frequency, frequencies greater than 20 Hertz, kilohertz. This frequency is the approximate upper audible hearing range, limit of human hearing in healthy young adults. The physical principles of acoustic waves apply ...
that scares the birds away. The parts are:
* ''stolček'' (block) - holds the
axle
An axle or axletree is a central shaft for a rotation, rotating wheel and axle, wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to the vehicle, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In ...
; made from a
hardwood
Hardwood is wood from Flowering plant, angiosperm trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostl ...
(e.g.
chestnut
The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
Description
...
,
oak
An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
or
ash).
* ''kvaka'' (axle) - holes are drilled into it and hammers or ''macleki'' are attached onto it.
* ''macleki'' (
hammer
A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...
s) - should be set up in such a way that only one of them strikes at a time. The best wood is
beechwood, but some other types of wood can be used.
* ''deska'' (board) - macleki strike against it; made from
chestnut
The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
Description
...
or
cherry
A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit).
Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet '' Prunus avium'' and the sour '' Prunus cerasus''. The na ...
.
* ''viličice'' (pl.;little
fork
In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tines with which one can spear foods either to h ...
s) - hold macleki; made from oak or
beech
Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...
.
* ''verižica'' (chainlet) - the board is hanged on it.
* ''rep'' (tail) - enables the rattle to turn with the wind; made from the sprigs of the oak,
pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae.
''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...
or other tree, as by these species the leaves remain attached for the longest time. Also an old broom can be used as a tail.
* ''vetrnica'' (sail) - rotates in the wind and transfers the rotation onto the axle; made from
poplar or
fir
Firs are evergreen coniferous trees belonging to the genus ''Abies'' () in the family Pinaceae. There are approximately 48–65 extant species, found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Eurasia, and North Africa. The genu ...
wood. The sail from the Slovene Hills has four blades, while the one from Haloze has six blades and the one from the Austrian Styria has eight blades.
* ''zavora'' (brake) - part of especially large rattles; prevents them from stopping in a forceful wind.
The largest construction of this type in a natural setting stands in the
Sausal mountain range, near the summit of the
Demmerkogel. It is 16 meters high, and its moving parts mass 3.4 metric tons. Each of the eight hammers weighs 40 kilograms.
Tradition
The klopotec is most frequently heard in the transnational region from Southwest
Styria
Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...
(e.g., the
Sausal mountain range and the
Weinstraße) to Eastern Slovenia: the
Slovene Hills
The Slovene Hills or the Slovenian Hills (, or ) is the largest hilly region of Slovenia, a smaller part is located in the Austrian province of Styria. It is situated in the northeast of the country and has an area of . It comprises the ''Western ...
,
Haloze
Haloze () is a geographical sub-region of Slovenia. It is in the northeast of the country, in the Styria region.
General characteristics
Haloze is a hilly area, running roughly east–west bounded by the border with Croatia to the south and the ...
and
Prlekija
Prlekija is a region in northeastern Slovenia between the Drava and Mura rivers. It comprises the eastern part of the Slovene Hills (), stretching from the border with Austria to the border with Croatia. It is part of the traditional province of ...
(of which it is a symbol), less frequently in
Lower Carniola
Lower Carniola ( ; ) is a traditional region in Slovenia
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south an ...
and
White Carniola
White Carniola (; ; or ''Weiße Mark'') is a traditional region in southeastern Slovenia on the border with Croatia. Due to its smallness, it is often considered a subunit of the broader Lower Carniola region, although with distinctive cultural, l ...
. It is also found in Southwestern Slovenia, in the
Littoral Region and in Croatia's
Zagorje
Hrvatsko Zagorje (; Croatian Zagorje; ''zagorje'' is Croatian language, Croatian for 'backland' or 'behind the hills') is a cultural region in northern Croatia, traditionally separated from the country's capital Zagreb by the Medvednica mount ...
,
Međimurje and
Podravina regions. These areas traditionally produce white wines.
Traditionally such rattles have been set up on 25 July (
Feast of Saint James)
or on 15 August (
Assumption Day), but also on any day in between. They have usually been taken down after the vintage till 1 November (
All Saints Day
All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Feast of All Hallows, the Solemnity of All Saints, and Hallowmas, is a Christianity, Christian solemnity celebrated in honour of all the saints of the Church, whether ...
), but no later than on 11 November (Feast of
Saint Martin). If a husbandman forgets to take it down, the youth from the village can steal it and leave a message about the ransom that he must pay to get it back.
Some of these bird-rattle devices are ornamented with small carved
figurine
A figurine (a diminutive form of the word ''figure'') or statuette is a small, three-dimensional sculpture that represents a human, deity or animal, or, in practice, a pair or small group of them. Figurines have been made in many media, with cla ...
s. The traditional types which are made solely from wood are becoming more and more rare, as they are getting replaced by devices with metal elements.
Motif
* The
Post of Slovenia issued a stamp worth 13
Slovenian tolars in 1997 featuring klopotec. The stamp was a part of the collection ''Slovenija - Evropa v malem'' ("Slovenia - Europe in Miniature").
* One of the meetings of Slovenian
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
ians that happens annually is called ''Veseli klopotec'' ("Happy Klopotec").
* The
Slovenian Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers for the Protection of Copyright (SAZAS) yearly confers the ''Zlati klopotec'' ("Golden Klopotec") award to the author of the best popular song in a
Slovene dialect for that year.
References
External links
A web page of the Post of Slovenia- general information about the stamp and a description of the device in English.
* http://www.stampsoftheworld.co.uk/wiki/Austria_1990_Scenic_Beauties_in_Austria for a 1990 stamp of Austria.
Klopotec Slovenska kulturna dediščina lovenian cultural heritage: Klopotec- video of klopotecs in operation.
{{Viticulture
Austrian folklore
Austrian wine
Bird pest control
Croatian folklore
Cultural heritage of Slovenia
Slovenian folklore
Styria
Viticulture