Although a local historian from Maribor claims that the device appeared in Haloze and in Zagorje 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, 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.