Rattle

Item number E424992-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.

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Notes

RATTLE TOP: IN THE SHAPE OF A RAVEN, ON ITS BACK A RECUMBENT HUMAN FIGURE SUCKING A FROG'S TONGUE, FROG HELD IN BEAK OF BIRD'S HEAD. RATTLE BOTTOM: HAWK'S HEAD. LEATHER THONGS HOLDING HOLLOW TOP AND BOTTOM TOGETHER. SEEDS INSIDE? CARVINGS PAINTED IN BLACK, RED, GREEN AND BROWN PIGMENTS. SEE ACCESSION FILE FOR DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF 1952-53 RESTORATION BY DONOR. TRIBAL AND LOCATION DESIGNATIONS BY WILSON DUFF, 1969.This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=716, retrieved 3-31-2012: Rattle, Tsimshian. During secret society performances chiefs carried raven-shaped rattles that portrayed the transfer of spiritual power from animal beings to people. On Raven's back a crested bird holds a frog in its extended beak, and through its tongue the halaayt of the frog enters and transforms a person or spirit in human form. Raven rattles, used by the Tsimshian, Haida, and Tlingit, are thought to have been first made by a Tsimshian or Nisga'a artist.