Dance Rattle (Skaga Sisha)

Item number E89052-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.

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Notes

From card: "Illust. in USNAM AR, 1888, Pl. 60, fig. 315, p. 330. Made of carved wood in two sections. Two concave convex valves, tied together through holes made in their edges. Ornamented with a carved seated human figure in low relief and other designs. This rattle was formerly owned by "Tsilwak" a medicine man of Gold Harbor, Queen Charlottes Islands, British Columbia [presumed to be New Gold Harbour, a.k.a. Haina, on Maude Island not far from Skidegate?]. Loaned to the Whitney Museum of American Art 9-10-71. Returned to the Department of Anthropology 2-9-72. Loan: Crossroads Sep 22, 1988. Loan returned Jan 21, 1993. Illus.: Crossroads of Continents Catalogue; Fig. 378, p. 275. Illus.: Hndbk. N. Amer. Ind., Vol. 7, Northwest Coast, Fig. 12c, pg. 250." Crossroads of Continents catalogue caption identifies as: Shaman's rattle, Haida. "Globular rattles were used by shamans all over the northern coast to combat evil spirits. Both sides of this rattle portray crouching figures, the center one with a beaklike nose, surrounded by others with long U-shaped fins stretching from their heads. The meaning of these figures, like most shamanic art, is derived from supernatural experiences and cannot be deciphered without information from the owner, who in this case was Tsilwax, a shaman from new Gold Harbor in the Queen Charlotte Islands."