Chiefs Rattle

Item number E20586-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.

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Notes

FROM CARD: "NOT IN COLLECTION."Ian Reid (Heiltsuk) and Clyde Tallio (Nuxalk) of the delegation from Bella Bella, Bella Coola and Rivers Inlet communities of British Columbia made the following comments during the Recovering Voices Community Research Visit May 20th - 24th, 2013. When you use these they are held upside down. We got our rattles from Tsimshaml. Of the image, the creature on the bottom is a sea creature but a lot of people call it a hawk face. It came out of the water upside down and it floated upside down. The tongues are symbolic too, of sharing languages or dialects with the creatures and also sharing power with the breath of life. Only chiefs use these rattles, they can be carved out of alder, yew or maple wood. When you carve red cedar you have to follow the grain.