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Description

Model wooden stick, used to beat time, carved with a face at one end and decorated with red paint. [CAK 06/05/2009]

Longer Description

Model wooden stick, used to beat time, carved with a face at one end and decorated with red paint. The striker is carved from a single piece of wood and is slightly narrower at one end. It is carved in the round and there appears to be a natural curvature to the wood and thus the stick. One end is decorated with the carving of a face and a pointed terminus. The facial features have been shallowly carved and include an open, slanting mouth, the faint outline of the bridge of a nose, and two deeply set eyes. The mouth and eyes have been painted brick red. A brick red slanting mark has been painted on one cheek and brick red eyebrows have been painted on. The tip is pointed, forming peak at the front of the face, and sloping downward toward the back of the head. This pointed portion is painted brick red. There are smudges of red and black paint near the handle end. The other end is round, unpainted and would have been the striking end. The stick is bundled with five other similarly carved sticks. [CAK 06/05/2009]

Primary Documentation

Accession book entry: From Rev. Ch. Harrison, 80 Halton Rd, Canonbury Sq. N. Collection of Haida objects collected by him.... - [1 of] 11 [model] Drum sticks. £45. [Purchase price includes 1891.49.1-110]

Card Catalogue Entry - CANADA, QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS, HAIDA INDIANS Model drum stick. Coll. by Rev. Ch. Harrison: purch. from him March 1891.

Old Pitt Rivers Museum label - Haida. B. I. 14 6 of 11 drum-sticks? Bought from C. Harrison, 1891. [NM 15 1 1997]

Written on object in pencil - C.Harrison Coll [KJ 01/04/2009]

Related Documents File - Email correspondence from Kwiaahwah Jones describing the sticks in relation to supernatural beings and shamanic practices in the Haida Project Related Documents File. The Haida Project Related Documents File contains video of research sessions and interviews with Haida delegates from September 2009 as part of the project ‘Haida Material Culture in British Museums: Generating New Forms of Knowledge'. It also includes post-visit communications that discuss object provenance. For extensive photographic, video, and textual records documenting the Haida research visit as a whole, including but not limited to preparations of objects for handling, travel logistics, British Museum participation, transcribed notes from research sessions and associated public events held at PRM, see the Haida Project Digital Archive, stored with the Accessions Registers. Original hand-written notes taken during research sessions have been accessioned into the Manuscripts collection, in addition to select other materials. [CAK 02/06/2010]

Research Notes

The following information comes from Haida delegates who worked with the museum's collection in September 2009 as part of the project “Haida Material Culture in British Museums: Generating New Forms of Knowledge”:
This striker was viewed alongside other musical instruments on Thursday, Sept 10, 2009. Delegates were very interested in this set of sticks [1891.49.21 - .26] as they had not seen anything like them before. They had various ideas about their use and design. People were uncertain if these were drum sticks, per se. A number of delegates suspected they were used to beat time, though as Christian White pointed out, on a board rather than a drum. It was thought that these could have been used by shamans (or sgaaga) who would beat time on a board when going into a trance. Many delegates thought it would be the plain end of the stick that would make contact with the board or some other kind of drum, possibly a log drum or large skin drum. One delegate did consider whether the point at the top of the striker would produce a certain shamanic beat, however. It was noted that today, box drums are used, as are skin drums and half-log drums. In the past, shamans were said to use boards and skin drums.
Darlene Squires drew comparisons between the markings on the face and clan markings. It was also noted that argillite carvings depict shaman wearing caps over their hair that resemble the designs on the sticks. Natalie Fournier observed that when selecting for wood drum sticks, people would often look for a natural curve in the wood so that they would not have to move their hand as much. She noted that these sticks are lighter wood than the wooden dowels used for drumsticks today. Some delegates thought the wood used to make these strikers was crab apple. Jaalen Edenshaw and Kwiaahwah Jones thought the wood was alder.
Darlene Squires wondered if these strikers could also have functioned as gambling sticks. Vince Collison added that gambling sticks are thrown on the ground during play. One delegate wondered if they would have been used in battle. [CAK 07/04/2010]