Subject: False Face dancer
Culture: Iroquois
Setting: cleansing rituals, Iroquois Confederacy 19thc
Object: kanyáhte' ká'nowa' rattle
* Museum of Fine Arts > Art of the Americas > Native North American Art
"Rattle (kanyáhte' ká'nowa') Seneca New York State, 19th century Turtle shell, elm wood, chokecherry pips
This rattle is made from the body of a snapping turtle, an evocative material, as according to Seneca tradition, the earth rests on the back of a giant turtle. The stretched-out neck forms the handle, which is supported by a wooden core, and chokecherry pips inside the shell produce the sound. Such rattles are the most important ritual instruments in the culture of the Seneca and other Iroquoian peoples. They are used in healing ceremonies during which singers sit on benches in a communal longhouse, striking the rattles on the bench to mark the rhythm[.]" ...
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* Big Bear Native American Museum
"Iroquois Turtle Rattle
circa 1900s"
