Shaman's Rattle
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1876
name: label: Collector
content: James G. Swan
label: Donor Name
content: James G. Swan
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "OVOID-SHAPED; TWO PIECES OF CARVED WOOD JOINED WITH LEATHER THONGS. ANTHROPOMORPHIC FACE WITH FROGS ON THE FOREHEAD AND CHEEKS. "A REPRESENTATION OF HOW FROGS AND TOADS COME WITH THE RAIN. FROGS ARE SHOWN SPRINGING FROM THE EYES OF T'KUL, THE SPIRIT OF THE WIND." SEE: USNM AR 1888, PL. 58, FIG. 306, P. 330; AND PL. 60, FIG. 318."
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
label: Notes
content: 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=520, retrieved 3-31-2012: Rattle, Tsimshian. Frogs appear often on shamanic art because they were imagined as primordial, partly human creatures that retained supernatural power from early times. They lived in the dark before Raven brought the sun, and they made fun of the great trickster; in anger he caused the North Wind to blow the frogs away and freeze them onto rocks. This shaman's rattle shows frogs that appear with the rain, springing from the eyes of South Wind, who brings rain and desires the world to be green as in spring. The back of the rattle shows the wind's arms, legs, and body. “He is showing this look, like a trance; the eyes are underneath the lids, rolled back. Having these frogs come out, too – frogs were the shaman's messengers.” - David Boxley (Tsimshian), 2009.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 17 Jan 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Fort Simpson, British Columbia, Canada, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Tsimshian (Ts'msyen)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 004686
label: USNM Number
content: E20583-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Rattle
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 30.5 cm