Rattle
[ Haida ]
British Columbia, Canada, cedar wood,
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ethnologisches Museum, IV A 822
The rattle, particularly the Raven rattle, is amongst the essential regalia of → chiefs and certain medicine men throughout the Northwest Coast. With a few exceptions, standard figures and themes are found on Raven rattles. The dominant figure is Raven, who is erroneously referred to by some as the Creator.
Though he did not create the world
—or human-
kind-Raven was instrumental in influencing the events that led to the world as we know it.
A Raven rattle is danced in a way that one might consider upside down. To curb his powers and keep him from flying away, Raven is held with his belly to the sky.