1942.1.426

Collection type

Object

Description

Gourd vessel rattle with spherical body filled with small pellets and a narrow handle, plugged at the end [RTS 2/9/2005].

Long description

Vessel rattle, made from a small gourd plant that has been hollowed out and dried. This has a spherical body and narrow tapering neck, roughly cut off across the end, that serves as the instrument's handle. The exterior of the gourd is a reddish brown colour (Pantone 7517C). The interior has been filled with a number of small pellets, probably seeds. There is a circular hole in the curving lower wall of the vessel where these were probably inserted, now blocked up with a dark brown resinous material (Pantone Black 7C). There is a second point of access through the end of the handle, which is plugged with a reddish material, that may be either ochre or ochre-rich soil or clay, with a small amount of resin on top (Pantone 4705C). A small hole has been poked down the side of this plug. This may be a later modification of the original rattle, perhaps as a repair when the handle broke, or to allow the addition of further or different pellets to modify the sound. Apart from a small chip at the end of the handle, the rattle is complete and intact. It has a weight of 65.5 grams, and is 180 mm long, with a body diameter of 90.7 by 91.4 mm, a diameter at the thicker top of the handle of 28 mm and at the broken end of the handle of 16.8 mm [RTS 2/9/2005].

Geographical reference

Uganda

Africa > Eastern Africa > Uganda

Northern Uganda Acholi district

Cultural groups

Acholi

Person

Field collector Armine Charles Almroth Wright

PRM source Henry Balfour

PRM source Armine Charles Almroth Wright

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1939?, uncertain

Date collected

?By 1939

Acquisition information

Found unentered: 1942

Materials and processes

Material Gourd Plant, Material Plant Seed, Material Clay, Material Ochre, Material Resin Plant, Process Hollowed, Process Dried, Process Perforated, Process Plugged

Dimensions

Length: max 180 mm, Diameter: max 91 mm, Weight 65.5 g

Object numbers

Accession number: 1942.1.426

Research and responses

For similar rattles, see 1970.13.23 (with decoration) and 1942.1.425 from the Acholi (sealed in a different way), and 1979.20.11, from the Moru Misa.

Trowell and Wachsmann discuss Ugandan gourd rattles: "These are ubiquitous; they occupy a prominent place in magico-religious ceremonial and are used in many dances. As ritual practices decrease the rattles become rare, and it is already becoming difficult to secure specimens or at least to see them in action. The narrow neck of the calabash serves as a handle and the spherical part as the rattling vessel proper; the gourd is filled with stones or seeds. A normal length of the whole instrument is between twenty and thirty cm ... a hole in the apex of the gourd, where stones or seeds have been inserted, is sewn up carefully with a pattern of string (Acholi)..." (M. Trowell & K.P. Wachsmann, 1953, Tribal Crafts of Uganda, p. 322 and pl. 74A1, for a Lango example). This example differs in its approach, as the hole has been made in the shoulder, not its base, and closed with a plug rather than being sewn shut. The neck is also plugged; it is not clear if this represents part of the original design of the object, or a break that has been 'repaired'. [RTS 2/9/2005].

Search terms: Music, Ritual and Ceremonial, Status, Musical Instrument, Rattle