Hopi Gourd Rattle with Metal Stand[SOLD]

This gourd rattle probably dates to the mid-1950s.   Below the cross design painted on a green field, the gourd is painted purple, red, yellow, black and white.  The handle is from cottonwood root.  The roots of the cottonwood tree provide nourishment to the tree by bringing water up from the ground.  It is for this reason that cottonwood root is used for rattle handles and for katsina dolls.  The association of roots with water is important to the Hopi.

Rattles such as this are made from gourds grown on the reservation.  They are dried and hollowed and a cottonwood stick made for a handle.  Various designs can be used to decorate the rattles.  This rattle has a cross design of the style seen on the Hopi Ai Katsina.  The Ai Katsina is called a Rattle Katsina.  The Ai Katsina appears in the Mixed Katsina Dance and carries a rattle.

The sound of a rattle is associated with the sound of falling rain.  The noise can be varied to express softly falling rain or hard falling rain as in a storm.

The rattle is mounted on a metal stand for upright display.

Condition:  original condition with some loss of paint

Provenance: from the collection of a Santa Fe resident

Recommended Reading: Rain: Native Expressions from the American Southwest by Ann Marshall