Handmade sistrum composed of split tree limb and tin can

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

Hand-made wooden sistrum with a single handle at bottom. The instrument is made from a tree limb that is split into a fork. Attached at the top is a smaller branch joining the forks. In the middle of the fork is a wire with five (5) tin can lids with holes punched in the middle to be rattles. There is some flaking of bark off the branch, and the tin rattles are rusting and have sticky accretions.

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