Chad
Bagirmi

Metal, terracotta, leather
Early-Mid 20th Century
Height: 4.5 inches, Width: 5 inches,  Depth 3 inches
Idiophone – Struck Indirectly – Shaken -Rattle Adornment

This rattle bracelet is made of terracotta and covered with laced leather. It has serpent-type heads at both ends of the band. Inside are seeds that as you shake it around it rattles.

The population of Chad presents a tapestry composed of different languages, peoples, and religions. The degree of cultural variety reflects the significance of the region as a crossroad of linguistic, social, and cultural interchange.  This bracelet rattle possibly comes from the Bagirmi people who live on the southern fringe of the Sahara, close to the region of Bornu in Chad and Nigeria. They are not to be confused with a smaller group of Bagirmi who speak dialects of Fula, the language of the Fulani people, which belongs to the Atlantic branch of the Niger-Congo family. The Bagirmi mainly grow millet and sorghum. They also keep cattle, goats, sheep, dogs, and chickens. The complex social stratification of the Bagirmi includes a privileged nobility headed by a royal family.