Skidegate, British Columbia
Northwest Coast 

Wood, pigment
ca. mid 20th century
Height: 8 in; Width: 2.75 in; Depth: 4.25 in
Idiophone – Struck – Indirectly (Rattle)

This is a dance rattle most likely from the Skittagentan (Skidegate) of the Haida speaking people.  Today, the Skidegate Band Council, also known as the Skidegate First Nation, is a band government of the Haida people, one of two of the Haida Tribal Society aka the Council of the Haida Nation. Its offices are located in Skidegate, British Columbia.

Haida artwork includes masks, jewelry, and rattles.  This rattle is hand carved with red and black paint on the detailed carved bear face.  It features slight bulging, cylindrical eyeballs and the bear’s drooping tongue. The ears of the bear are also pointed and angled parallel to the sides of the rattle. There is a seam along the center of the rattle all the way down, showing that it is composed of two sections of wood.

The use and symbolism associated with this rattle is possibly the transmission of power from one figure to the next—the bear to humankind in general (as oral tradition states).