Sistrum: Difference between revisions

A '''sistrum''' (plural: '''sistra''' or (in Latin) '''sīstra''';<ref name="randomhouse">{{Cite book | year = 1988 | editor-last = Stein | editor-first = Jess | title = The Random House College Dictionary | place = New York | publisher = Random House | edition = Revised | page =[https://archive.org/details/randomhousecolle00dict_1/page/1230 1230] | isbn =0-394-43500-1 | url = https://archive.org/details/randomhousecolle00dict_1 | url-access = registration }}</ref> from the [[Ancient Greek| Greek]] {{lang|grc|σεῖστρον}} ''seistron'' of the same meaning; literally "that which is being shaken", from {{lang|grc|[[wikt:σείω|σείειν]]}} ''seiein'', "to shake"<ref>{{L&S|sistrum|ref}}</ref><ref>{{LSJ|sei{{=}}stron|σεῖστρον}}, {{LSJ|sei/w|σείω|ref}}.</ref><ref>{{cite OED2|sistrum}}</ref>) is a [[musical instrument]] of the [[percussion instrument |percussion]] family, a form of [[Rattle (percussion instrument)|rattle]], used most notably by the [[ancient Egypt | ancient Egyptians]]ians. It consists of a handle and a U-shaped metal frame, made of brass or bronze and ranging from {{convert|30|to(-)|76|cm|abbr=on}} in width. The frame supports sliding metal cross-bars, which may hold metal rings. When shaken, the small rings or loops of thin metal on its movable crossbars produce a sound that can vary from a soft clank to a loud jangling. Its name in the ancient [[Egyptian language]] was sekhem ''(sḫm)''{{cn|date=April 2023}} or sesheshet ''(sššt)'' because of the sound it made when it rattled.{{refn|group=nb|"In the ancient Egyptian language this instrument's name was ''sesheshet'' (sššt), an onomatopoeic word derived from the sounds of the instrument — that is, a soft jangling sound that resembles a breeze rustling/blowing through papyrus."<ref name="Tahya">{{Citecite web |author= Tahya |date=July 2018 |title= Rediscovering the Sistrum |url=https://tahya.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Percussive_Notes_reprint.pdf |access-date=26 July 2023 |website=tahya.com}}</ref>}} The ancient Egyptian sistrum had important associations with religious and ritualistic practices concerning various musical and joyful deities.<ref name="Tahya" />

The English language has adopted the name ''sistrum'' to refer to modern-day West- African disc-[[Rattle (percussion instrument)|rattle]] instruments.<ref>[https://africacollections.si.edu/collections/viewsearch/objects/asimages/search@results.htm?t:state:flowview=0822a913-f8d5-468e-ab33-2608610f411egrid&fq=data_source%3A%22National+Museum+of+African+Art%22&fq=online_media_type%3A%22Images%22&q=sistrum&fq=online_visual_material%3Atrue Smithsonian National Museum of African Art].</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Byghan |first1=Yowann |date=12 March 2020 |title=Sacred and Mythological Animals: A Worldwide Taxonomy |url=https://africabooks.sigoogle.educom/collectionsbooks?id=XoPWDwAAQBAJ |location=Jefferson, searchNorth forCarolina sistrum]</ref>{{dead|publisher=McFarland link|page=64 |isbn=9781476638874 |access-date=21 April 2023 |quote=A ''sekhem'' (the Egytian name) or σεῖστρον (the Greek name), now called a ''sistrum'' in West Africa, was a percussion instrument with a chiming or rattling sound [...].}}</ref>

==Egyptian Sistrumsistrum==

[[Image:Egyptian - Naos-sistrum - Walters 48465 (2).jpg|thumb|150px|A ''sesheshet''-type sistrum, shaped like a [[Naos (hieroglyph)|naos]], [[Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt|Twenty-sixth Dynasty]] (ca. 580 - 525580–525 BCE)]]

The sistrum was a sacred instrument in ancient Egypt. Perhaps originating in the worship of [[Bat (goddess)|Bat]], it was used in dances and religious ceremonies, particularly in the worship of the goddess [[Hathor]], with the U-shape of the sistrum's handle and frame seen as resembling the face and horns of the cow goddess.<ref>{{harvp|Hart|2005|p=65}}.</ref> Another type of sistrum used during the worship of Hathor is naos-shaped;: a small temple with an elaboratly adorned handle with the head of Hathor on top of it.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Duchesne-Guillemin |first=Marcelle |date=February 1981 |title=Music in Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/124240.pdf |journal=World Archaeology |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=289 |viadoi=JSTOR10.1080/00438243.1981.9979803 |jstor=124240 }}</ref> The sistrum was exclusively carried by women or musical priestesses for ritualistic practices, except for festivals when the king would use the sistrum in order to present something to Hathor.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=de Garis Davies |first=N. |date=April 1920 |title=An Alabaster Sistrum Dedicated by King Teta |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3853608 |journal=The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=70-7270–72 |viadoi=JSTOR10.2307/3853608 |jstor=3853608 }}</ref> The sounds made by the percussive instrument along with the rhythm of the music was largely important for its calling upon of deities, as the repetitive sound was thought to aide in ritual healing, and to alter reality.<ref name=":02Tahya">{{Cite web |last=By |first=Tahya |date=July 2018 |title=Rediscovering the Sistrum |url=https://tahya.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Percussive_Notes_reprint.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=February 22, 2023 |website=Tahya}}</ref> The sistrum was also used outside of a religious context for other music, dancing, and merry-making until the 18th dynasty, when the use of the sistrum became increasingly more restricted, until it was only used for religious purposes.<ref name=":2" /> It also was shaken to avert the [[flooding of the Nile]] and to frighten away [[Set (mythology)|Set]].<ref>{{harvp|Plutarch|1936|loc=cap. 63}}.</ref>

The {{transl|am|senasel}} (sistrum) and later [[Crotaluscrotalus (liturgyinstrument)|crotalus]] remained a liturgical instrument in the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Church]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://anglicanism.org/a-marian-odyssey|title=A Marian Odyssey|date=7 March 2023|author=[[James Stevens Curl|Curl, James Stevens]]|access-date=6 April 2023|work=Anglicanism.org}}</ref> throughout the centuries and is played today during the dance performed by the ''[[debtera]]'' (cantors) on important church festivals. It is also occasionally found in [[Modern Paganism|Neopagan]] worship and ritual.{{clarification needed|date=November 2023}}

File:Sistro.jpg|2300-20002300–2000 BC, Anatolia (Turkey), made in copper alloy.

{{Reflistreflist|24emgroup=nb}}

===ReferencesCited literature===

* {{cite book |last=Hart |first=George |year=2005 |title=The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses |edition=2nd |publisher=Routledge |location=Milton Park, UK |isbn=978-0-415-34495-1 }}

* {{cite book |last=Merchant |first=Carolyn |year=1992 |title=Radical Ecology: The Search for a Livable World |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-90650-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/radicalecologyse00merc_0 }}

* {{cite book |author=Plutarch |author-link=Plutarch |year=1936 |title=Isis and Osiris |volume=V |series=Loeb Classical Library }}

* {{cite book |last=Borroff |first=Edith |year=1971 |title=Music in Europe and the United States: A History |url=https://archive.org/details/musicineuropeu00edit |url-access=registration |publisher=Prentice-Hall |isbn=9780136080831 }}

* {{cite book |last=Lichtheim |first=Miriam |author-link=Miriam Lichtheim |year=2006 |orig-year=1976 |series=Ancient Egyptian Literature |volume=2 |title=The New Kingdom |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley, CA |isbn=978-0-520-24843-4 }}

* {{Commons category-inline|Sistra}}

* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Sistrum |short=x}}