Singers who provide music for many Iroquois religious dances sit astride a bench in the centre of the longhouse. The rhythm of the song is beat out by banging the turtle shell rattle against the bench. Not all dances are so accompanied; some require the use of the water drum, the horn rattle, the bark rattle, or the gourd rattle. The most important religious dance, the Feather Dance, does use the turtle shell rattle. The False Faces also carry it in their curing rites. The rattle is constructed from a snapping turtle, with its neck, reinforced by splints, forming the handle.
Courtesy: Canadian Museum of Civilization, National Museums of Canada (S86-377)
