Sistrum

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Sistrum

A sistrum (plural: sistrums, sistra) is a musical instrument

Musical instrument

A musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument....
of the percussion

Percussion instrument

A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound by being hit with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration....
family, chiefly associated with ancient Egypt

Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
. It consists of a handle and a U-shaped metal frame, made of brass or bronze and between 10 and 30 cm in width. When shaken the small rings or loops of thin metal on its movable crossbars produce a sound that can range from a soft tinkling to a loud jangling. The name derives from the Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
verb se??, seio, to shake, and se?st???, seistron, is that which is being shaken.

sistrum was a sacred instrument in ancient Egypt.

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Encyclopedia

A sistrum (plural: sistrums, sistra) is a musical instrument

Musical instrument

A musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument....
of the percussion

Percussion instrument

Egypt

Greek language

The Egyptian sistrum

The sistrum was a sacred instrument in ancient Egypt. Perhaps originating in the worship of Bast, it was used in dances and religious ceremonies, particularly in the worship of the goddess Hathor

Hathor

In Egyptian mythology, Hathor was originally a personification of the Milky Way, which was seen as the milk that flowed from the udders of a heavenly cow....
, with the U-shape of the sistrum's handle and frame seen as resembling the face and horns of the cow goddess. It was also shaken to avert the flooding of the Nile

Nile

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the List of rivers by length in the world.The Nile has two major tributary, the White Nile and Blue Nile, the latter being the source of most of the Nile's water and silt, but the former being the longer of the two....
and to frighten away Set

Set (mythology)

In Ancient Egyptian religion, Set is an ancient god, who was originally the god of the desert, Storms, Darkness, and Chaos. Because of the developments in the Egyptian language over the 3,000 years that Set was worshipped, by the Greek period, the t in Seth was pronounced so indistinguishably from th that the Greeks spelled it a...
. Isis in her role as mother and creator was depicted holding a pail symbolizing the flooding of the Nile, in one hand and a sistrum in the other. The goddess Bast

Bast (goddess)

In Ancient Egyptian religion, Bast is an ancient solar and war goddess, worshipped at least since the Second dynasty of Egypt. In the late dynasties, the priests of Amun began to call her Bastet, a repetitive and diminutive form after her role in the pantheon became diminished as Sekhmet, a similar lioness war deity, became more domin...
too is often depicted holding a sistrum, symbolizing her role as a goddess of dance, joy, and festivity.

Sistra are still used in the rites of the Coptic

Coptic Christianity

||-The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria is the official name for the largest Christianity church in Egypt. The Church belongs to the Oriental Orthodoxy family of churches, which has been a distinct church body since the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451, when it took a different position over Christology theology from that of the E...
and Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast....
n churches. Besides the depiction in Egyptian art

Art

Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature....
with dancing and expressions of joy, the sistrum was also mentioned in Egyptian literature

Literature

Literature is the art of written works. Literally translated, the word means "acquaintance with letters" . In Western culture the most basic written literary types include fiction and non-fiction....
. The hieroglyph for the sistrum is shown, but there are other varieties (sistrum and castanets).

The sistrum today

The sistrum was occasionally revived in 19th century Western orchestral music, appearing most prominently in Act 1 of the opera Les Troyens
Les Troyens

Les Troyens is a France opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself, based on Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid....
(1856-1858) by the French composer Hector Berlioz

Hector Berlioz

Louis Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic music composer and guitarist, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Requiem . Berlioz made great contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation and by utilizing huge orchestral forces for his works; as a conductor, he performed several c...
. Nowadays, however, it is replaced by its close modern equivalent, the tambourine

Tambourine

The tambourine or Marine is a musical instrument of the Percussion instrument family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils"....
. The effect produced by the sistrum in music - when shaken in short, sharp, rhythmic pulses - is to arouse movement and activity. The rhythmical shaking of the sistrum, like the tambourine, is associated with religious or ecstatic events, whether shaken as a sacred rattle in the worship of Hathor of ancient Egypt, or, in the strident jangling of the tambourine in modern-day Evangelism

Evangelism

Evangelism is the practice of attempting to convert people to a religion. The term is used most often in reference to Christianity, but is also used to refer to other religions, including Judaism, Islam, and less frequently, Buddhism and Hinduism....
, in Gypsy

Roma people

The Romani are an ethnic group of Europe tracing their Origins of the Romani people to middle kingdoms of India.The Romani are Romani diaspora with their largest concentrated populations in Europe, especially the Roma of Central and Eastern Europe, with more recent diaspora populations in the Americas and, to a lesser extent, in other par...
song and dance, on stage at a rock concert, or to heighten a large-scale orchestral tutti

Tutti

Tutti is an Italian language word literally meaning all or together. As a musical term, it is used in various ways. It may refer to an orchestral passage in which every member of the orchestra is playing at once....
.

The "barcoo dog," a sheep herding tool used in Australian bush band

Bush band

File:Gumtreebushband.jpgA bush band is a group of musicians that play traditional Australian folk music or contemporary folk music played in a traditional Australian style....
music, is a type of sistrum.

Sistrum

The Egyptian sistrum

The sistrum today

Gallery

Footnotes

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