Gourd Rattle

Description

Rattles are a shaken idiophone musical instrument. It is made up of the empty and dried fruit of the vine known as a gourd. Inside it contains jobei (palm) or Santa puusim (chanate eye) seeds; the handle is made of a willow or citavaro rod crossing the body of the rattle from side to side and is held in place with rubber supports and glue. They have the same manufacturing base as those used by the Matachín dancer, however, the difference is in the color, those used for the Venado dance do not have any enamel and the Matachines rattles are painted red or blue ( Varela, 1986).

These rattles are essential elements in the Venado dance, they use them to announce their intervention by shaking them quickly and rhythmically; during the dance it is its sound that expresses the nervousness or fright of the animal. Each rattle has different movements, the rattle directed by the right hand shows circular movements, while the left one goes up and down in a vertical line; From the combination of both movements, the peculiar and rhythmic sound of the dance is obtained, alluding to the duality that governs the entire universe.