Making a Sistrum — The Sacred Rattle of Ancient Egypt

The sistrum is a rattle, but not one with seeds in a shell — its jingles are loose discs on crossbars. Priestesses of Hathor and Isis shook it in temple rites.

Bend a green sapling into a tall U or horseshoe rising from a straight handle — the classic sistrum shape, like a narrow tennis racket.

Tie the frame in its U-shape and let the wood dry so it holds the curve firmly on its own.

Pierce two or three pairs of small holes through the two arms of the frame, each hole facing its partner across the gap.

Cut two or three lengths of bronze wire, each a little longer than the frame is wide.

Slide a few loose metal discs onto each wire so they rattle freely. Leave plenty of slack — packed tight, they cannot ring.

Push each wire through its pair of holes so it spans the frame, then bend the ends so it cannot slip out while the discs still slide.

Flick your wrist to shake the sistrum. The loose discs slap against each other, the wires and the frame with a bright, shivering jingle.

More discs, or thinner ones, give a brighter, denser shimmer; fewer, heavier discs give a slower clash. Try different numbers on each bar.

Egyptians carved the handle as the face of the goddess Hathor and painted the frame. Decorate yours however you like to make it your own.

The sistrum is a shaken idiophone, but a special one: instead of seeds in a closed shell, its jingles are loose discs or rings threaded on crossbars, so they slap freely against the bars, the frame and each other. Each disc is a tiny cymbal ringing briefly at its own high pitch, and because many of them strike at slightly different instants the sound is a bright, shivering shimmer rather than a single click — the same reason a tambourine's jingles or a cluster of sleigh bells sound sizzly rather than clean. Thinner, smaller discs ring higher and brighter, and more of them make a denser shimmer. In Egypt the sistrum was sacred: shaken by priestesses in the rites of Hathor and Isis, its rattle was believed to please the gods and drive off chaos, and the handle was often carved as Hathor's face. The earliest sistra were simple bent wood or reed frames strung with beads and seeds — the kind you have just built — before bronze frames with metal loops became the temple standard. As an idiophone it is a cousin of the shaken gourd rattle and the struck bone clappers: three different ways to make rhythm from the ring of a rigid body.