Box drum
<p>kóok gaaw “box drum”
Language: Lingít
</p><p>Eeshaan du keedí (Our poor Killer Whale.) I’m just going to say the words to you. Goosú du aaní? (Where is its land?) Gaashú ch’á I aaneex´yéi eetí? (Why didn’t you stay at home?) Eeshaan du keedí. (Our poor Killer Whale.)…And the old ladies began to cry, and they said, ‘Our poor Killer Whale. Where is your home?
</p><p>—Clarence Jackson, 2005
</p><p>Drums sound out the heartbeat of grief, as expressed in the Killer Whale mourning song. Box drums accompany singing during funerals and at the memorial ku.éex’ (memorial potlatch) ceremonies that come later. The box drum is a wide plank of red cedar, steamed and bent at the corners, with a separate top piece attached by nails. The painted design represents the Killer Whale. Box drums were traditionally suspended from the ceiling of a lineage house and played by young men; the technique is to hit the inside with fist or fingers to vary the volume and tone.
</p><p>Culture: Tlingit
Region: Southeast Alaska
Village: Wrangell
Object Category: Ceremony
Dimensions: Length 96cm
Accession Date: 1905
Source: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_R._Swanton" class="extiw" title="w:John R. Swanton">Dr. John R. Swanton</a> (collector)
Museum: National Museum of Natural History
</p>
Museum ID Number: E233491
Unknown Tlingit artist. Photo by SI Arctic studies
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