Well, this thing is pretty unnecessary these days. We have plenty of moisture, to the point that the rivers are nearly overflowing around here. But this is a rain stick, a fairly common item in the American southwest. They take a chunk of cactus plant, block off the ends, knock all the needles into the hollow center of the thing, and then shellac or coat it with something to seal it up and make it durable. You end up with this section of cactus that makes a cool, rain-like noise as you turn it over, end to end. The noise is the needles, coursing their way up and down through the obstacle course in the hollowed out center.
The thinking is, when you start shaking this thing around, it will rain. So in times of drought, folks would head for their rain sticks and hope for the best. For me, it is a cool memento from a trip out to Albuquerque years ago, and given the fact that we already have a bit of water in the basement from all the rain and melted snow, I am leaving this thing alone!
Visit the other WOFs listed to the right! And have a great Weird Object Weekend!
3 comments:
You wouldn't happen to have an anti-snow stick hanging around?
I would rather have rain than snow, but then again, water in the basement is worse than snow.
Very interesting
I had no idea it was made of cactus and those were the needles in it that made the noise.
Yes--please put that in the back of the closet in a box, out of shaking reach.
I always liked the sound of those things when you turn them.
Don't need one around here, either.
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