crotalus (instrument)
{{Short description|Liturgical clapper used during the Pascal Triduum}}
{{About|the liturgical rattle|the genus of rattlesnakes|Crotalus|the ancient musical instrument|Crotalum}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
File:Crotalus in St. Mary Catholic Church, Aspen.jpg
A crotalus ({{langx|es|matraca}}),{{cite book |last1=Winer |first1=Lise |title=Dictionary of the English/Creole of Trinidad & Tobago: On Historical Principles |date=16 January 2009 |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP |isbn=978-0-7735-7607-0 |page=390 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_n82hsbDJBMC&dq=rattle+lent+catholic&pg=PA390 |language=en}} also known as a crotalum or clapper, is a wooden liturgical rattle or clapper that replaces altar bells during the celebration of the Tridentine Paschal Triduum at the end of Lent in the Catholic Church.{{cite book|title=Concise Catholic Dictionary|editor-last=Broderick|editor-first=Robert C.|date=1944|publisher=Catechetical Guild Educational Society|chapter=Crotalum|page=104}}{{cite book |last1=Russ |first1=Jennifer M. |title=German festivals & customs |date=1983 |publisher=O. Wolff |location=London |isbn=9780854963652 |page=47}} It is also occasionally used during the celebration of the Ordinary Form Roman Missal during the Paschal Triduum, but its popularity decreased following the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council. The crotalus is also used by some Lutheran and the Episcopal Church congregations.{{cite web |title=Solemn High Mass: Maundy Thursday |url=https://ccsl.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/220414-Maundy-Thursday-Pewsheet-final.pdf |publisher=The Anglican Parish of Christ Church St Laurence |location=Sydney |date=14 April 2022 |quote=The sanctuary bells are rung joyfully. All bells then remain silent until the Gloria is again sung in the Easter Vigil, on the night of the Resurrection. They are replaced by a wooden clapper, or crotalus.}}{{cite web|url=https://archive.theadventboston.org/liturgy/glossary.htm|title=A Glossary of Churchly Terms|publisher=Church of the Advent|location=Boston|access-date=6 April 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://www.saintmichaelsdenver.org/2022/04/09/the-crotalus/|title=The Crotalus|date=9 April 2022|access-date=6 April 2023|last=Beckwith|first=Tom|publisher=St. Michael and All Angels' Episcopal Church|location=Denver}}
Etymology
The Latin word {{Lang|la|crotalus}} (and the less frequently referenced liturgical instrument crotalum) derive from the Ancient Greek krotalon ({{Lang|grc|κρόταλον}}). The latter term referred to a type of clapper, rattle, or castanet as used in Ancient Greece and Egypt.A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:entry=crotalum-cn CRO´TALUM]
Appearance and use
File:Rattle Matraca used in Lenten ceremonies at Mission Santa Barbara, ca.1900 (CHS-4389).jpg, c. 1900]]
Made from wood, the particular style and manner of noise-making varies between different clappers. Some use an integral hammer that strikes the wood, while others use a piece of wood that rides over a gear to make a clicking noise.{{cite book|title=The Maryknoll Catholic Dictionary|editor-last=Nevins|editor-first=Albert J.|publisher=Dimension Books|chapter=Clapper|location=New York City|date=1965|pages=131–132}} Historian James Stevens Curl considered the crotalus a descendant of earlier sistrum, an ancient Egyptian ritual instrument. Historically, the crotalus was common in Maundy Thursday Ethiopic liturgies.{{cite web|url=https://anglicanism.org/a-marian-odyssey|title=A Marian Odyssey|date=7 March 2023|author=Curl, James Stevens|access-date=6 April 2023|work=Anglicanism.org}}
The Memoriale Rituum, a former Roman Rite liturgical book for parochial usage in certain times of the liturgical calendar, prescribed that the altar bells would not be rung after being used to announce the Gloria at Mass on Maundy Thursday until the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday, a practice which remains in some use.{{cite news|url=https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/holy-week-leads-faithful-easter-sunday-special-days-observed-what-they-mean|title=Holy Week leads the faithful to Easter Sunday: Here are the special days observed and what they mean|work=Fox News|last=Rousselle|first=Christine|date=2 April 2023|access-date=6 April 2023}} The Memoriale Rituum prescribed that the crotalus replaced bells for announcing the Angelus following both the Mass and the Stripping of the Altar.{{cite book|url=http://www.liturgialatina.org/memoriale/40.htm|title=Memoriale Rituum|chapter=Part IV: Thursday, the Day of the Lord's Supper|date=1906|publisher=R. & T. Washbourne, Ltd.|location=Glasgow|access-date=29 June 2022|archive-date=26 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726122732/https://liturgialatina.org/memoriale/40.htm|url-status=live}} Ritual books do not prescribe the crotalus's use in other instances where the bells would have been rung, but rattling the crotalus in the stead of each bell ring has been accepted as appropriate practice during the Paschal Triduum liturgies.{{cite book|url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01349b.htm|title=Catholic Encyclopedia|last=Schulte|first=A.J.|publisher=Robert Appleton Company|volume=1|date=1907|chapter=Altar Bell|location=New York City|via=NewAdvent|access-date=29 June 2022|archive-date=19 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210919143855/https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01349b.htm|url-status=live}}{{cite book|title=A Catholic Dictionary|author=Attwater, Donald|edition=3rd|date=1958|chapter=Clapper|page=100|publisher=Macmillan Company|location=New York City}} Among these are the elevations during the Mass of the Lord's Supper, where the unpleasant noise made by the crotalus reflects the morose character of the Paschal Triduum. The 1595 Union of Brest, the agreement establishing full communion between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Catholic Ruthenian Uniate Church, mandated that the Latin practice of prohibiting bells on Good Friday would not be required of Byzantine Rite Catholics.{{cite web|url=https://stjosaphatugcc.org/full-text-of-the-union-of-brest.php|title=Full Text of the Union of Brest-Litovsk|publisher=St. Josaphat Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church|location=Munster, IN|access-date=2 July 2022}}
Sephardi Jews immigrating to Spanish imperial holdings in the Americas following their 1492 expulsion from Spain would bring ceremonial objects with them. Among these were gragers for celebrating Purim, which could pass as the matracha of Catholic usage.{{cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/when-the-spanish-inquisition-expanded-to-the-new-world/|title=When the Spanish Inquisition expanded to the New World|work=The Times of Israel|last=Tenorio|first=Rich|date=16 August 2016|access-date=29 June 2022|archive-date=9 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509180913/https://www.timesofisrael.com/when-the-spanish-inquisition-expanded-to-the-new-world/|url-status=live}}
In Rome, the instrument sometimes appears similar to baby rattles.{{cite web|url=https://www.liturgicalartsjournal.com/2018/04/the-art-of-paschal-triduum-crotalus.html|title=The Art of the Paschal Triduum: The Crotalus|last=Sonnen|first=John Paul|date=2 April 2018|work=Liturgical Arts Journal|access-date=29 June 2022|archive-date=16 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220416022518/https://www.liturgicalartsjournal.com/2018/04/the-art-of-paschal-triduum-crotalus.html|url-status=live}} The crotalus is used during the Austrian Holy Week tradition of Ratcheting ({{langx|de|Ratschen}}), wherein children will alternate between ratcheting and chanting, with a reward typically following.{{cite web|url=https://www.unesco.at/en/culture/intangible-cultural-heritage/national-inventory/news-1/article/ratschen-during-holy-week|title=Ratcheting During Holy Week|publisher=UNESCO|date=2015|location=Austria|access-date=30 June 2022}}
See also
References
{{reflist|30em}}
{{Easter}}
{{Mass of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church}}
Category:Catholicism in Austria