At ancient religious festivals, a rattle such as this might have been shaken to attract the attention of heaven. Imagine it held in the hands of a worshiper centuries ago who blended its noise with that of a thousand like it to honor his gods. We hear also the drumbeats and the wail of the flute, a thousand voices raised in songs of praise, as the colorful procession moved around the courtyard of some vast temple complex. We hold it in our own hands as that person did so long ago and we wonder if its melancholy music reaches the ears of a deity the rest of the world has long since forgotten.