THE SHOFAR— ITS USE AND ORIGIN.^ 



BY 



Cykus Adi.kk, 



Assislaitt Curator of Oriental Anliijuilies. 

 (Willi I'lntcs .\i,\ i-\i.ix.) 



Tlie inodcin .Icwisli syii;i;:j();^uc lias ]in'S«'rv»'(l in its (•cicnionial, anionjj 

 otluT ciistoins, tlic. use ol" tlic sliofiir, traiislated in the Hiiglish version 

 of the Hil)hi "cornet," Several times diiriiij,^ the service on New Yeai's 

 (lay, or lionh hashdiuih, at the con<lusionof the Day of Atonement, on 

 the seventh day of the festival of Tabernacles or Sukkoth, Hosliana 

 I\((b(i, and durinj;- the ciitir<i month of Ellul, after the recital of the 

 sn])i)lications or tSeiichoth, tlie shofar is sounded. Its use on all these 

 occasions is not general and jirobably never was, but it still survives in 

 many places. Foi- tluiXew Year's service it is the characteristic featuni. 



Tlie shofar is usually made of a lam's hoiii, straightened and flat- 

 tened by heat. All natural horns can be shaped either by heat or by 

 cooking in oil.t 



The bore of the instrunumt is a, cylindrical tube of very small (jaliber, 

 which ojK'iis into a kind of bell of jKirabolic form.f 



]t is not ordy the solitary ancient musical instrument actually pre- 

 served in Die Mosai(5 litual, but is the oldest form of wiml instrument 

 known to be retained in use in the world. § 



In the discussion of Wetzstein's ])aper, cited below. Prof. Steinthal 

 pointed out that this was an instrunu'iit no doubt used in prehistoric 

 times. 



* In the abstracit of this ycipcr piibllshcil in tlio procoetling.s of the American Ori- 

 (Mital Society, October, 1S8!), j). clxxi, IT., I iiiiidi) the rc([iie8t forthe communication 

 of additional information on the subject, and I have l»ecn favored with some vahiable 

 sngjijeKtions ironi the latis I'rof. Paul de Lagardc^, of Gtittinfjcn. 



tl have recently met a curious survival of the use and manufacture of a musical in- 

 strument made of natural horn. While walkinj^ on Pennsylvania avenue, Wasliinj;- 

 ton, August 22, ISIK), I saw a negro boy about 10 years of age with a cow horn in his 

 hand. He told me that lie liad cut off the end, shajjcd the, mouthpiece with a hot 

 poker, and then scraped it with a knife. On l>eing urged, he blew it (luite (-asily. I 

 endeavored to si^ure ]iosse.ssion of it, bn( the boy decliiKMl to part witli his handi- 

 work. 



tMusical Instruments Historic, Rare, and Uni<|ue, by A. .). llipkins, Edinburgh, 

 Black, 1888, p. 12. 



^ Ibid., p. 1, and South Kensington Museum Art Books, edited by William Maskell ; 

 Musical Instruments, by Carl Engei, Londim, 1875: Chapman &• Hall, p. 21. 



ProceodiiigM Natiunal Musuuiii, Vol. XVI— No. 'J'JG. 



287 



