The mayohuacán or bayohabao was a wooden
slit drum
A slit drum or slit gong is a hollow percussion instrument. In spite of the name, it is not a true drum but an idiophone, usually carved or constructed from bamboo or wood into a box with one or more slits in the top. Most slit drums have one slit ...
played by the indigenous
Taíno people
The Taíno were a historic indigenous people of the Caribbean whose culture has been continued today by Taíno descendant communities and Taíno revivalist communities. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the pri ...
of the
Caribbean.
The instrument was played during sacred ceremonies, most notably the
areíto.
The drum was made of a thin wood and was shaped like an elongated gourd that measured up to one metre long and half a metre wide. According to early accounts of the taíno such as
Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés
Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés (August 14781557), commonly known as Oviedo, was a Spanish soldier, historian, writer, botanist and colonist. Oviedo participated in the Spanish colonization of the West Indies, arriving in the first few year ...
' ''La historia general y natural de las Indias'' (1526), the sound produced by the mayohuacán could be heard as far as a "league and a half away" (a league being a distance between 5.3 and 7.9 miles, or 8.0 and 11.2 km). These were played by leaders of the tribe as accompaniment to songs which were used to pass on customs and laws to younger generations.
See also
*
Teponaztli
A teponaztli is a type of slit drum used in central Mexico by the Aztecs and related cultures.
Structure
Teponaztli are made of hollow hardwood logs, often fire-hardened. Like most slit drums, teponaztlis have two slits on their topside, cut ...
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayohuacan
Slit drums
Central American and Caribbean percussion instruments
Taíno