Rainsticks are traditional objects among many indigenous peoples throughout the world. They are said to have been used in ritual dances to invoke rain but they now are often sold as decorative objects to the tourist trade or as simple musical instruments.They are great props to use in story telling or to inspire poetry about rain and floods.

A rainstick is made by placing seeds or beads inside a hollow tube which is sealed at each end. The tube has a series of obstacles inside – this might be made as a spiraling arrangement of pins or thorn to slow and control the descent of the seeds when the tube is inverted, thus making a sound like falling rain. Sometimes the sound is created simply by drying a plant in the sun; some rainsticks are made from cacti that are dried so that the seeds inside become loose and can fall within the cavities of the plant. The faster you turn a rainstick to a vertical position, the heavier the rain shower sounds. 

This rainstick has been made from is a branch from a balsa wood tree, which grows in South and Central America. Balsa wood is extremely light and is often used in model making for this reason. You can see the base of some smaller branches at the top of the stick that have been retained for decorative effect. The rainstick has not been painted. Instead, a design of spiraling triangles has been etched into the surface using a technique called pyrography. The rainstick has been bound with string, which serves both as a decoration and as a surface to grip.