Crotalus (instrument)

[3][4][5] 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.

[7][8] The Latin word crotalus (and the less frequently referenced liturgical instrument crotalum) derive from the Ancient Greek krotalon (κρόταλον).

[10] Historian James Stevens Curl considered the crotalus a descendant of earlier sistrum, an ancient Egyptian ritual instrument.

[3][14] 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.

[15] Sephardi Jews immigrating to Spanish imperial holdings in the Americas following their 1492 expulsion from Spain would bring ceremonial objects with them.