“A good farmer is nothing more nor less than a handy man with a sense of humor.” – E.B. White
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The ubiquitous cowbell can be found on almost any farm, on any farm animal in Lake County.
Called “cowbell,” the name of the special livestock necklace originated because it could be found, most typically, on cows.
Cattle are not native to California or, for that matter, North America, but were introduced to these lands by the Spanish during the mission era.
According to the “Historical and Descriptive Sketchbook of Napa, Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino” by C. A. Menefee, 1873, “The first farming (in Lake County) was commenced in 1854.”
Menefee added, “Stock raising is the chief source of natural wealth outside of the mines. The hills are devoted to stock, and so much of the valleys as are not used for the production of grain ...”
Quite probably John Still Anderson, a Scottish immigrant who purchased Anderson Ranch in the 1880s – or his European predecessors the Grigsbys who hailed from Tennessee and homesteaded there at what is now Anderson Marsh State Historic Park in 1855 – and operated a cattle ranch along with his wife, Sarah and six children made use of a cowbell or two.
A cowbell helps the farmer locate his animal if it should meander off. It is believed that the first cowbells were crafted back in the Iron Age.
Archaeologists have found that cowbells date back over 5,000 years ago in China, where clay cowbells were believed to have been used by shepherds as an aid to find their goats, cows and sheep. Later in time the clay bells were substituted by metal bells.
A “bell-wether,” which is the pilot sheep of the flock, was written about by the Brothers Grimm in their early dictionary called the Deutsches Wortenbuch.
Chaucer is thought to have coined the phrase “to bear the bell,” meaning, to win first place, and originally indicated the lead animal in a flock or drive. The cowbell has played parts in many other traditions over time.
The different sizes, shapes and sounds contribute to other uses such as salsa and other popular music . The clapperless cowbell is popular in Latin-American music when it is hit with a stick, the Cuban culture calls cowbell music “cencerro,” and who doesn't remember Creedence Clearwater Revival's cowbell music in their song "Born on the Bayou"?
There is a cowbell which plays a part in Swiss folklore and uses a Trychel, as a large cowbell is called.
The legend of the alpine valley of Simmental describes a straying cowherd, and involves the farmer's choice of either gold coins, the Trychel (giant cowbell) or the beautiful fairy. Long story short, the Trychel was selected as the item of choice.
The Connecticut town of East Hampton holds the last of the cowbell companies in the United States. Called the Bevin Brothers Manufacturing Co., it began making cowbells back in 1832.
In some places the sound a cowbell emits is like an information chip, describing a particular animal's species and age.
The cowbell's craftsmanship, whether created from bronze, brass, copper, iron or even wood can be quite ornamental or merely plain, and is often attached around the animal's neck via leather.
Western European countries have a tradition of herding cattle to the higher alpine meadows to graze after snow has melted in spring.
Called Alpaufzug, the ceremony commences with cows parading through the villages bedecked with floral wreaths. The favorite and most productive milk-cow has the honor of leading the parade, and is, of course, wearing her cowbell.
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.