Observations placeholder
Misc. source - Sami - The Drum
Identifier
011506
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
The Sámi people inhabit an area stretching from the Norwegian coast in the north-west, across the northern parts of Sweden and Finland, to the Kola Peninsula in the north-east, a part of Russia. The Sámi have a strong tradition of drum use in their spiritual rituals. The Sami believe that all objects in nature have a ‘soul’ or spirit and as a consequence it is essential to conserve nature, cooperate with natural forces and to respect the cycles of nature. In order to learn more of these cycles the shaman [in Sami he was known as the noaidi] needs to communicate with and access the spiritual world and to do this, the noaidi’s most important instrument was the noaidi drum.
Drums were oval or egg shaped, hand held, light and used with a drumstick carved out of a reindeer bone. The drum was often decorated with spiritual symbols. In some cases the drum was segmented into areas that represented the different levels of the spiritual world. In other cases, they show the central cross of the cardinal directions [of which more later] , as well as signs of the Zodiac - the Ram, the Virgin, and the Archer [also more later] and constellations such as the Milky Way, Pegasus, and Orion.
A description of the experience
