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SHAMAN DRUM (PART I)

THE DRUM OF THE SHAMAN I . Sami people have a very special ancestral culture.One of the elements that is part of their culture is the drum used by the Noaidi,the Sami shaman,although there were also drums in some of the houses in the village.The bowl drums were made from a single piece of wood or the frame drum in which the reindeer skin is stretched over a wooden cylinder and a bar at the back reinforces it and serves to hold it.The drums were oval and had many drawings and even objects made of silver or brass.The skin was drawn with a red dye obtained from chewing alder bark.Each Sami area had a different style of drawing for their drums.The South Sami drew a sun cross in the centre of their drums,a circle on the edge of the drum representing the Earth Kingdom and the other drawings (spirit worlds) scattered throughout the space between the cross and the edge. The northern Sami had more variations on their drawings: some drew the sun cross and an upper horizontal line where the gods were,others drew several horizontal and vertical dividing lines separating different scenes or spiritual worlds.The hammer for beating the drum was sealed with reindeer horn or brass.In divination rituals a brass ring or a piece of reindeer horn was placed on the drum and each time the hammer hit the drum the ring fell on a symbol and thus the noaidi communicated with the different spirits while in a trance: this was the response of spirits and gods.It is something magical that an instrument as simple as a drum has such a great power, you can hear his sound rumbling in your chest? Deep and slow at first, marking your breath, closing your eyes, making you forget, taking out your most primitive side, moving your body, taking you to other worlds, connecting with nature and our ancestors, immersing you in a sea of pure sensations?...it hits faster and stronger, taking you to the most absolute trance, taking you to the darkness where you are really YOU.


 
 
 

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