Among the objects the Sámi tradition left, few draw as much attention as the drum of the noaidi. It says a great deal about a religion that for centuries was described by others, and rarely by those who lived it.

Who the noaidi were

The Sámi are the Indigenous people of Sápmi, a region covering parts of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. In traditional Sámi religion, the noaidi (also spelled noaide) was a ritual specialist. According to accounts, he was sought out to treat the sick, to find where to hunt and to speak with the spirit world. The drum was one of his tools.

What the drum was like

The drums that survive have a wooden frame, usually hollowed, and a membrane of reindeer skin. The skin is painted, with dye made from alder bark, with figures: reindeer, the sun, houses, spiritual beings and, on later drums, churches. On the skin lay a brass ring. The noaidi struck with a small hammer, and the ring jumped among the figures. The accounts say the position of the ring was read as an answer.

Drums varied by region and by owner, and some are from the south, others from the north. No design is the same as another.

Who recorded it

Most of what we know comes from outside. In the 17th century, the scholar Johannes Schefferus gathered news about Lapland in Lapponia (1673). Lutheran missionaries and Danish-Norwegian and Swedish officials wrote descriptions and persecuted the practice. In the 18th century, the missionary Thomas von Westen and others collected many drums. Knud Leem published in 1767 a description of the Sámi of Finnmark.

These authors had a hostile or curious view, and wanted to convert the Sámi. For that reason the accounts cannot be taken as the words of the noaidi themselves. Witchcraft trials in Finnmark in the 17th century struck many Sámi.

What remains

It is estimated that about seventy old drums survive, most in museums in Scandinavia and other countries. Many ended up in royal collections, because authorities and missionaries sent them as curiosities or as evidence.

Today, Sámi artists and communities reclaim the drum as a cultural symbol, and there is discussion about returning those held in museums. The drum remains tied to a religion that is living for many descendants, and should be treated with respect.

The voice of the Sámi themselves

Much of what was recorded was suppressed, and not only the drum. The joik, the traditional Sámi song, was also condemned by missionaries in many communities. Today, Sámi researchers and museums, such as the Siida in Inari, Finland, tell the story of these objects from their own point of view. The question they ask is what the drum meant to those who used it, and not only what others wrote about it.

The beat patterns in the game were invented, and do not reproduce rituals. To repeat the rhythm of the drum that the noaidi plays, play The noaidi’s drum.

Sources.

• Johannes Schefferus, *Lapponia* (1673)
• Knud Leem, *Beskrivelse over Finmarkens Lapper* (1767)
• Historical and ethnographic studies of Sámi ritual drums and of their collection by Danish-Norwegian and Swedish authorities