Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T19:31:46.990Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The disappearance of the sacred Swedish Sámi drum and the protection of Sámi cultural heritage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2018

Francis Joy
Francis Joy*
Affiliation:
The Arctic Center, Faculty of Art and Design, The University of Lapland, Pohjoisranta 4, 96200 Rovaniemi, Finland
*
Email: fjoy@ulapland.fi
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

One of the last frontiers of the pre-Christian Sámi religion and cosmology from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries can be found recorded as embedded systems of knowledge on a range of noaidi-shaman drums kept in museums across Europe. Missionaries and clergymen as well as explorers who sought interest in the magical powers of the Sámi noaidi collected these artefacts during witchcraft trials and persecutions throughout Sápmi, the Sámi homeland areas. Insomuch as the drums being taken away from their owners and shipped from their homelands to other countries, their safeguarding, security and preservation as ancient sources of knowledge in museums is seldom discussed. As a consequence, the investigation presented here is a case study concerning the disappearance of a Sámi noaidi drum sent to a museum in France that has its origins in Swedish Sápmi, which I was informed about in 2017 prior to a visit to Paris for a seminar concerning the Sámi and their culture in Finland. The loss of the drum has only recently become known, and raises a series of important questions concerning responsibilities museums have with regard to the protection of property belonging to the Sámi as well as the repatriation and return of cultural heritage with regard to historical artefacts.

Keywords

Sámi noaidimagic drumscultural heritagemuseumsloss of culture
Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 54 , Issue 4 , July 2018 , pp. 255 - 266
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Christoffersson, R. (2010). Med tre röster och tusende bilder. Omden Samiska trumman [With three voices and a thousand pictures. About the Sami drum]. Uppsala Research Reports on the History of Religions, No. 20. Uppsala, Sweden: Uppsala Universitet.Google Scholar
Duoddaris (2002). Vem äger kulturarvet? Anföranden vid konferens om återföringsfrågor vid Ájtte, Svenskt Fjäll - och Samemuseum 6-8 juni 2000 [Who owns the cultural heritage? Speeches at a conference on feedback issues at Ájtte, Swedish Mountain and Sami Museum]. Duoddaris 20. Jokkmokk, Sweden: Ájtte Svenskt Fjäll- och Samemuseum.Google Scholar
Edbom, G. (2005). Samiskt kulturarv i samlingar. Rapport från ett projekt om återföringsfrågor gällande samiska föremål [Sami cultural heritage in collections. Report from a project on recurrence issues current on Sami items]. Jokkmokk, Sweden: Ájtte Svenskt Fjäll-och Samemuseum.Google Scholar
Fellman, I. (1910). Handlingar och uppsatser angående Finska Lappmarken och lapparne. I-IV. Documents and papers about Finnish Lappmark and the Lapps. Helsingfors (Helsinki) 1910–1915.Google Scholar
Guttorm, G. (2007). Duodji – Sami handicrafts – who owns the knowledge and the works? In Solbakk, J. T. (Ed.), Traditional knowledge and copyright (pp. 61–94). Karasjok, Norway: Sámikopiija. Published by Waasa Graphics Oy.Google Scholar
Hagen, R. B. (2006). Lapland. In Golden, R. M. (Ed.), Encyclopaedia of witchcraft – the western tradition, volume 3 (pp. 625–627). Santa Barbara, CA: K-P. ABC-CLIO, Inc.Google Scholar
Harlin, E.-K. (2008a). Repatriation as knowledge sharing – returning the Sámi cultural heritage. In Gabriel, M., & Dahls, J. (Eds.), Utimut. Past heritage – future partnerships – discussions on repatriation in the 21st century (pp. 192–201). Copenhagen, Denmark: Eks – Skolens trykkeri.Google Scholar
Harlin, E.-K. (2008b). Recalling ancestral voices – repatriation of Sámi cultural heritage. Prosjektets Interreg IIIA Slutrapport. Siida Sámi Museum, Inari. Retrieved from http://www.samimuseum.fi/heritage/suomi/Loppuraportti/loppuraportti.pdfGoogle Scholar
Joy, F. (2011). The history of lapland and the case of the Sámi noaidi drum figures reversed. The Estonian Journal of Folklore, 47, 113–144.Google Scholar
Eidlitz, K. (2005). Joik-chanting. In Kulonen, U.M., Pulkkinen, R., & Seurujärvi-Kari, I. (Eds.), The Saami. A cultural encyclopedia (pp. 153–154). Helsinki, Finland: The Finnish Literature Society-SKS. Published by Vammalan kirjapaino Oy.Google Scholar
Kulonen, U. M., Pulkkinen, R., & Seurujärvi-Kari, I. (Eds.) (2005). Introduction. In The Saami. A cultural encyclopedia (p. 3). Helsinki, Finland: The Finnish Literature Society-SKS. Published by Vammalan kirjapaino Oy.Google Scholar
Laestadius, L. L. (1838–1845/2002). Fragments of Lappish mythology (Pentikäinen, J., ed.). Translated by Vähämäki, B.. Beaverton, Canada: Aspia Books.Google Scholar
Lahelma, A. (2006). Excavating a ritual deposit associated with the rock painting of Valkeisaari, eastern Finland. Fennoscandia archaeologica, 22, 3–23.Google Scholar
Lehtola, V. P. (2002). The Sámi people: traditions in transition. Aanaar–Inari, Finland: Kustannus-Puntsi.Google Scholar
Manker, E. M. (1938). Die lappische zaubertrommel: eine ethnologische monographie. 1. Die trommel als denkmal materieller kultur [The lappish drum: an ethnological monograph 1. The drum as a monument of material culture]. Stockholm, Sweden: Thule.Google Scholar
Manker, E. M. (1950). Die lappische zaubertrommel: eine ethnologische monographie. 2. Die trommel als urkunde geistigen lebens [The lappish drum: an ethnological monograph. 2. The drum as a record of spiritual life]. Stockholm, Sweden: H. Gebers.Google Scholar
Manker, E. M. (1971). Björnfesten: en bildberättelse av Ossian Elgström i tolkning av Ernst Manker [Björnfesten: a picture story by Ossian Elgström through the interpretation of Ernst Manker]. Luleå, Sweden: Norrbottens Museum.Google Scholar
Pentikäinen, J. (1998). Shamanism and culture. 3rd revised edition. Helsinki, Finland: Etnica.Google Scholar
Porsanger, J. & Guttorm, G. (2011). Building up the field of study and research on Sami traditional knowledge (árbediehtu). In Porsanger, J., & Guttorm, G. (Eds.), Working with traditional knowledge: communities, institutions, information systems, law and ethics (pp. 13–57). Kautokeino, Norway: Sámi Allaskuvla. Sámi University College.Google Scholar
Ojala, C.-G. (2009). Sámi prehistories. The politics of archaeology and identity in northernmost Europe. Västerås, Sweden: Edita Västra Aros.Google Scholar
Pulkkinen, R. (2005a). Missionary work: history. In Kulonen, U. M., Pulkkinen, R., & Seurujärvi-Kari, I. (Eds.), The Saami. A cultural encyclopedia (pp. 218–221). Helsinki, Finland: The Finnish Literature Society-SKS. Published by Vammalan kirjapaino Oy.Google Scholar
Pulkkinen, R. (2005b). Tuderus, Gabriel. In Kulonen, U. M., Pulkkinen, R., & Seurujärvi-Kari, I. (Eds.), The Saami. A cultural encyclopedia (p. 418). Helsinki, Finland: The Finnish Literature Society-SKS. Published by Vammalan kirjapaino Oy.Google Scholar
Rydving, H. (1991). The Saami drums and the religious encounter in the 17th and 18th centuries. In Ahlbäck, T., & Bergman, J. (Eds.), The Saami shaman drum. Proceedings of the symposium on the Saami shaman drum in Åbo, Finland, 18–20 August 1988 (pp. 28–51). Åbo, Finland: The Donner Institute for Research in Religion and Cultural History, Åbo Akademi.Google Scholar
Rydving, H. (1993). The end of drum time. Religious change among the Lule Saami, 1670s–1740s. Stockholm, Sweden: Almqvist & Wiksell International.Google Scholar
Schefferus, J. (1673). Joannis schefferi argentoratensis lapponia [History of Lapland]. (Latin edition). Frankfurt am Main und Leipzig, Germany: Martin Wallerborden/Buchhåndlern.Google Scholar
Schefferus, J. (1674). The history of Lapland, wherein are shewed the original, manners, habits &c. of that people. (English edition). 1971. Suecica rediviva 22. Facsimile edition. Stockholm, Sweden: Bokforlaget Rediviva.Google Scholar
Schefferus, J. (1675). Joannis schefferi von straßburg. Lappland/ das ist: neue und wahrhafftige [Johannes schefferus of Strasbourg– lapland, what is true what is new] (German edition). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Martin Hallervorden.Google Scholar
Schefferus, J. (1678). Histoire de la laponie [The history of lapland]. (French edition). Paris, France: Chez la Veuve Olivier de Varennes.Google Scholar
Schefferus, J. (1682). Waarachtige en aen-merkens-waardige historie van lapland [A true and noteworthy history of Lapland]. (Dutch edition). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Jan ten Hoorn.Google Scholar
Silvén, E. (2012). Contested Sami heritage. Drums and sieidis on the move. In Poulot, D., María, J., Guiral, L., & Bodenstein, F. (Eds.), National museums and the negotiation of difficult pasts. Conference Proceedings from EuNaMuS, Identity Politics, the Uses of the Past and the European Citizen, Brussels 26–27 January 2012. Sweden: Linköping University Electronic Press. Retrieved from http://www.ep.liu.se/ecp_home/index.en.aspx?issue=082Google Scholar
Vähämäki, B. (2002). Translator’s forward. In Pentikäinen, J. (Ed.), Fragments of Lappish mythology (pp. 12–13). Beaverton, Canada: Aspasia Books.Google Scholar
Whitaker, I. (1957). The holy places of the Lapps (English summary). In Manker, E. M., Lapparnas heliga ställen: kultplatser och offerkult i belysning av nordiska museets och landsantikvariernas fätundersökningar [The sacred places of the Lapps: cultures and offices in light of the Nordic Museum and the national anthropological surveys] (pp. 295–319). Stockholm, Sweden: Acta Lapponica 13, Geber.Google Scholar
Willumsen, L. H. (2013). Witches of the north, Scotland and Finnmark (studies in medieval and reformation traditions). Leiden, the Netherlands: Koninklitjke Brill NV.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Joy supplementary material

Appendix

Download Joy supplementary material(File)
File 27.5 KB