The membrane-covered oval or circular rune drum played an important role in Sami

Sami people

The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...

 ceremonies. It is generally used for the shamanistic Sami ceremonial drum

Ceremonial drum

Ceremonial drums are used in a ritual context by indigenous peoples around the world, often accompanied by singing or chanting.In the circumpolar regions the drums have been classified by traits such as the knob, frame design, size, membrane motifs, ornaments, etc. There are therefore two main...

. The term magic drum is an old judicial term for a rune drum in use from the 16th to the 19th century. In that period the use of a "rune drum" was considered to be a serious crime and the accused was often sentenced to death.

Missionaries give this picture of usage:

A ring or some other accoutrement, probably symbolizing a frog

Frog

Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...

, was during rituals moved around on the drum membrane, which contained some hundreds of runes (elk

Moose

The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...

s, sun

Sun

The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...

, thunder

Thunder

Thunder is the sound made by lightning. Depending on the nature of the lightning and distance of the listener, thunder can range from a sharp, loud crack to a long, low rumble . The sudden increase in pressure and temperature from lightning produces rapid expansion of the air surrounding and within...

, etc.). From its spontaneous selection of a given rune, predictions and conclusions were made from the matched rune itself and the path that the ring would take in selecting it.

Only about 70 drums have been preserved until today. Probably the most well known is the Linné drum – a drum that was given to Carolus Linnaeus

Carolus Linnaeus

Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...

 during his visits in the northern Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

. He later gave it to a museum in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, and recently it was brought back to the Swedish National Museum.

Today there are Sami drums on sale with the runic alphabet

Runic alphabet

The runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters known as runes to write various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter...

, although the old drums have symbols such as the Beivve solar symbol

Solar symbol

A solar symbol is a symbol which symbolises the Sun. Solar symbols can have significance in psychoanalysis, symbolism, semiotics, astrology, religion, mythology, mysticism, divination, heraldry, and vexillology, among other fields.Some solar symbols include:...

with a rhombus that reminds of a sun cross.

External links

• Sámi Drums – Then and Now, University of Texas