Calling Cards for Divinity: Drums
By Micah Barnsley
The rumbling sound echoes in still air. Immediately, in the listener's mind, different images spring to mind. For some, dancers appear, for others, other sounds punctuate the percussive, persuasive beat - higher and lower as other drums join in.
No matter the culture, percussion plays a strong part in religious and martial ceremony. In Ancient China, decorated drums became a way of honoring the dead as well as a call to arms. From Nigeria to Cuba, in the Yoruba culture, the drum became a voice to sing the praises and prayers of the Gods and people - though the playing of the bata drums traditionally reserved in Cuba for the men. Even the Celts used drums that were blessed and sanctified for healing.
In some Native American circles, the drums are recognized as the heartbeat of the world. In other circles (such as the Minnesota and Wisconsin Ojibwa) with the Dream Dance drum ritual, the drummers and singers belong to those specific drums and everyone then has a specific task relating to the drums during the dance. Women who belong to a drum usually participate by dancing or humming, accompanying the drumming without a specific duty. To the American Indians, the drum is a living thing possessing the spirit of the tree and animal that gave their lives for the creation of the drum.
The ancient Egyptians also had a healthy respect for the drum. Gods and Goddesses alike were pictured playing percussion instruments lending credence to the belief that percussion instruments are imbued with a spiritual power to transform consciousness and reality. The sistrum hieroglyph also means "to shine, to give out light", the actual instrument coming from a papyrus cutting ritual when one rattled the cut stalks to open one's heart to Hathor. A woman playing a round-framed drum symbolizes the hieroglyph for the word "hy", or joy/gladness. Interestingly, women, unlike in Yoruba-Lucumà culture, usually led religious ceremonial drumming and music, while the men used drums on the martial end of society. Beyond that, we know the ancient Egyptians also connected the drum to birth, creation and resurrection.
Now a days, drums have taken on a more meditative and prayerful connotation. People use drums in Native American tradition-based ceremony to lead the mind into a meditative state, with regular beats, for spirit journeys into the Overworld and Underworld. When the beat changes, it either signifies an end to the meditation, or signals the transition to deeper or shallower meditation. Others use drums when there is a certain kind of emotion to be stirred by a large group of people - such as rituals involving dance and honoring the Gods and Goddesses dealing with the rhythms of life. In drumming circles, the sound brings participants to a state where they experience a kind of euphoria that can bring on visions with the voices of the drums.
Drums, and other percussion instruments, are usually made of wood with some sort of hide stretched across one end. Some drums are bowl shaped with hide stretched across the top, while others have a cone shape attached to the bottom of the bowl. Some, like the bongo drums, have a definite top and bottom, and are either oval or rectangular with either an open end, or hide stretched across both ends. Then there are flat drums, such as the bodhran, which are nothing but a circle with a cross of wood in the middle to grip and hide stretched across one side of the circle frame.
The decoration on the drums, however, can change the way it is used. In Siberia, and continued to a certain extent in Celtic-based tradition, paint is used on the surface of the drum to help remind the user of what s/he's trying to accomplish or what s/he wants to remember. One might paint a particular hunting scene, where the hide for the drum came from. Another shaman may instead to decide to use the paint decoration as a consecration step for the drum - the newly painted drum's purpose to be purely used for healing and not general music. For Native Americans, the decorations around the edges become artistic representations of prayers for the spirit of the drum; prayers for the rebirth and transformation of the drum so it helps suit the purpose of the Shaman.
Whatever the purpose, whatever the intent, drums hold a sacred place within our hearts, our souls, and our spirituality.
How will you drum?
Empty Handed: Queries from Readers
NiteSage,
I enjoyed reading your article in the August-September issue, but I have a query. Why do you have all these tools if you don't think they are necessary? I understand it can be fun, but I'd like to hear from your perspective.
Thanks,
Allie
Dear Allie,
I have "all these tools" for a number of reasons:
- Honor: To honor our faith, the Gods, and our traditions.
- Pride: To announce my religion openly.
- Love: Some tools I would collect even if I weren't practicing because I love them.
- Want: Some I wanted for so long that when I finally could afford them, I bought them.
- Fun: I like doing crafts, it settles my mind, so I make tools amoung other things.
- Use: My robes and such on the rare occassions when I work with other groups, my tarot deck when requested.
- Waiting: I'm waiting for the right person to come along to pass certain tools down to.
- Disposal: some are not pass down things, but I don't want to throw them in the trash, don't know what to do with them.
- Vows: one because I made a vow I will not break.
Feel free to email me again if you have any more questions. Thanks for the feedback,
NiteSage
NiteSage,
I read the Empty Handed article in this issue and found it interesting. I did have a question about it though - is it a work from "using tools and being comfortable with that energy" direction through to realising the tool is but a physical symbol, and then moving to working without the tool? Or am I completely missing the point?
Cherie
Dear Cherie,
I plan to write a follow-up article which will deal with that topic. Hope it answers your question. Please email me again if you have further queries or comments. Thanks for the feedback,
NiteSage
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