 | This is a draft article. It is a work in progress open to editing by anyone. Please ensure core content policies are met before publishing it as a live Wikipedia article. Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL Last edited by Belbury (talk | contribs) 4 months ago. (Update)
Finished drafting? or |
 | This article may incorporate text from a large language model. (June 2024) |
Across cultures and continents, the drum transcends a mere instrument. Sacred drums hold deep significance, woven into spiritual practices, ceremonies, and rituals. From the thunderous booms of African djembes to the soft whispers of Native American frame drums, each beat carries history, prayers, and connections to the unseen. This article delves into the diverse world of sacred drums, exploring their construction, symbolic meanings, and roles in various traditions. Discover how their rhythmic voices connect communities, channel energies, and echo through the millennia.
Role
editShamanism
editIn shamanic traditions worldwide, the drum acts as a powerful tool for spiritual journeying and communication. Its rhythmic heartbeat is believed to open doorways to hidden realms, allowing shamans to access the spirit world, commune with deities, and diagnose illnesses.[1]
Emotion perspective
While all instruments evoke emotions, drums possess a unique ability to encompass the full range of human feelings. Regardless of the feeling being expressed, the drumming seems to resonate deeply, offering a raw and powerful language for emotional expression. Its rhythm can comfort in despair, soothe anger, embolden in fear, and even induce states of ecstatic joy.[1]
Ecstasy
An ecstatic state describes an altered state of consciousness marked by intense emotions, often joy, awe, or deep connection. It's characterized by:
- Heightened awareness: Senses may feel sharper, thoughts clearer, and focus narrowed.
- Dissolution of self: Ego boundaries blur, leading to a sense of oneness with the rhythm, community, or spirit world.
- Intense emotions: Feelings of joy, bliss, or awe overwhelm, creating a profound emotional and even physical experience.
In shamanic rituals, the drum's rhythmic pulse is believed to induce or facilitate such ecstatic states. These states open the individual to spiritual realms, allowing for communication with spirits, healing, and profound insights. They also foster communal connection, as the shared experience strengthens bonds and amplifies the power of the ritual.
Religious scholar Mircea Eliade in his work Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy concluded that shamans are not the sole possessors of the ability to achieve ecstatic states, but "is a timeless primary phenomenon".[2]
Healing
Eurasia
editAncient Greece
editAncient Rome
editSami people
editSiberian people
editSlavic people
editThe eclecticism of cultures, psychopractices, symbolism and terminology brings modern Paganism closer to New Age. The rituals of Rodnovers (Slavs) may use objects and symbols of international origin: tambourines of indigenous peoples of the North, Indian incense, Russian shirts and camouflage outfit, camping equipment of Chinese and European manufacturers.[3]
Sumer
editAncient Sumerian texts describe ritual drumming and the making of sacred drums. They indicate the name of the first drummer in history - Lipushiau, the chief priestess in the city-state of Ur.[4]
Americas
editCuba
editSee also
edit- Shaman's Drum (periodical)
- Shamanism
- Ceremonial drum
References
edit- ^ a b Drake, Michael (9 July 2009). The Shamanic Drum: A Guide to Sacred Drumming (4th ed.). Talking Drum Publications. p. 13. ISBN 978-0962900204.
- ^ Eliade, Mircea (1972). Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691017792.
- ^ Gaidukov, Victor (2016). Проблема иностранного влияния на развитие славянского нового язычества (родноверия) в России [The Problem of Foreign Influence on the Development of Slavic New Paganism (Rodnovery) in Russia] (PDF) (in Russian). Nizhny Novgorod. p. 47. ISSN 2312-1696.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Redmond, Layne (1997). When the Drummers were Women: A spiritual history of rhythm. Three Rivers Press. p. 73. ISBN 9780609801284.