Laplanders

=﻿ ﻿ The Laplanders Culture =

__Material Aspects of Culture:__
1. The Handmade Lapland Shaman Drum is a beautiful drum made with wood and reindeer skin. There are two types of drums; the 'frame' (or sieve) type, and the 'bowl' drum. The picture of the drum to the left is a bowl drum. The picture to the left is a frame drum. As you can see, the shapes are not very different, but they were made from different materials. The bowl drum (left) was made from burl off a tree. The frame drum (right) is typically larger than the bowl drum becuase of the material used. There are two types of decoration methods for making these drums: heliocentric pattern (where the picture of Paivo, the sun, with it's rains, is centered in the middle, as seen above) and the segmented pattern (where the the illustrated surfaces are split into 2 or more parts). The decorations on the drum are usually centered around the sun, but can mean anything, depending on who is making it. The pattern used in the drums above is a famous pattern often used in these works of art. The drum is used with a reindeer-bone drumstick, also decorated, to play it.
 * Art**
 * [[image:drum-faces.jpg]] ||

2. The history of the Lapland (Sami) Shaman Drum is very interesting. The drums were used by Laplanders and Sami people living in northern-Scandinavia. They don't know when the drums originally originated but it was before the belief that 'everyone should be Christian'. Before this belief, Laplanders and Sami's had a pre-Chistian religion, in which they believed that all people must live in harmony without disturbing Nature. Most of the drums ever created, apart from the 70 drums saved, were burned by the late 17th century. The 70 drums that were saved are an extremely important source of information and data for the study of the Sami and Lapp religion.

3. These drums are very rare in culture today; there are only 70 left on earth of these drums! Most of the drums are kept in museums in Sweden, but the faces (top) of the drums often hang in people's homes. In people's homes, they are usually not made like they originally were; they are made using cow, pig and rabbit hide (skin) instead. The symbols on the drums vary, but are also often found on clothing (hats, for instance). The Lapp (Sami) people often use these symbols on homes, cars, and business items. They believe that these symbols bring strength, health and well-being.

Sources: http://www.utexas.edu/courses/sami/diehtu/giella/music/noaidi.htm, http://www.solarart.se/trumma/info.htm , http://home.earthlink.net/~arran4/siida/sami-people.htm , http://old.no/samidrum/locations.html.

1. The Joik (or Yoik) is a traditional Laplander form of song. It is one of the oldest music traditions in Europe, and it is the Laplander's folk song. It is described as a type of chant; probably because it usually has no lyrics whatsoever, and tells a story in the music. The joik does not begin or end in a certain place and it is usually completely improvised, so only a few joiks are written down as sheet music - these are famous ones by famous Sami singers. The joik is not about something or someone but it IS something or someone, sort of like a metaphorical song. Someone would not joik about their friend, but they would joik their friend - as in to say the 'essence' of their friend. The joik is a big part of Sami religion and Sami spirituality, and is very important to Sami people. Pictured above are two famous Joikers (left to right): Wimme Saari and Mari Boine.
 * Music**

2. There is not much information about the history of the Joik, but music researchers have noticed that explorers from as early as 1673 have noted that they heard these 'joiks' on their explorations. Joik texts were the first type of Joik to be known, and they were hereafter turned in to songs by Laplanders. When the Sami religion was first introduced, Lapps and Sami's immediately connected the joiks with their religion, and this is how the symbolic relationship was started. Joiks were not written down so researchers have no evidence of just how early the tradition was started, but they estimate it was around the 16th century.

3. The Joik is still respected widely in the Sami culture, and most people still create Joiks for children when they are born. Purely folk Joiks have decreased in popularity in the 20th and 21st century because of the influence of pop music, jazz music and rock music. There are some bands like the Finnish folk metal band 'Shaman' who create what people call Yoik Metal, which is a traditional Joik mixed with modern-day rock and heavy metal music. Elder members of the Sami religion believe that Joiks should not be used with modern-day music because it is a traditional folk song and a part of Sami spirituality.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoik, http://boreale.konto.itv.se/smusic.htm , http://www.utexas.edu/courses/sami/diehtu/giella/music/yoiksunna.htm , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_music. Food Clothing Religion Literature Holidays

Non-Material Aspects of Culture: Ideas of Modesty Ideas of Beauty Child-raising Relationship to Animals Ideas about Sin Ideas of Justice Ideas about Disease and Illness Roles based on Age, Gender, Class, Job, etc. How to Handle Emotions Attitudes towards Family Conversational Norms Body Language Rites of Passage