Sámi traditions
The noaidi, the drum and the joik, in the far north of Europe.
The Sámi, Indigenous people of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, had ritual specialists called noaidi, who used a painted drum. Many drums were confiscated or burned by church and state from the 1600s; a few have recently been returned. The joik, a song that “is” a person, animal or place rather than being about it, is a living Sámi art.
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Credit: In our own words, honouring the Sámi people.
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