The Sami drums were to be destroyed to eradicate a part of Sami culture, but a few survived. One of them is now on his way home to Norway. – We have worked for a long time to be allowed to tell about our cultural heritage in our own way, says Birgitta Fossum, director of the Southern Sami museum and cultural centre, Saemien Sijte. Birgitta Fossum started work on bringing the drum home to Norway. Photo: Private It was she, on behalf of the museum, who sent a letter to the Meininger Museum in 2021. That was the start of the homecoming. The museum in Germany now says that it is necessary to give it back. Used to give advice or make decisions Drums were used by spiritual leaders during certain rituals, for example to give advice, make decisions or make contact with the deceased. On the reindeer skin cover, there are simple figures that represent, among other things, humans, spirits, trees, arrows, bows, moose and reindeer. One placed an object on the skin and hit the second frame of the drum or the cover with a hammer, so that the object moved. What figure the object landed on and how the object landed, the person who asked could tell what the person wanted to know. Christian missionaries of the time liked these rituals very badly. And at the end of the 17th century, all Sami drums were therefore to be collected or destroyed. – Should be extinct It was the missionary Thomas Von Westen who seized this very drum in 1723. He met the owners Bendix Andersen and Jon Torchelsen in Namdalen, and wrote down what they told about the drum. Among other things, what the various symbols meant and how they used the drum. He collected them, among other things, to learn more about the religion, then use that knowledge to eradicate it, Fossum told Saemien Sijte. The journey onward is well documented. She was sent to the mission college in Copenhagen, before she became part of the Royal Danish Art Chamber in 1730. But in the 18th century she still ended up in a German royal house, most likely as a wedding present. Since 1837 it has stood at Elisabethenburg Castle, which today is part of the Meininger Museum in Germany. The museum in Germany: – A curiosity for us In the Meininger Museum, the drum has been in the music history exhibition, among different types of musical instruments. The Frøyningsfjelltromma on display in the Meininger Museum in Germany. Photo: Meininger Museen To news, director of the Meininger Museum, Philipp Adlung, says that in their collection the drum was a curiosity. – Meiningen is best known for being a place for theater and music. The museum feels particularly obliged to pass on this heritage and history. The Sami drum is far from our focus. The drum has been in a room with other instruments, surrounded by baroque music. – It will be a completely wrong context, because it was not primarily a musical instrument, but a travel tool to help you in life, a guide, explains Fossum. The Southern Sami Frøyningsfjelltromma on display in the Meininger Museum. The drum is a frame drum with a reindeer skin cover. There are simple drawings on the cover, such as stick figures and animals. In the exhibition, the drum is among several instruments, although this particular drum was probably not used as a musical instrument. Photo: Meininger The Adlung Museum in Germany says this became more clear to them in conversations with their Norwegian colleagues. – While the drum has been a curiosity for us, it has a very special meaning for the Southern Sami people. I became aware of this during conversations with our Norwegian colleagues. Therefore, I saw it as necessary to return the drum. Fossum says it is great that the drum is coming back, 300 years after it was taken away. And it will be in a different context that you get to see the drum at Saemien Sijte, than as it stood at the Meininger Museum. – A symbol of injustice What the missionary Thomas Von Westen wrote about the drum has also survived the test of time. – This is one of the few drums described by Samar himself, says Fossum. There are around 70-80 drums in the world, but the Frøyningsfjelltromma stands out precisely because it is so well documented. The Frøyningsfjelltromma was taken out of Norway 300 years ago, now it will stand here permanently. Photo: Michael Reichel Ho hopes that the drum can be displayed alongside Westen’s original document, which is now at NTNU in Trondheim. For her, the drums are a symbol of the injustice that was done to the Sami, and she is happy that the Frøyningsfjelltromma is returning home. – More may come In parallel with the return of the Frøyningsfjelltromma, another Norwegian Sami-German museum collaboration has taken place. The project is tasked with surveying Sami objects and collections in German museums and cultural heritage institutions. Because apart from the Nordic countries, it is Germany that has the largest Sami museum collections. This is, among other things, because the ethnographic interest was early in Germany, in addition to the fact that the German museums had a particular fascination for reindeer herders. At the German museum there are approximately 2,300 Sami objects, approximately 18 of these are drums, more than what is found in Norway. Although the project is primarily intended to map the objects, the head of the project, Cathrine Baglo, believes that it could be the start of several return processes. – At the Grassi museum in Leipzig, we know that they also want to find out which of the five drums they have, fits best at home. They want to do the right thing.
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German museum returns rare drum to Norway – news Culture and entertainment
