Beliefs and religions
Animism. A belief that nature is governed by souls or spirits analogous to human will: stones, wind, animals. Animism does not attempt to bring people together, nor does it submit to a single, indivisible truth. Animisms are multiple. They have similarities, but also differences between clans that are not geographically far apart. In this respect, it's worth pointing out that totems are not icons or idols, but symbolic links between Nature and the Sacred. The term "animism" (from the Latin anima, "soul") was coined by the German physician Georg Ernst Stahl to refute the "body-soul" separation and oppose it to a vision of the soul covering the whole human being. In Scandinavia, an animist background exists alongside Christianity. Two major types of animism can be distinguished: shamanism, which considers that only rare individuals can enter into communication with divinities through trance. Or, like voodoo, a concept that considers that it is the divinity itself that comes to take possession of individuals.
Shamanism. In these boreal latitudes, where man is constantly battling the elements, it's hardly surprising that shamanism has found fertile ground. Acting as an intermediary between the spirit world and the world of the living, the noaidi (or shaman) could, by entering into ecstasy, interpret the secrets of the beyond and transmit them to his people. To do this, he would use a magic drum or the joik (ancestral haunting chant). The oval-shaped magic drum is divided into three parts, representing the spirits of Heaven, Earth and Man. Each of these parts is adorned with symbolic designs that the sorcerer knows how to interpret. These motifs are painted with saliva reddened by alder bark. The sorcerer places the divining rod(arpa) on the drumhead, then sings while beating time and, more often than not, goes into a trance. The drum was the noaidi's most important accessory. The rhythm of the drum, accompanied by the chanting of the joik , gave the noaidi access to ecstasy, enabling his soul to separate from his body and travel into the cosmos. During these journeys, the shaman could heal illnesses or ward off mortal dangers.
The history of shamanism
Long before our time, Saami shamans were renowned throughout Scandinavia. They were already mentioned in the Icelandic sagas. In his account of a trip to Lapland, 17th-century playwright Jean-François Regnard (one of the first Frenchmen to venture north as a tourist) claims to have witnessed some astonishing manifestations. Russia's Tsar Ivan the Terrible himself travelled to Lapland for the sole purpose of consulting a sorcerer "from the ends of the earth". During the forced evangelization of the Sami, Lutheran missionaries burned the magic drums (fewer than 100 remain today) and a few noaidi were executed. Animist cults gave way to major Christian festivals such as Easter, dedicated to Saami weddings and traditional lasso and reindeer-racing competitions. Christianity did not take hold in Norway until the death of Saint Olav in 1030. Of course, it was the Saami peoples in the far north who most tenaciously preserved their ancient beliefs. This explains why, for many centuries, the Saami were accused of witchcraft. In fact, missionary activity in Lapland only really took off in the 17th and 18th centuries.
