Myth, sacred narrative and the role and function of art in relation to shamanism and cosmology

In the analysis presented to you in the following chapters on rock art and drum symbolism, I consider it important to engage with the ambiguous subject matter in relation to myth. This is because despite not knowing exactly the origins of the stories portrayed through the art relating to hunting, fishing and trapping practices, concerning historical sources it is evident how the art does have links with the Sámi oral tradition.

Moreover, this does not mean it is not possible to construct theories and interpretations of the materials.

One of the ways of strengthening the links between past and present is through bringing together both rock art and noaidi drum symbolism and new types of drums to help to fill in a number of gaps in Sámi history that are characterised by the cyclical function of myths; cyclical from the point the fig-ures and landscapes have been reused and the interviews have helped gain insight into these processes.

Therefore, it is possible to interpret how trance scenes, spiritual travelling, out-of-body flying-falling and séances have all inspired the creation of myths and how these have been influential, adapted and changed. These are two of the themes that link paper 4: Sámi Shamanism, Fishing Magic and Drum Sym-bolism (2015), Takalo’s contribution and the chapter: Where past meets present: Sámi spirits, drums and oral traditions, together.

Therefore, the aim in this subchapter is to capture what value these stories have, with regard to some of the attitudes and interpretations scholars have placed on myths and their various contexts, because they are beneficial for re-engaging with the topic with regard to continuity of Sámi culture and how it is represented. Furthermore, these attitudes also helps us to see how central, the role cosmology plays in relation to the practice of shamanism within the context of oral tradition as depicted through a multitude of art forms.

In terms of prehistory, for instance, if we take into consideration in what manner the rock art material indicates how human interaction with the environment and the supernatural forces that govern the uni-verse, has taken place through shamanism, within the content of the art, we can see how important contact with other dimensions of existence has been, I would say, predominantly for well-being and as a method for expressing group or cultural identity and also for giving birth to creation of stories. Moreover, it seems there are too many dimensions to the stories to be able to fully understand all the various contexts, because they may vary from group to group or region to region, but they provide and abundance of materials for study.

Likewise, it has been important to note is how in Finland, it seems the rock paintings appear to be predominantly related to the spiritual culture of the people who created them. In the case with rock carv-ings for example at the Alta site in Finnmark scenes are clearly visible in relation to subsistence activities with regard to hunting, fishing and trapping, but there are also spiritual landscapes within these as well, such as anthropomorphic figures, boats and human figures holding drums.

One other point is that in what specific contexts the rock paintings in Finland have originated; spring, summer, autumn, lunar or solar times and life cycle rites, is uncertain³⁶. However, at the Alta site,

Fin-36 Note for the reader. I have not included Winter here based on the theory that the mixtures combined to make the substance with to create the paintings might freeze.

nmark, it seems that at least some of the areas where animals such as reindeer and bears are portrayed, these appear to have been made in the spring time because there are also bear tracks recorded in the snow; the time of the year when bears awaken from their hibernation.

In terms of opening up discussions on the importance of rock art and its content with regard to religious practices and myths, it is noticeable, to some degree, how these activities create a fundamental link between human beings and the creation of cosmology, cultural principles and distinct characteristics, which are characterized by inter-species communication with non-human life-forms. Notably, these are also encoun-tered within such landscapes amidst historical material inside Sámi society both from past examples, on noaidi drums and in the present time, as new forms of shaman drums and art, which have been inspired by that from the old noaidi drums and rock art; as different styles, contexts and varieties emerge.

As a method for discussion the value myths have in relation to Sámi creation stories and new types of drum landscapes where new narratives are emerging, if we look briefly at the work of Sámi scholar Elina Helander (now Elina Helander-Renvall) who has written extensively about the role and function of myth in relation to cultural continuity and art, it is possible to draw on the following descriptions, which it might be said underlie the need to create art and decorate flat smooth surfaces with images and symbols.

According to Helander (2004: 553),

“What is a myth in the Sami context? Sami mythology is a local expression of a larger pattern of ideas, knowledge, visions, beliefs, rituals, spheres, stories and symbols. ‘Classical’ Sami mytholo-gy, which was presented by Friis³⁷ refers to a concept with a very broad content, including myths and stories concerning gods, shamans, spirits, supernatural beings, rituals and sacrifices. The myths of the present are exactly as they are visualized, percieved, and practiced in the present”.

Because myths are evident through different art forms in both prehistoric rock art and Sámi noaidi drums from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there are also many dimensions to rock art to which we know so very little about. However, I would argue that because of similarities in landscapes and in some cases, identical symbolism and figures, it can be accepted there is a relationship between these with regard to the continuity of culture and maintenance of identity.

From the study of the surviving fragments within both scholarly and artistic literature it is barely possible to interpret how storytelling practices that are portrayed through the artistic decoration of boulders, reindeer horn and animal skins are intimately linked with both culture and identity in relation to myth, religion and materiality. But, it has to be understood that despite their age, the figures and symbols, which have been cre-ated through rock art and also noaidi drums and their reuse in modern times have been as important perhaps as cultural markers because of the ways in which according to Caruana (2003: 199), “[…] they have made an impact on the consciousness of the […] [Sámi people]” and therefore, deserve further attention.

To begin with, it is beneficial to examine the concept of myth in order to understand its function within a religious system of beliefs and practices. For example, Raudvere (2012: 99) refers to “[…] a belief system expressed in particular narrative forms”. A more extensive description is recalled by Pace (2011:

12), in the following ways.

“The myth system, accompanied by the fantastic representations that it produces, creates a link between nature and society, between the visible and the invisible, between eros and fear, between life and death, ultimately acting as a socio-linguistic code to which we can refer in

37 Jens Andreas Friis. Lappisk Mythologi, Eventyr og Folkesagan. Christiana 1871.

order to make sense of the environment in which we live. […] It is also a social story that gives a systematic account, in its own way and juxta propria principia, of the relationships between humans and the cosmos, between divine order and social order”.

In my opinion, despite rock art and noaidi drum symbolism representing the fragments of the memory of the ancestors of the Sámi and Sámi culture from later on, it is still possible to draw parallels and links be-tween the two sources regarding myths. However, when it comes to making comparitive analysis bebe-tween art from different era’s, using literature sources compiled by persons from outside Sámi culture, who did not speak the language, we run into a number of problems. This is because oral traditions and myths have either been denied, or analyzed and documented from western perspectives in order to formulate in some cases, false information about the Sámi themselves, their religion and culture. Furthermore, we cannot know or understand how these ancient hunters and nomadic peoples lived, what their thoughts were and their per-sonal beliefs and why exactly when or where they created their art and the contexts in which they worked.

Therefore, in the case of rock art, we have a unique situation in Finland regarding its cultural contact because according to scholarly discourse, we find it appears to be caught between three cultures, namely Finnish, Karelian and Sámi, due to its age.

Earlier times, Sámi settlement areas where inherited knowledge in the forms of oral narratives such as rock paintings and carvings can be found are commonplace throughout the continent of Fennoscandia.

These decorated sites, particularly in the north have extended right across the Arctic Circle further south into central and southern areas of Finland, and the research carried out at these sites has been under-taken predominantly within the last 40 years. Not by Sámi researchers but from within Finnish scholarly traditions. Because of the enormous time span within, which the art has been made, in relation to the survival of the Sámi into modernity, it would be fair to say how even so many Sámi persons do not under-stand the meanings and context of the art, and so they themselves could also be referred to as outsiders.

Another point is how in the study of Sámi prehistory, it is not known if the ancestors of the Sámi have been the only groups or population, which has made contact with the locations where prehistoric rock art is evident? or if there were other groups in these areas, did they also create rock art? In short, what also helpful to understand is how rock carvings and paintings can be found around the inland lakes and coastal areas throughout the Arctic north where the Sámi people have lived for thousands of years and their cosmologies are characterised by water.

Therefore, what seems apparent though, is there is a long standing tradition of hunting, fishing, trap-ping and reindeer hunting practices originating from prehistory that are linked with characterizations of landscape use, portraits of spiritual traditions and their mythical dimensions and beings who appear in the content of stories, which are cyclical in so far as they are because of their similarities and parallels retold over and over again in the present through art. How do we know they are retold repeatedly? Be-cause similar figures are copied or reused in order to forward culture, history and religious practices, to which cosmology figures prominently and it is from within cosmological structures one can find parallels and links, which traverse across many millennia, which suggests to me, the actions of a culture who had a cyclical worldview within their cosmology.

To add another dimension to the relationship between myth and rock art Norwegian scholar and rock art specialist Jan Magne Gjerde (2010a: 9), says that:

“Rock art itself is often linked to cosmology, rituals and religion. According to this notion rock art are cosmological representations and can never be a reality. A reindeer can never just be a reindeer and a hunting scene clearly depicting a reindeer hunt cannot be that of a reindeer

hunt, but cosmological representations of a hunt. Through my reading on rock art, I have some-times been amused by papers linking hunting scenes to anything but hunting”.

If my interpretation of what Gjerde says is correct, he emphasizes how the task of separating the spiritual from the physical realities in relation to art is not a straightforward matter in modern times because myths can be related to both the material as well as spiritual aspects of culture. Perhaps because for both western and indigenous researchers, our understanding of the world and subsequent exploitation of nature means that in a general sense, we lack a mythological dimension and understanding of a broader reality within the cosmos, which is where myths and stories have been created, from how people have seen the past through different mindscapes, for example.

Another dimension to this equation in relation to both rock art and the art painted on the noaidi drums is also concerned with in what ways within indigenous cultures, shamans have been depicted as animals due to metamorphosis or shape-shifting, which is a common occurrence in shamanism and mythology. From human to animal metamorphosis in Sámi culture is also a theme well known and therefore one of the rea-sons why as Gjerde has pointed out, a figure, group of figures or symbols may not be what they seem, thus making interpretation difficult. One explanation by Pulkkinen (2005a: 12), states the following.

“In the traditional Saami view of the world, the barrier between man and woman was stronger and more difficult to cross than that between humans and animals. It easily happened that humans changed into animals and visa versa, and this was possible not only for shamans […]

but also for ordinary people. The shaman on his journey to the spirit world might take the form of his animal spirit assistant, and the strongest of these assistants, the bull reindeer, was at the same time his alter ego […]”.

Regarding interpretation, it may well be the case that our need to separate the spiritual from the physical for study purposes does a great injustice to history and indeed nature. Because one might argue, that from within the worldviews of indigenous peoples, the material and spiritual are not inseparable from each other. Instead, they form two equal parts of a unified whole and these two dimensions of reality play an equal part in myth making.

In terms of the Sámi being indigenous peoples; like other indigenous peoples, it is evident they carry the knowledge of their forefathers with them, perhaps consciously and unconsciously. One of the main contexts in rock art, which is visible in Sámi religion, religious communication and material culture is the value system within oral history that constitutes to artistic expression and cultural practices in relation to sacrifice, myths and landscape use. However, one of the reasons why Sámi history has been vulnerable for example, to Finnish archaeological survey and assimilation of the content of rock art into Finnish society is because the approaches used to study the material have often been fragmentary not holistic as Gjerde (2013: 37), explains.

“The study of rock art and landscapes during the last decades can be seen as forming three re-lated subdivisions. The first is the study of topography or macro-landscape in relation to a rock art site or its wider landscape, such as mountain and rivers (Mandt 1972; 1978; Sognnes 1983:

1987). Second, the micro-landscape (miniature landscape) or the rock surface can be studied as an element invested with meaning, interwoven with the figures of rock art (Lewis Williams &

Dowson 1990; Helskog 2001; 2004; Gjerde 2006; 2010a). And third, there is the phenomenolog-ical approach to landscape and rock art, where elements of perception and cognition are central to interpretation (Bradley 1991; Tilley 1994). Most often studies favour one over the other and the approaches are rarely combined”.

The values concerning sacrifice, which can be interpreted as an act performed in order to both main-tain the balance between the physical and spiritual dimensions of life as well as a mark of respect for the life of the sacrificial quarry, and for help with acute problems, are also captured from the era of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries throughout Sápmi through artistic symbolism and cosmo-logical landscapes painted on noaidi drums from these periods. Therefore, it is my opinion that more research is needed concerning further interpretation of the cultural and mythical landscapes within the rock paintings in Finland and those depicted on the noaidi drums, as a method to better examine and understand the links between these two sources of art, in order to consider broader perspectives on Sámi cultural history and religion.