Drum is the main ritual object in the sacred rite (shamanistic ritual) of a shaman (kam). The drum frame is a cedar shell — a rectangular thin board, tied up in an oval with hide ropes. On top of it the skeleton is covered with red deer skin. Two bird-cherry girds are attached at the sides all along the perimeter of circle. Between them there are resonator pimples formed by resonation stubs. At the top, on the shell there are sickle-shaped pendants, four on each side of the handle. Inside, along the edge, the skin is pulled through holes with a vein thread. The handle (“mars”) is cut out of a birch bar, with a waist in the middle. The ends of the handle end with paddle-boards with a crest running along them dividing the paddle in two. The edges of the paddles are notched. Thickenings at the ends of the waist and the crest are ornamented with skew lines.
The outer side of the image on the drum is divided by a wide cross stripe with a border of triangles intersected by a slanting cross and small crosses between them, into two unequal parts: a larger celestial sphere and a smaller underground world. The same stripe frames the field of the upper world in an arc. Here in the upper right corner is the sun - a circle crossed by a slanting cross, and six spirits that help the shaman in the form of anthropomorphic figures, one of them is drawn with a bow in his hands, and one is shown with a stick. In the lower field on the right there is an ornament of rhombuses and triangles crossed with a cross.
The shaman (kam) was very jealous of his drum and never gave it to anyone. Taking the drum away from a shaman meant depriving him of a significant part of his vital force. Over time, the drum required replacement. In that case, the kam himself cut the front part of the leather covering of the drum and buried it (hanged it in a tree). After that, a whole ritual was performed of switching over to a new drum with relatives involved.
The manufacture of a new drum involved men of the family the shaman originated from. The most important part of the drum manufacturing process was its painting. Natural dyes were used that could be obtained from plants. The dye was mixed with natural resin and the mixture was applied to the surface of the drum.
The outer side of the image on the drum is divided by a wide cross stripe with a border of triangles intersected by a slanting cross and small crosses between them, into two unequal parts: a larger celestial sphere and a smaller underground world. The same stripe frames the field of the upper world in an arc. Here in the upper right corner is the sun - a circle crossed by a slanting cross, and six spirits that help the shaman in the form of anthropomorphic figures, one of them is drawn with a bow in his hands, and one is shown with a stick. In the lower field on the right there is an ornament of rhombuses and triangles crossed with a cross.
The shaman (kam) was very jealous of his drum and never gave it to anyone. Taking the drum away from a shaman meant depriving him of a significant part of his vital force. Over time, the drum required replacement. In that case, the kam himself cut the front part of the leather covering of the drum and buried it (hanged it in a tree). After that, a whole ritual was performed of switching over to a new drum with relatives involved.
The manufacture of a new drum involved men of the family the shaman originated from. The most important part of the drum manufacturing process was its painting. Natural dyes were used that could be obtained from plants. The dye was mixed with natural resin and the mixture was applied to the surface of the drum.
