2. Echoes in the Sámi Historical Tradition
2.1 Sacred Rocks and Associated Sonic Practices
The traditional sacred sites of different Sámi groups are typically located near rocks, boulders, and cliffs in uninhabited gorge, mountain, and lake landscapes (Harva 1928; Qvigstad 1926; Manker 1957; Äikäs 2015; Salmi, Äikäs, Spangen, Fjellström and Mulk 2018). These terrain elements – referred to by epithets such as bassi, sieidi, or sáiva – are offering sites where gifts to the spirits were made for centuries.[2] According to historical sources, spirits were a kind of power particularly manifest within rocky places (Rheen 1897 [1671]: 37–43; Jessen 1767: 23–29; Leem 1767: 408–444; Friis 1871: 102–145). In exchange for reindeer antlers, fish, metal objects, and other gifts, the spirits gave advice and help in various questions related to life and subsistence.
Visits to these sacred sites involved sonic practices that seem to have been roughly similar in Eastern, Northern, and Western Sámi areas. When passing a rock or a mountain, it was important to keep quiet (Leem 1767: 443–444; Turi 2011 [1910]: 115–116; Harva 1928; Bäckman 1975: 140). One had to whisper, slow down the reindeer pulling the sleigh, muffle the reindeer bells, or wet the rowlocks of the boat so that no creaking sounds would be produced. Otherwise, a storm or an accident could follow (Qvigstad 1928: 515; Paulaharju 1932: 25; Itkonen 1948: 320).
However, when approaching a rock or a mountain to offer or ask for help, it was important to greet the place appropriately. This was done with a special chant (e.g., leu’dd, luohti, vuolle) dedicated to that place (Forbus 1910 [1726–1727]: 66–67; Turi 1910: 220). According to a note made in the 1820s, the cliff called Tāča in Gihttel was addressed with the words: “Tāča sieidi! I will bring copper coins for the grain of the forest” (Fellman 1906: 229–231; see also Paulaharju 1932: 13, 16). The rock called Onnegæđgi (Lucky Stone) in Romsa was addressed with words ending with a loud shout: “The spirit of the nine valleys, I will yoik now” (UiT/Graff 1954: 4). The cliff called Ávrronásje (Eagle’s Beak) in Rana received an anointing accompanied by a chant comprising huge interval jumps: “I grease the Eagle” (Tirén 1942: 47, 123; Manker 1957: 222).
In addition to chanting, drums were beaten at sacred sites, as evidenced by the earliest seventeenth- and eighteenth-century sources (Rheen 1897 [1671]: 39–42; Olsen 1910 [1716–1717]: 88–89). Religious specialists known as noaidi are reported to have used the sites to induce themselves into an altered state in which they could control the movements of wild reindeer – and even humans – through power emanating from the rock (SKS/Paulaharju and Paulaharju 1932: 19216, 19227; Paulaharju 1932: 16, 53; Itkonen 1948: 318).