Written by: Claris Lam
Feb 24, 2025
Introduction
What are the origins of drum circles? Drumming has deep cultural roots in many parts of the world. In our previous article, we discussed the West African origins of drumming. This article will explore Indigenous drumming traditions.
Drum Circles in Indigenous American Culture
In Indigenous culture, drumming plays an important part in many tribal ceremonies, celebrations and spiritual festivals. Indigenous people try to find a close spiritual relationship with the spirits through their songs and dances. These frame drums primarily used in this tradition are recognized as their own living entity. The drums also symbolize the Indigenous people’s ties to their creator. Many Indigenous tribes believe the drum contains thunder and lightning. When the drum is beaten, it helps contact the spirits of their Indigenous forefathers.
Indigenous tribes may follow different traditions, so each tribe will choose its own drums for its specific rituals. These drums vary in size. Most tribes use hand drums. However, other drums are so big that they measure to be a couple of feet wide in diameter! These larger drums are more traditional and are typically struck at drum circles or powwows.
The drum’s shape is symbolic among the Indigenous peoples. When crafting the drums, tribe members make sure their instruments are circular to represent the circle of earth and life. It can take anywhere from one day to several weeks to make a drum, and they may be left plain or embellished. The user is free to paint and/or decorate the skin with anything meaningful to them, including handprints of family members, an animal with spiritual significance, or a painted landscape.
Many Indigenous tribes select a person to be the drum keeper, and they watch over the sacred drum. The drum keeper is usually the oldest son of a selected family, and it is an exceptional honor to be the keeper of the sacred drum. They believe that the spirits of the tree and animal that the drum was made from live within the drum. They also believe that the beats of the drum help call out to these spirits to protect and watch over them.
Drum Circles also hold transformative potential for healing and restoration. The primal beat of the drum resonates within the participants and offers solace and restoration to those in need. Drum circles help participants reconnect with the rhythms of nature and their ancestors.
Indigenous culture shows us that the drum holds great importance to them - not only through the symbolic importance of its use in ceremonies and crafting the instrument, but also in connecting to each other within their community, as well as to their ancestors.
Published February 24th, 2025
Sources
Understanding the History Behind Native American Drums | Tachini Drums
A brief history of drums and drum circles | Global Drum Circles
About the Author
Claris Lam
Claris is passionate about making grand ideas accessible to a wider audience. She has written articles about emerging environmental technology and research, lifestyle, studying, and career advice, and anime and manga for several organizations including Sustainable Waterloo Region (SWR), TalentEgg, and Comic Book Resources (CBR). When she’s not writing informative articles, you can find her playing the piano, pipe organ or violin, writing new fiction and poetry books as an indie author and poet, or reading.