Entering Trance, Entering Relationship: Liminality at Finnish Rock-Art Sites

Ulla Valovesi

doi:10.3368/aa.57.1.100

Abstract

This article presents four new possible images of drums in the Finnish rock art, and considers these, and apparent dancing images as an acoustic record of the past. It also presents preliminary results of testing echo at over 100 rock-art sites that suggest that exceptional soundscape is an elemental, if not a fundamental component, of rock art. Both the images and the echo correlate well with the local Sámi ceremonies of singing and drumming at sacred sieidi sites—regional tradition and Finnish rock art point to entering into deeper trance through music and dancing. However, in Finland, there are few entoptic signs in rock art. In some places these signs are connected to shamanism but research shows a correlation with entoptic signs and psychedelic substances but not necessarily with shamanism. This disconnect emphasizes the need for redefining ASC: the term is not singular, but plural. Contrary to being hallucinations, shamanic states can be better understood as being exceptionally present and part of an Indigenous knowledge formation process. A pattern of liminal features, images, and local analogies construe Finnish rock-art sites effectively as sites of liminality, trance, and relationship.

Glossary of Terms

ayahuasca: A commonly used psychotropic brew prepared from Banisteriopsis caapi. See yajé.
ASC: Altered states of consciousness.
dološ juoigan: Ancient Sámi songs, or yoiks, that are sung for supernatural powers.
gedgge olmush: Literally, a stone person. A sacred Sámi stone, cliff, or mountain that has anthropomorphic form.
hiisi: A Finnish sacred grove.
kadnihah: Sámi underground spirits, originally ancestors.
kaje: A visual echo or reflection of light (e.g., in water).
kajo: An audible echo of sound.
langeta loveen: Literally to fall into a crack or to enter a trance.
lovi: A crack
lovinoita: A shaman who is capable of diving into a crack and entering into a trance.
maahiset: Finnish underground spirits.
noaidi: A Sámi shaman.
noita: A Finnish shaman or a witch.
passevara: A Sámi sacred mountain.
passevaraolmai: The man of the sacred Sámi mountain.
passe vare sarva: A reindeer of the sacred Sámi mountain. One of the main helpers of noaidi. See saivo-sarva.
rumb–āhkkuh: Literally, a drum women. Female Sámi shamans in the Inari area of Finand.
sáiva, saivo: A Sámi sacred lake, also a sacred mountain, where the ancestors reside.
saivo-gärmai: A snake of the Sámi sacred mountain or lake, one of the main helpers of noaidi.
saivo-lodde: A bird of the Sámi sacred mountain or lake, one of the main helpers of noaidi.
saiwo-neidah: Women of the sacred Sámi mountain.
saivo-sarva: A reindeer of the Sámi sacred mountain or lake, one of the main helpers of noaidi.
sieidi: A Sámi sacred site.
siida: A local Sámi community.
soma: A vedic hallucinogenic drink that priests have used for visions.
SSC: Shamanic states of consciousness.
tietäjä: “The one who knows.” The people who know ancient folk poems and songs. Also, the term includes traditional healers who use natural cures and magic charms, often with the embodiment of power.
tietäjälaitos: The tietäjä institution or the culturally established practice of the tietäjä tradition.
ulddat: Sámi underground spirits, originally ancestors.
yajé: A commonly used psychotropic brew prepared from Banisteriopsis caapi. See Ayahuasca.
yoik: A traditional Sámi song.
yoiking: A traditional Sámi way of singing.

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