IMAGE SOURCE: Just Knud Qvigstad, Kildeskriffter til den Lappish Mythologi, Aktiertykkeriet I Trondheim, 1903, public domain, P. 64. Scan by the University of Chicago Library. Photo excerpt by Karen Nyenhuis. https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=MwJNAQAAMAAJ&pg=GBS.PA4
Naerøy Manuscript – Sami Ceremonial Drum – Thor and Maylmen
The drawing of the Sami ceremonial drum found in the Naerøy Manuscript is attributed to Thomas von Wessen in the 1723 manuscript. The drum is presumed lost in a fire in the eighteenth century. The two full sketches of the drum are on pages 63 and 64 in the manuscript, which is linked below.
Thor
Johan Randulf, the author of the Naeroy manuscript, rambles a lot, sermonizing about the practices of the Sami and sometimes about completely unrelated topics. Distilling the first few pages, he makes it clear that the figure on the top center of the ceremonial drum is indeed Hora Galles or Thor. He states that the Sami would invoke Thor to hold back thunder and lightning to protect their reindee from bears and eagles, but would also invoke Thor to bring thunder and lightning to bring fire upon their enemies (Qvisgstad, pp. 7-9).
The Naerøy Manuscript asserts that the Thor is the equivalent of the Greek god Jupiter. Recent scholarship would refute any connection between the Greek gods and the Norse gods, except for some similarities between the Norse god Tyr and the Greek god Zeus. According to Dr. Jackson Crawford, the Norse god Thor bears some resemblance to a Slavic god and an Indian god, but none to the Greeks (Crawford).
Randulf also mentions Thursday, or Thor’s Day, as a sort of sabbath for the Sami, and that they abstained from certain things on Thursdays.
Peasants have a custom of crossing knives over their jugs of beer before they drink it, and etching a cross over a cask of butter before they close the lid. If they are Sami, the cross indicates the two hammers of Thor. Snorre Sturlesen’s Norwegian Chronicle is mentioned as a source (Qvigstad pp. 7-9).
Maylmen
The god in the top half of the drum, to the right of Thor, holding a hoe with a claw at the end and having an arch with serrations of his head, is called Waralden Olay or Maylmen in the manuscript. This god is called the chief god of the Sami and is likened to the Greek god Saturn by the author Johan Rannulf, but according to modern Norse mythology expert Dr. Jackson Crawford, there actually was no connection between the Sami gods and the Greek gods (Dr. Jackson Crawford, see link below).
An ox of rowan or sheep is sacrificed by the Sami annually at harvest at an altar by sprinkling the blood of the animal on a statue of this god. The hand of this god gives growth to grain and fruitfulness to fish and reindeer. They also sacrifice to Maylmen during eclipses of the sun or moon, to take the eclipse away. The curved line with serrations over the head of this god signifies fertility of the earth and of creatures. The height of the arch over his head indicates that this god dwells among the stars (Qvigstad, pp. 10-11).
I have included a link to the drawing of the drum, which is in the public domain via Wikimedia Commons, at the bottom of this post. This particular image is an edited and enhanced version of the original drawing, which slightly alters its public domain status, so I will not post the image here.
For the next post in the series, click here: Intro
SOURCE: Dr. Jackson Crawford, “Norse Myth and Indo-European Myth (Patreon questions),” March 27, 2017, YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_gkGBF6zgA.
SOURCE: Just Knud Qvigstad, Kildeskriffter til den Lappish Mythologi, Aktiertykkeriet I Trondheim, 1903, public domain. Scan by the University of Chicago Library. Free on Google Play Books, https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=MwJNAQAAMAAJ&pg=GBS.PA4