Frances Densmore, Chippewa Customs

(Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2001)

Two types of drum were in use among the old-time Chippewas, the hand drum, and the Mide drum. In recent years the Chippewa have used a large flat drum, either placed on the ground or suspended from curved stakes. This drum is decorated with beaded velvet and is used for dances or in a ceremonial manner…….

The simplest form of hand drum consists of a piece of rawhide stretched over one side of a hoop and laced or tied together on the reverse side to form a handhold. A more common form at the present time is a drum having two heads with a loop of rawhide as a handhold……. The pegs are tied to the cord before the cover of the drum is put in place and the cord is twisted to increase the tension, permitting the pegs to vibrate against the deerskin.

Such a drum is commonly called a moccasin game drum, being used during that game. The heads of both styles of hand drum were frequently decorated. A war drum might have either one or two heads. Odijbwe’s war drum was decorated with a turtle and the lightning, these being his dream symbols……..

Frequently the stick used with a hand drum had a small round hoop at the end, the whole drumming stick being wound with cloth. It was the custom, however, to use a stick about 18 inches long with a padded end made by winding cloth around the stick……. With the ceremonial drum of the Wisconsin Chippewa there were four drumsticks used by the leading drummers, each covered with soft brown deerskin and decorated with a band of otter fur and long ribbon streamers (165-166).

The drum used in the ceremonies of the Midewiwn and by members of the society when singing its songs in private is called a migi’wakik, meaning “wooden kettle.” It is commonly known as a “water drum.”…… The drum is made by hollowing out a basswood log, about 16 inches long, the wood being charred and scraped until a cylinder is formed. A thin wooden disk is fitted in the lower end and a small hole is drilled part way up one side. A wooden plug is fitted in this hole. The head of the drum is of heavy tanned deerskin, about 18 inches in diameter. Water to the depth of a few inches is poured into this receptacle when the drum is to be used, the head is wet, wrung out, laid over the top, and stretched by pressing down a hoop made of a willow sapling which frequently is wound with cloth. The hole and plug makes it possible to empty the water without removing the top of the drum……. The water in the drum causes the sound to be heard a long distance while it is not so loud near at hand. This type of drum is decorated with colored bands indicating the degree held in the Midewiwin by its owner. The same decoration appears on the pole in the Mide lodge, indicating the degree into which a candidate is to be initiated…….

It is said that the Mide drum stick is more valuable than the drum, and frequently is older. Some of the drumming sticks represent the owl, but that representing the loon is regarded more highly. The loon was the first bird selected to form part of the Mide beliefs, and the end of the stick which strikes the head of the drum is carved to represent the head and eyes of the loon. Gagewin said, “The Mide stretch their hands toward the western ocean, where the loon rises from the water and gives back a signal that he responds to their call” (95-96).

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