This is a traditional double headed drum. Lodge drums are approximately 5" in depth. Because this drum has two rawhides, it is the preferred type for sweat lodges, but the two hides raise the cost as well. We have tested these drums. Friends and customers have tested the lodge drums. The results: these drums still sing after 28 stones. In an experiment, we took our friend, Kathy's, single sided buffalo hide hand drum and our cow hide lodge drum into sweat lodge. After first round, Kathy's buffalo drum was flat as a pancake. Our lodge drum sweated through all four rounds with songs still in her. All drums come with a free stick.
14" diameter - $180.00
16" diameter - $205.00
18" diameter - $235.00
Yes, this is a river-recovered cedar drum. No new trees died for these drums. We use logs pulled from rivers in five states or lightening-struck cedars. We do not cut trees. Our rawhide is processed in an ecologically responsible manner so we pay a little more. We think the extra cost is worth it to protect Mother Earth from chemical pollution.
We use thick steer rawhide for the heads and laces. We have found that elk is too stretchy and temperamental for the humidity of a sweat lodge, but if you would like to try an elk hide double sided drum, add an extra $30 for elk.
DRUM BAGS FOR YOUR LODGE DRUM
Cheryl makes drum bags to safely transport your sweat lodge drum to ceremony. Because of the weight of this drum, all lodge drum bags are padded and lined, with a tough exterior layer of fabric. Leather sweat lodge drum bags are available, but the cost is higher because of the additional leather used. The leather bags are also lined and padded: the lining supports the weight of your drum so the deer hide does not stretch out of shape.
Cloth Sweat Lodge Bag Leather Lodge Drum Bag 14" drum: $99.00 $275.00 16" drum: $119.00 $305.00 18" drum: $139.00 $355.00
See Drum Bag Pages for examples to help make your fabric selection.
SWEAT LODGE CEREMONY
Nearly every tribe performed a purification ceremony, which most passed from generation to generation orally. The most publicized of these is the Lakota Sweat Lodge ceremony. Black Elk explained the ceremony to Joseph Epes Brown in his book The Sacred Pipe, which details the seven sacred ceremonies of the Lakota People. Because the Lakota sweat lodge has been studied extensively (for example, Raymond A. Bucko's The Lakota Ritual of the Sweat Lodge), Many people hav come to believe that the Lakota way is the only correct sweat lodge. This is not true. Other nations practice variations of the sweat lodge.
In the inipi or sweat lodge ceremony, people come together in spiritual community to pray. Preparations are extensive, and vary from one Native subculture to another. But all involve the sacred elements of fire, water, and earth. A lodge is built, typically of willow branches, and then coverered with blankets (traditionally skins and hides). A fire is built and stones, usually 28 stones, are placed in the fire for purification.
As the stones heat to red-hot temperature, the people make prayer ties and other preparations to enter the lodge. A fire-keeper tends the stones. The lodge leader smudges the sweat lodge. Helpers place the blankets on the lodge frame.
Once inipi ceremony begins, songs are song to welcome Creator, the Spirits and all of our Relations. Rocks are brought into the lodge and placed in a pit in the center. Water is poured over the rocks and steam rises. The purpose of the sweat lodge is prayer, spiritual community and purification.
We provide a tool, the drum, to help people who practice the inipi ceremony. We ask that people always pray for the rise of wise leaders who will recognise that Mother Earth is being destroyed and who will enact laws to protect her. We ask that prayers be offered to find leaders who will promote World Peace and not lead the People into senseless wars and death. We ask humbly that prayers be offered to provide for the needs of the sick in this country and others. With all of our knowledge, it is a crime that people in this country and others are dying because of greed. How much can a pill cost? What happened to the hypocratic oath that medical doctors all take upon entering the practice of medicine? Why is it that those with means can be treated medically and our soldiers, who served this country, are killed by the VA hospitals through neglect and lies. We ask that all those who practice the powerful ceremony of Inipi offer prayers for the salvation of our world and the conquest of greed, intolerance and ignorance. We thank all of you who are already engaged in the Power of Prayer to Save our World. We are all related. What happens to one of us will inevitably impact another and then another of us. We are all related. That is one of the messages of the Inipi.
