The Drum and the People
(oral teaching story, Diné (Navajo) tradition)
In Diné tradition it is told that in the early days, when the People began to lose harmony with one another, the Holy People saw that words alone were no longer enough.
They gave the People the drum.
They said,
“When you strike the drum, you will remember that your hearts are meant to beat together.
When you sing with it, you will remember that no voice stands alone.”
The drum was not given for performance,
but so the People could find their way back into balance.
It is said that when the drum is played with the right intention,
the Holy People listen,
because the sound carries truth more clearly than speech.
The Sacred Drum
(oral teaching story, Lakota tradition)
Among the Lakota, it is told that the drum was given to the People as a reminder of who they are.
The elders say the drum is the People.
Its round shape is the circle of life.
The hide is the body.
The rhythm is the shared breath of the nation.
When the drum is played, it is not one person speaking,
but many hearts remembering themselves as one.
Because of this, the drum is never played carelessly.
It carries responsibility.
It is said that when the drum sounds in a good way,
the ancestors draw near and listen,
not because they are summoned,
but because they recognize the rhythm.
Acknowledgment of the Story
This story is shared with respect and gratitude for the Indigenous peoples, elders, and storytellers whose oral traditions carry these teachings.
It is offered as a respectful retelling, drawn from living oral lineages, where stories are passed through generations to convey relationship, balance, and meaning. They live within the cultures, lands, and communities from which they come.
I acknowledge that these stories do not belong to me, nor are they fixed or complete in written form.
I share them here not as ownership or authority, but as a way of honoring the wisdom they carry and the traditions that continue to hold them.