Dongson Drums: A Snapshot of the Village Life in Bronze Age Vietnam
Thesis Statement: Although many scholars believe that the feathered figures on the drums are depictions of ancestor figures, ethnographic evidences from the Karen’s use of the drum and the Toraja’s funeral rites suggest that the images engraved on the drums are mere portrayals of village life in Dongson.
Located in the Hong (Red) River valley, the Dongson society is said to be highly dependent on water for agricultural purposes. Some examples of images on the drum that portray farming activities include villagers pounding rice with hand pestles and water buffalos working the fields. In his article, Bernet Kempers offers ethnographic evidence to the use of kettledrums by the …show more content…
It is also interesting to note that the part of the Dongson and Karen drums that are to be struck is the sun in the middle of its tympanum, which suggests that “beating” the sun results to rain. Given that the Dongson and Karen have very similarly constructed drums that both date back to the Bronze Age, it is then safe to suggest the possibility that the Dongson drums were also used to summon rain.
Besides agriculture-related images other distinct depictions of festival or ritual-like scenes are found on the Dongson drums. One way to look at these ceremonies is to compare it to ethnographic evidence found in the funeral rituals conducted by the indigenous Toraja of Indonesia. In his article, Eric Crystal describes the Toraja’s traditional funerary rites as being elaborate. These ceremonies, which can last from one to seven days, involve careful planning to determine the scale of the funeral depending on the social status and rank of the deceased. People who are of high status would have longer funeral rites and a carved image of the …show more content…
One way to look at the role of birds in Dongson is to look again at the funeral rites of the Toraja. In Crystal’s article, he mentions that on the day of the Toraja burial, a chicken is set to run free to symbolize the freeing of the soul of the deceased. It is indeed possible that the Dongson saw birds in the same light as the Toraja. If so, it then implies that the Dongson people believed that birds, not feathered ancestors, guide the soul of the deceased. Although it is still not apparent what kind of religion the Dongson people have, the premise that they believe in the power of the drum suggest that they believe in some kind of supernatural force that is not depicted in the drums. It is perfectly normal to not have representation of gods in art; some examples include major religions such as Islam and Judaism. Even the Ban Chiang culture of Thailand, which existed about the same time as Dongson, does not have images of deities in their works of art either. Thus it is safe to suggest that the Dongson people did not intend to use the drums to represent their deities but they indeed regarded them as an important part of their society, a historical item that provides a snapshot of the village life in Bronze Age
Thesis Statement: Although many scholars believe that the feathered figures on the drums are depictions of ancestor figures, ethnographic evidences from the Karen’s use of the drum and the Toraja’s funeral rites suggest that the images engraved on the drums are mere portrayals of village life in Dongson.
Located in the Hong (Red) River valley, the Dongson society is said to be highly dependent on water for agricultural purposes. Some examples of images on the drum that portray farming activities include villagers pounding rice with hand pestles and water buffalos working the fields. In his article, Bernet Kempers offers ethnographic evidence to the use of kettledrums by the …show more content…
It is also interesting to note that the part of the Dongson and Karen drums that are to be struck is the sun in the middle of its tympanum, which suggests that “beating” the sun results to rain. Given that the Dongson and Karen have very similarly constructed drums that both date back to the Bronze Age, it is then safe to suggest the possibility that the Dongson drums were also used to summon rain.
Besides agriculture-related images other distinct depictions of festival or ritual-like scenes are found on the Dongson drums. One way to look at these ceremonies is to compare it to ethnographic evidence found in the funeral rituals conducted by the indigenous Toraja of Indonesia. In his article, Eric Crystal describes the Toraja’s traditional funerary rites as being elaborate. These ceremonies, which can last from one to seven days, involve careful planning to determine the scale of the funeral depending on the social status and rank of the deceased. People who are of high status would have longer funeral rites and a carved image of the …show more content…
One way to look at the role of birds in Dongson is to look again at the funeral rites of the Toraja. In Crystal’s article, he mentions that on the day of the Toraja burial, a chicken is set to run free to symbolize the freeing of the soul of the deceased. It is indeed possible that the Dongson saw birds in the same light as the Toraja. If so, it then implies that the Dongson people believed that birds, not feathered ancestors, guide the soul of the deceased. Although it is still not apparent what kind of religion the Dongson people have, the premise that they believe in the power of the drum suggest that they believe in some kind of supernatural force that is not depicted in the drums. It is perfectly normal to not have representation of gods in art; some examples include major religions such as Islam and Judaism. Even the Ban Chiang culture of Thailand, which existed about the same time as Dongson, does not have images of deities in their works of art either. Thus it is safe to suggest that the Dongson people did not intend to use the drums to represent their deities but they indeed regarded them as an important part of their society, a historical item that provides a snapshot of the village life in Bronze Age