The pre-Christian religion of the Samek was animism, with religious leaders called noaides who went into ecstatic states after playing tambourine-like drums. Sacred places were marked with stones or effigies called seide. Christian-induced conversions and persecutions began in the 17th century, and conversion was certainly complete by the end of the 19th, if not earlier. A 19th century ecstatic variant on Lutherianism, Laestadianism, revitalized Samek Christianity.