Smudge stick
A smudge stick is a bundle of dried herbs, most commonly white sage. Often other herbs or plants are used or added and the leaves are usually bound with string in a small bundle and dried. Some other herbs and spices that are often used include cilantro, cedar, lavender, and mugwort, none of which are native to the Americas. They have a strong, pleasant aroma when burnt.
Overview
Materials
Method
History
The term "smudge stick" entered the English language through Indigenous American Indian traditions in America via cultural exchange and were propagated in New Age traditions of shamanism. The binding of smudge sticks for many traditions was a sacred intentional process in and of itself. The process of employing scent in rites of purification, be it in censers, through burning incense or smudging (the process of using a smudge stick) is endemic throughout traditional rites captured by Ethnography, Anthropology and Sociology.
"The History Of Smudging
Smudging may seem a very modern practice. We read about city highfliers using it to sell their apartments or improve their business luck. But smudging has been used for thousands of years. When you light a smudge stick you are connecting with a spiritual tradition that originates from the depths of time.
A Tradition From The Mists Of Time
It is impossible to say for certain when smudging began. Perhaps early civilizations came to realize, through sheer trial and error, that the smoke generated by setting alight particular herbs had beneficial effects for humanity. Certainly many cultures have an old tradition of driving animals through smoke to kill off pests and diseases. Nowadays modern science has proven that certain herbs do indeed have cleansing powers, acting as strong pesticides.
Aside from this beneficial and practical aspect of burning herbs, humans have become aware that smoke ascends to the heavens - to the world of spirits - almost as if it were acting as a spiritual messenger.
The idea of purification through smoke is certainly not the sole preserve of the Native North Americans.
Most rituals have some element of cleansing, and incense or herbal smoke mixtures are burned around the world - from China, India, and Southeast Asia, to Europe and the Western world.
The Native American Way
Originally, mixtures of sacred herbs and resins were burned in a special bowl. Smoke was then wafted around the person or place needing purification and cleansing. However, smudge sticks (bundles of dried herbs tied together with colored thread or a strip of hide) offer an easier way of smudging that is just as effective. The herbs most often used in smudge sticks are sage and Sweetgrass. Sage drives out negative thoughts, energies, spirits, and all influences. Sweetgrass is used to attract positive energy after all the negative energies have been banished by sage.
Native Americans see smudging as a way of shifting between various levels of reality _ connecting us here in the material, physical world to the subtle realm of spirits."
Smudging
Smudge stick ceremonies are quite significant at aphelion (when the earth is furthest from the sun), perihelion (when the earth is closest to the sun), equinoxes, and solstices.[citation needed]
Smudging in Indigenous American peoples
Ojibway and Cree ceremonies often use smudges of sage, sweet grass, and/or juniper to cleanse with, and to give prayers to the Creator, or Gitche Manitou. Smudges with hot coals underneath can provide a lot of smoke for many hours or days to repel mosquitos and other insects.
Contemporary use
Helps sell apartments.
Notes
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
External links
Credits
New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:
The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:
Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.
