What is the difference and why is it important?

Smudging Ceremony for Purification

A 'smudge' is smoke used for ritual cleansing. Smudging is a ceremony traditionally practiced by some Aboriginal cultures to purify or cleanse negative energy, feelings or thoughts from a place or a person. Sacred medicines such as cedar, sage, sweetgrass or tobacco are burned.

The person puts their hands in the smoke and carries it to their body, especially to areas that need spiritual healing (mind, heart, body).

Some say the smell of the burning medicines stimulates the brain to produce beta-endorphins and promote healing processes.

What is “Smudging”?

Sacred tobacco is the gifted tobacco from the Creator.

It is one of the four sacred medicines.

Sacred Tobacco

Photo: http://www.indigenouspeoplestf.org/pdfs/mnact/Flagforweb.jpg

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Sweetgrass (the North) is used by almost all Aboriginal peoples in North America for ritual cleansing. When Sweetgrass is walked on, it bends but does not break. Hence, it has been associated with virtue: an injustice can be returned by a kindness, by bending, not breaking.

Tobacco (the East) is held as a scared plant by most First Nations peoples. Tobacco connects us to the spirit world; it absorbs prayers and carries them to the spirit world. If a request is accompanied by an offer of tobacco that is accepted, the promise must be honoured. Tobacco can also be used to thank the Creator for his gifts: if you enjoyed good weather, you could leave some tobacco on the ground, and say thank you for the gift. Tobacco is generally not smoked, except on special ceremonial occasions.

http://www.med.uottawa.ca/sim/data/Aboriginal_Medicine_e.htm

The Four Sacred Medicines

Cedar (the South) is used for purification and (taken as a tea) to attract positive energy, feelings, emotions and for balance. Its vitamin C content helped prevent scurvy when fruits and vegetables were unavailable during the winter months.

Sage (the West) is a women's medicine, conferring strength, wisdom, and clarity of purpose. It is a powerful purifying medicine that drives away negative energies. Sage can be found braided and hung in people’s homes, perhaps tied with a ribbon in one of the colours of the medicine wheel. The threefold braid represents body, mind and spirit.

http://www.med.uottawa.ca/sim/data/Aboriginal_Medicine_e.htm

The Four Sacred Medicines cont’d…

Traditional tobacco has been used by many First Nations people to:

-Pray

-Give thanks to the Creator and Mother Earth

-Communicate with the spirits; and

-Purify the mind and heal the body.

Sacred Tobacco

Words of Wisdom

“Traditional Tobacco is a gift that was given to Aboriginal people by the Creator and it has a spiritual place within our communities. When tobacco is burned the smoke rises, which provides a link to all the spirits beyond the sky. Tobacco in its original form had honour and purpose. Traditional Tobacco did not contain all the chemicals that are now put into it. What is sold now has been tampered with for business and profit, taking away from it’s original purpose.”

– Ernie Benedict, Elder, Iroquois Nation

Commercial tobacco is tobacco that has been processed into cigarettes, spit tobacco, cigars and little cigars.

These products are full of chemicals that can make you very sick or cause cancers and heart disease and even death.

Nicotine is enhanced in tobacco industry products by the addition of other chemicals. It is very addictive and once a person is addicted it is hard for them to stop.

Commercial Tobacco

According to many First Nations people the use of tobacco for any other reason than in ceremony or ritual is seen as wrong and disrespectful.

Commercial Tobacco

This is Lisa Odjig. She is a First Nations Hoop Dancer. She is very famous in the hoop dancing community and has won 2 World Championships. She believes that her gift of dance is a “blessing” and that she would not be able to dance if she were a smoker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aekMz60W1Hw

If you were using Commercial Tobacco, do you think you could do this?