Smudge stick

A smudge stick is a bundle of dried herbs, usually bound with string into a small bundle. The herbs are later burned as part of a ritual or ceremony. Plants that are often used include sage and cedar.

The American English term "smudge stick" is usually found in use among non-Indigenous people who believe they are imitating North American Native sacred ceremonies. However, the herbs used in commercial smudge sticks, and the rituals performed with them by non-Natives, are rarely the actual materials or ceremonies used by traditional Native Americans. Using scent and scented smoke (such as incense) in religious rites is an element common to many different cultures worldwide, but the details and spiritual meanings are usually unique to the specific cultures and ceremonies in question.

In some First Nations and Native American ceremonies, certain herbs are traditionally used to purify or bless people and places. For instance, some cultures use the smoke of burning red cedar as part of purification and healing ceremonies. However, the same herbs that are burned by one culture may be taboo to burn in another, or they may be used for a completely different purpose. When specific herbs are burned ceremonially, this may or may not be called "smudging," depending on the culture. Boughman tells of smudging done in hospitals to "cleanse and repel evil influence."

The practice of burning sacred herbs for ceremony has also raised issues about the religious freedom of Native Americans. Native American students in college dorms, for example, have at times faced harassment and been forbidden from smudging due to university policies that prohibit the burning of candles or incense in college dorm rooms.

Traditionally, when gathering herbs for ceremonial use, care is taken to determine the time of day, month, or year when the herbs should be collected; for example, at dawn or evening, at certain phases of the moon, or according to yearly cycles. Gertrude Allen, a Lumbee, reported that her father, an expert in healing with plants, stated that sage varies in potency at different times of the year. Most commercial gatherers do not follow these traditions.

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