The only thing important to remember when dealing with Tribal
culture and ceremonies is, every ceremony in our culture must be as a prayer.
Please keep this in mind while teaching, learning and doing
ceremonies, you can do nothing without the spirit of Creator working through
you.
Smudging, as with anything in life, is only a way to get you into
a prayer mood.
Praying is for Creator to come bless the reason for your smudging.
If anyone is smudging so that they can clean or clear anything or
anyone, run from that smoke as fast as you can, it is not tribal it is from the
Occult!
First let's find out if the circle is for a Paw~ paus or a powwow?
If it is for a Paw~paus the smudging is with tobacco (Kinnick~ Kinnick).
If the circle is for a powwow other than a Sacred Eastern Woodland
American Native gathering powwow, one can use the herbs from the Plains Indians
known as Sweet grass and/or Sage or Kinnick~ Kinnick!
Only Creator can bless, blessings come down to Mother Earth,
never up from her!
If the smudging of the circle is done correctly you should feel a
peace of mind and a need to fellowship while in your circle.
The first thing we must understand before going any further would
be that only the Creator can bless anyone or anything, I cannot say this enough
times!
After the Circle has been marked off and the Fire Keeper does what
the Fire Keeper needs to do, the Keeper of the Circle can start cleaning and
clearing the Circle and the area around the Circle. There is no set limit of
how many people go about clearing this area; it is up to the Keeper of the
Circle as to how many help.
Once the Keeper is sure the area is safe for the dancers and clean
of any unsightly mess, the Keeper should start the smudging of the area that is
as long as it is being done long before any of the public starts arriving.
Again, there is no limit to the number of people helping, this is
up to the Keeper of the Circle.
The Keeper of the Circle should start at the fire, light the smudge
bowl medicine from the fire and start smudging the evil out of the Circle.
First, the Keeper, while still facing the fire, starts smudging, stopping at
each gate for prayer and guidance. Now when the Fire Keeper gets back around to
the east, the Keeper should turn and face the east. The Keeper of the Circle
usually starts smudging once again, while still standing at the fire, working
around the Circle four times, stopping at each corner again for prayer and
guidance. Once back facing the east, the Keeper should take one large step
toward the east and start around the Circle again four times. This needs to be
done until the Circle is completely cleansed and you can step out of the east.
At the time just before Grand Entry, while the Keeper of the Circle is smudging
dancers and flags with a talking feather in the left hand, the Keeper asks for
a chance to speak to the dancers. It is at this time that the Keeper of the
Circle asks everyone if they would place all of their bad feelings, gossiping,
and bitterness on the ground outside of the east before entering through to
dance.
Usually just before the prayer and before the Veterans Dance, the
Creator will be asked to come to the east to please remove all of the bad
feelings and come in to the Circle to bless it for our Gathering.
My three favorite words are “Before first contact.”
That would be a time before our way was polluted by other than our
own Native culture. The West Coast Indians (the Siouan-speaking language) used
sage because sage grows plentifully around that area. The Plains Indians (the
Siouan/Abenaki-speaking language) used sweet grass, a tall sweet smelling grass
that grows in area that the buffalo should still be roaming around in, and they
also use some sage.
The East Coast Indians (Algonquian-speaking language) used
tobacco (Kinnick-Kinnick), cedar, and other herbs, (no need for a fire).
I can remember a time once, when I was very young, my grandfather,
Sachem Tallfox, returned from a meeting out West (sometime in the early 40' )
a trip to help do land claims with another tribe. I am not sure which nation he
was visiting at this time, I was very young.
At one of our monthly meetings at the church in Uncasvillage while
he was teaching he talked about the ways of our brothers and sisters over west
of the Mississippi River, and how they do their smudging.
It was at that time that we in our area included sage and sweet
grass, along with our herbs while smudging, as my grandfather explained, our
brothers and sisters out West and the Natives here in the East can now spend
more time in prayer by using all of the things provided by our mother, Mother
Earth.
The Christians go to a church and pray, Jews go to a synagogue to pray and Muslims go to a mosque and pray, the Siouan-speaking
nations have what they call a Sun Dance that they go to for prayer; therefore,
they do not get all that involved with smudging a Circle.
After first contact, the non-Natives tell us that we must have
some kind of meetings at least once a year, or we as a nation cannot be
recognized as a people.
So the Siouan-speaking people have a Gathering once a year that
they can invite others to and enjoy a weekend. An East Coast nation the people
that live within an area from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River, and from
Canada to Mexico, do what was called a Pau-paus (Gathering of the People),
today it is known as a Pow-wow. This is our church; we do consider
this to be very sacred.
Creator can bless, blessings come down to Mother Earth,
never up from her!
If the smudging of the circle is done correctly you should
feel a peace of mind and a need to fellowship while in your circle.
The first thing we must understand before going any further would
be that only the Creator can bless anyone or anything, I cannot say this enough
times!
After the Circle has been marked off and the Fire Keeper
does what the Fire Keeper needs to do, the Keeper of the Circle can start
cleaning and clearing the Circle and the area around the Circle. There is no
set limit of how many people go about clearing this area; it is up to the
Keeper of the Circle as to how many help.
Once the Keeper is sure the area is safe for the dancers and
clean of any unsightly mess, the Keeper should start the smudging of the area
that is as long as it is being done long before any of the public starts
arriving.
Again, there is no limit to the number of people helping --
this is up to the Keeper of the Circle. The Keeper of the Circle should start
at the fire, light the smudge bowl medicine from the fire and start smudging
the evil out of the Circle. First, the Keeper, while still facing the fire,
starts smudging, stopping at each gate for prayer and guidance. Now when the
Fire Keeper gets back around to the east, the Keeper should turn and face the
east gate. The Keeper of the Circle usually starts smudging once again, while
still standing at the fire, working around the Circle four times, stopping at
each gate again for prayer and guidance. Once back facing the east gate, the
Keeper should take one large step toward the east gate and start around the
Circle again four times. This needs to be done until the Circle is completely
cleansed and you can step out of the east gate. At the time just before Grand
Entry, while the Keeper of the Circle is smudging dancers and flags with a
talking feather in the left hand, the Keeper asks for a chance to speak to the
dancers. It is at this time that the Keeper of the Circle asks everyone if they
would place all of their bad feelings, gossiping, and bitterness
on the ground
outside of the east gate before entering through to dance.
Usually just before the prayer and before the Veterans’
Dance, the Creator will be asked to come to the east gate to please remove all
of the bad feelings and come in to the Circle to bless it for our Gathering.
My three favorite words are “Before first contact.”
That would be a time before our way was polluted by other
than Native culture. The West Coast Indians (the Siouan-speaking language) used
sage because sage grows plentifully around that area. The Plains Indians (the
Siouan/Abenaki-speaking language) used sweet grass, a tall sweet smelling grass
that grows in area that the buffalo should still be roaming around in, and they
also use some sage.
The East Coast Indians (Algonquian-speaking language) used
tobacco, cedar, and other herbs, such as kinnick / kinnick -- (no need for a
fire).
I can remember a time once, when I was very young, my
grandfather, Sachem Tallfox, returned from a meeting out West (sometime in the
early 40' )-- a trip to help do land claims
with another tribe. I am not sure which nation he was visiting at this time, I
was very young.
At one of our monthly meetings at the church in Uncasvillage while
he was teaching he talked about our ways of our brothers and sisters over west
of the Mississippi River and how they do their smudging.
It was at that time that we in our area included sage and sweet
grass, along with our herbs while smudging, as my grandfather explained, our
brothers and sisters out West and
the Natives here in the East can now spend more time in prayer by using all of
the things provided by our mother, Mother Earth.
The Christians go to a church and pray Jews go to a
synagogue to pray and Muslims go to a mosque and pray, the Siouan-speaking
nations have what they call a Sun Dance that they go to for prayer; therefore,
they do not get all that involved with smudging a Circle.
After first contact, the non-Natives tell us that we must have
some kind of meetings at least once a year, or we as a nation cannot be
recognized as a people.
So the Siouan-speaking people have a Gathering once a year
that they can invite others to and enjoy a weekend. An East Coast nation the
people that live within an area from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River, and
from Canada to Mexico, do what was called a Pau-waus (Gathering of the People)
today it is known as a Pow-wow. This is our church; we do consider this to be
very sacred.
