Smudge Fire....?? ?? ??

[bambodoggy]

Hey All,

Can anyone tell me what a Smudge fire is and how you make them....

I mean, I know they are sort of aromatic smokey fires for Native American rituals and also for keeping biting insects away but I don't really know how to make one and what sort of wood I need to use or how to build it etc....

I want it mainly to keep the mossi's away....

Any help would be appriciated... ):

 

[Toddy]

Don't know about 'smudge fire' but we make "smoke" from sweetgrass. Plait it into ropes about 2' long and about as thick as the inside cardboard roll from kitchen towels. They hang to dry for a couple of weeks and then the ends are lit and the flame blown out and it slowly smoulders with a really nice scented smoke. The grass grows down the Clyde estuary so suppose it's indigenous....don't know it's botanical name...sorry :?: If you look up old herbals or receipt (old name for recipe, for *everything*) books or check out some of the pagan links you may find what you're looking for under Hearth Herbs. Mugwort is a goodie as is Juniper, bog myrtle give off stuff that discourages midgies :super: (if you boil the little cones they'll leave a skim of oily wax, mix this in with either dried grass (the *lawn* stuff!) or moss and burn it, that works too....now I just need to find something that stops clegs

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[bambodoggy]

Thanks Toddy....judging by the number of views and quiet response it doesn't look like anyone else is too sure on them either....that's good, at least I'm not the only one! lol.....

 

[ScottC]

Hmmm I may be wrong but I think this is when you put the mud of a termite mound on your fire to discourage mosquitos. i'll do a little research for ya!

 

[TheViking]

Have a look here mate. Don't know if it's of any use.

 

[tenbears10]

:biggthump That looks just the ticket Viking

 

[bambodoggy]

Have a look here mate. Don't know if it's of any use.

Hey!!!! Top job Viking....hopefully the team won't get eaten alive while we're in Sweden in June..lol Many thanks for your help Matey :biggthump

Whomever wrote that article is definately a person after my own heart...I loved this bit:

"An attempt to produce almost any other kind of a fire will bring forth smoke abundantly. But when you deliberately undertake to create a smudge, flames break from the wettest timber, and green moss blazes with a furious heat. You hastily gather handfuls of seemingly incombustible material and throw it on the fire, but the conflagration increases. Grass and green leaves hesitate for an instant and then flash up like tinder. The more you put on, the more your smudge rebels against its proper task of smudging. It makes a pleasant warmth, to encourage the black-flies; and bright light to attract and cheer the mosquitoes. Your effort is a brilliant failure."
Fantastic....and so bound to happen to me! :rolmao:

 

[tomtom]

Bam.. i use bundles of deyed sage for smudgeing in ceremony.. but this, i think, is some what different to the smudge fire used for insect repelent... i have recently been reading Rutstrums 'new way of the wilderness' and it describes a smudge fire for this purpose.. however i dont know the details of this fire.. though i would suggest it is that wich 'smolders' and not 'burns' there for smoke is its primary by-product is smoke/steam as opposed to heat or light!!!??

 

[ronsos]

have you tried www.flora celtica.co re proper name and more for sweetgrass.toddy?

 

[ChrisKavanaugh]

Smudging, or producing an aromatic smoke is done by many peoples for various cultural reasons. Burning incense in church is the same idea. The practical aspect is not limited to insect repellant. Hunters still smoke themselves to mask human scent.

 

[Carcajou Garou]

You are right CK, certain grasses and woods have different uses in smudging, purifying, ourselves, our houses, to cleanse (bacteria odor) us, as an offering to Creator, a mask for scent, appease spirits, as a medicine. We use cedar, sweet grass, sage and tobacco principly but medicine people use others also.
just a thought

 

[Justin Time]

Toddy
Would this be sweetgrass?
http://www.plant-identification.co.uk/skye/rubiaceae/galium-odoratum.htm

 

[Toddy]

No; I hadn't thought of woodruff for this though. The grass grows in the tidal river silt. I've tried Flora Celtica but can't find it there either.....maybe it's one of those 'travellers' that came in with the old trading ships.
I'm going to haul out the last bundles and see if I can find a seed head, maybe that'd help, but it is a grass and it's a real goodie
Toddy

 

[tomtom]

An interesting article...

got to: Library > Sacred Smoke

not much to do with the insect repelant side of smudding but interesting non-the less!

 

[match]

No; I hadn't thought of woodruff for this though. The grass grows in the tidal river silt. I've tried Flora Celtica but can't find it there either.....maybe it's one of those 'travellers' that came in with the old trading ships.
I'm going to haul out the last bundles and see if I can find a seed head, maybe that'd help, but it is a grass and it's a real goodie
Toddy

There are two grasses I know that are used as incenses - one is known as sweetgrass, and looks like this:

The other one is known as Sweet Vernal Grass and looks like this:

Which has broader flatter leaves.

Don't know if either of these are the ones you are burning though:?:

 

[jakunen]

Phil,

Aside from the smudge fire, I'll be bringing some citronella candles to Sweden (hell they're cheap enough (to me anyway )) and several brands of bug spray that I want to trial...

 

[bambodoggy]

Cool as.... I've got some citronella tea-lite candles that I'll bring along with my bugspray and net (think I may buy a head net off Gary too) but I just wanted to see if we could do things in a bit more of a bushcrafty way while we're over there....

I'm sure Gary and Johan will have idea's for smudge fires etc as well but I thought I'd ask what the guys and gals on here had to tell me about them too ): Also, I've read most of Tom Brown Jr's books and he talks about them quite a lot so I was interested to hear more about them.....

 

[Walkabout]

The inner woody bit of a dead clematis stem can be lit at one end and left to smoulder like an incense stick. Also as it has a porous structure along its length it can be smoked like a cigar, hence the name "boys bacca". However seeing as its poisonous... :shock:

 

[Toddy]

There are two grasses I know that are used as incenses - one is known as sweetgrass, and looks like this:

This looks most like it Match....the workshops are flitting and the new ones are being renovated....I can't find a d***** thing I've only got a small bundle here at home and there aren't any seeds in it, so I won't swear to it being the same, but....
It makes really good cordage too, fine stuff, not coarse and hand shredding.
Thanks,
Toddy