Wood smoke sanitation?

[Carcajou Garou]

Has any one else used wood smoke (smudging) as a sanitation substitute when, where water was less available. Not using any poisonous woods of course, but smudging take on the use of deoderant? Till you get to a sweat lodge of course.

 

[dliwehtfollac]

i smudged myself with sweetgrass when i lived out in the wilderness.....my ansesters used sweetgrass smudge to attract the ladie......it do work

 

[RovingArcher]

Yep, when I've gone bush, I usually have a wand of California white sage or will gather and dry some coastal sage to help clean up and I will let the smoke from the campfire roll over me for several minutes to knock down my scent.

 

[wolf]

i have smudged myself with sage,also leaves to rub under arms and used sage leaves to clean my teeth,have also used pine smoke to mask my scent and the scent on snares ect...

 

[Carcajou Garou]

I usually use sage or tobacco to keep my leather projects smelling good, we smudge the house in the fall and winter to remove the closed in smell, and to purify us and the house itself When I hunt I will wash in either a cedar or a pine needle solution (tea) dpending which area Iwe are going in.

 

[quiggers]

question - but how exactly do you 'smudge', either indoors or outdoors ?

 

[Carcajou Garou]

We use a smuging bowl (at present it is an abalone shell given to us by a friend) with the 4 traditional medicines, tobacco, sweatgrass, sage and cedar. We take a small handfull of each and light them up and let them smolder in the shell, with a feather we waft the smoke over each of us, then proceed to smudge the interior of the house in a counter clockwise direction finally exiting by the door we most use. For the exterior we again walk counter clockwise smudging the house, car, canoe etc... We grow the sweatgrass, white sage (not the cooking kind) and cedar, next year we hope to plant fertile tobacco plants also. There are other purification ceremonies that we also do privately.
CG :yo:

 

[arctic hobo]

Has any one else used wood smoke (smudging) as a sanitation substitute when, where water was less available. Not using any poisonous woods of course, but smudging take on the use of deoderant? Till you get to a sweat lodge of course.

Absolutely. Better for your body than whacking on a load of chemicals too, as well as being useful on the hunt

 

[RovingArcher]

We use a traditional clay pot to burn the 4 sacred herbs and an Abalone shell while on the road or in the bush. Likewise, we smudge our home in the same manner as does Carcajou Garou.

 

[tomtom]

i have only ever used smudging (with sage bundles) for spiritual cleansing/ in ceremoney... never for removing physical smells and the like.. interesting thread!