Sacred Indian Tobacco - What Indian Elders Have To Say:00:40 Nov 26 2007
Times Read: 474
Ernie Benedict
Elder, Iroquois Nation
Creation: A Relationship with Tobacco Begins to Emerge
Sky Woman began to fall to earth, and as she fell she brought with her two main plants of Tobacco and Strawberry. The water animals watched her descend. In preparation for her, the muskrat took bits of dirt and carried them to the surface of the water. The dirt was placed on the back of the sea turtle, and it is here where Sky Woman landed. The plants she was carrying took seed and continued to grow as Strawberry and Tobacco on what is now known as Turtle Island.
Tobacco was symbolic of the initiation of life, while strawberries symbolized the afterlife. Tobacco was given honour as a plant of a heavenly nature. When Tobacco is burned the smoke rises, which provides the link to all the spirits beyond the sky. Tobacco was a gift that was given to Aboriginal people, and it had a spiritual place within our community. This carried with it a great honour.
Pipes are also tools that assisted with communicating with the spiritual world. Therefore smoking Tobacco in pipes was held in a high regard, as symbols of communication with higher powers and great symbols of peace. The pipe was a communicator, a strong symbol of peace when oral language
and speech became barriers to communicating.
QUESTION: Is the traditional Tobacco in this story the same as the tobacco they sell in stores? If not, how is it different?
ANSWER: Tobacco in its original form had both honour and purpose. As well, traditional Tobacco did not contain all the chemicals that are now put into tobacco. Its purpose is to communicate with the spiritual world, beyond the skies. What is sold today has been tampered with for business and profit, taking away from its original purpose.
QUESTION: There is a belief held by some Native people that commercial tobacco and traditional Tobacco can be used interchangeably. What do we say to people who believe this?
ANSWER: When Tobacco is used in a spiritual way, it serves a purpose to aspire to good things. However, when commercial tobacco is used for ceremonial purposes, it loses something.
It loses the ideal of sacredness in the ceremony. Tobacco is meant to be used in a sacred manner and not to satisfy an addictive need built up within you.
[IMG]http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n23/wolfspirits_2006/Archie_Cheechoo.jpg[/IMG]
Elder Archie Cheechoo, Cree Nation
Archie talks to us about the origin of tobacco in his culture.
I’m not really sure I ever heard about the origin of tobacco in my culture but I know about the origin story of all life on earth. You know what happened in spiritual terms. This is a long time ago, before this earth existed. Everyone was asked by the Creator if they wanted to come forward to go to this world. So the animals, the birds, trees, and all manner of spirit came forward and each said why they would want to go to the earth.
For example, one horse said, “I want to go to the earth to be there to help the people.” And the Creator said to him, “but you know if you go the people are going to treat you really rough…bad.”
“I’m still willing to give myself, give my life for the people,” said the horse. And so did the other animals, and the trees, the spirit of the trees, the spirit of all these living creatures. They were there before the humans; the humans were the last ones that were given the opportunity to come to earth.
That’s why, when Native people go hunting and we kill the moose, the deer, the beaver – that’s because that’s what they said they would do, including the buffalo. So they will provide themselves as a resource to the human for its survival. And so that covenant was made by the animals with the Creator. And so when they came to earth the Native people understood and knew that’s why they were there. They didn’t have any moral issues surrounding that because they knew what had already been pledged.
And so that’s why today, if you find a hunter who follows a spiritual way, an animal will present itself to him. You know, a moose will present itself and say “Here I am; this was my commitment to provide you with food.” You know the Creator said, “I will provide everything for you, and you won’t need anything, and all you got to do is ask.” But there was a way that our people asked and that way was with tobacco.
Tobacco grew naturally and it wasn’t just one plant.
It was more than one, and these plants were mixed together to come up with the tobacco that is used as an offering. And the tobacco was made through prayer so that this tobacco has sacredness to it. And from the heart, the smoke always reached to the heavens, but if it wasn’t coming from the heart and it was coming from the mind, it never got there. So that’s how it came about. Tobacco went before the Great Spirit and said, “I too want to go down there and be a part of the teachings, and I want to be part of the ceremonies that’ll be provided.”
Just like the pipe — the sacred pipe was given to the people. The stone spirit spoke and he said, “Here I am, I’m ready to do my work.” And so the Native people were shown that particular stone and this was the stone you will fashion into a pipe that will be the communication, the teachings between this world and the spirit world. And by bringing the sacred pipe together you are also bringing together that which was the spirit within each human being connecting up with the spirit world and the heavens. And then in that connection flowed the teachings and the understanding of life.
For example, the leaves on the trees, the needles on the evergreens, that is the filter of the earth. And they filter the air, they purify the air to filter it because so much of the filter’s been taken away it’s making it harder for people to breathe, and now we’re getting all kinds of diseases and sicknesses so that the trees are not as capable of diffusing radioactivity. Since the 1940s, over 2,000 detonations have happened — nuclear detonations around the world. Everyone knows from all the scientific studies that this material never degenerates and it all remains in the environment.
The capacity of the trees have to help us to breath, to help us to stay healthy. Like they say, all the medicines are in the earth, are part of the earth. When you walk in the woods and you’re in the woods for half an hour to an hour, when you come back out of it you feel refreshed, because there are so many fragrances in nature that are healing and you smell them and it is healing. And if you cut all that and you start getting rid of all that medicine, it is not there to nourish the children anymore; and that medicine is not there to nourish the Elders anymore because it has been depleted.
And so you know smoking is such a small part of what we should be looking at, looking at our body as the earth and the smoke as what we take in from cigarettes, as the pollution. When we see smokestacks around the world, those smokestacks are blowing smoke continuously, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. And a cigarette doesn’t light that long.
A sacred pipe doesn’t light that long; the sacred pipe is only lit for maybe a few moments and the sacred pipe’s medicine is healing.
When you’re taking a look at the small issue of smoking cigarettes, you have to take a look at the global issue, not what they say — we “live in a global economy” — we also live in a global health system, a natural health system. And if we want to affect the natural global health system, one country can’t do it alone. All the countries must accept the fact that the environment is being polluted; that the agents that are in the environment are affecting our people. It’s affecting our children and you can see the high rise of asthma. And cancer is on the rise and it’s very deadly.
Archie talks about tobacco as a medicine:
Tobacco is not really unique, it’s a spirit, it’s part of the medicine. I don’t treat it any different than the tree spirit, the wolf spirit or any other spirits. Anything that is part of creation that can create itself; like when Spring comes, the leaves come on the trees. You know, that’s creation — that’s creating. Something is changing and that’s possible because of the spirit. Once the spirit leaves, that’s it for us. What do they say, we go dust to dust and that’s basically it… we become manure for the land, good cultivation. You know the body and you know the spirit, but the spirit lives on. And it just moves to its next destination.
I have been taught not to volunteer. I was told you wait until they pass the tobacco to you. And then that’s the door that the time is okay to speak about the spiritual things. That’s the significance of that tobacco. The Elders say don’t talk about those things without the proper protocol, and that is tobacco. So I guess in that way it is very important because it allows you to speak. When they hand it to you, you can connect with the universe with that tobacco.
And medicine can flow through a person, whether they are male or female, and the teachings come to people through that tobacco. And that way, you’re also protecting the gift and doing things the right way. How far back this teaching goes I don’t know but it goes back and it’s all part of the teaching of the medicine wheel. And that medicine wheel is everything, even the beginning of time. And so through that tobacco you can find the beginning of time, you can find answers that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to find without the use of tobacco.
So tobacco is unique because it opens such an important and such a special pool of knowledge that exists in the spirit world and also exists within us. It is within us, and then when we start any ceremony, whether it be a sweatlodge, it’s the same thing. Somebody had to come forward with the tobacco and ask the Elder in the proper way. And each person who goes in the sweatlodge has a problem they want to share, and the Elder works with the tobacco and the spirits to try and help the people. And the spirit responds to the tobacco, the spirit likes to receive tobacco. And you have to respect that spirit. And when people go to the sacred fire they take tobacco and they put it in as a sign of respect.
Is there a difference between traditional tobacco and commercial tobacco when it comes to giving tobacco to an Elder?
I was taught to accept any tobacco. It’s always special and always good to receive traditional tobacco that’s been picked from the earth. That kind of tobacco is good to smoke in the sacred pipe. Elders like to keep that kind of tobacco to smoke in the pipe and share with the spirits. Because that is what the spirits like. But when someone comes to you with a cigarette instead of traditional tobacco you can’t say. “I’m sorry, you know I can’t accept that.”
You have to understand the person; maybe that’s all they have. In ceremonies I prefer to use the traditional tobacco but sometimes I don’t have too much, so I’ll mix the commercial tobacco with the traditional tobacco because I use tobacco a lot. We always bless it before we use it in ceremonies. I bless my tobacco with sweetgrass.
If you don’t have traditional tobacco, go to your Elders and find out which plant is tobacco for your area. And when they teach you and you grow it yourself it is even more meaningful, not only to you but to the Elder that receives it. Because it is done from your own sweat and from your heart. Sometimes an Elder will not accept tobacco from a person because maybe the person is not ready for whatever they are asking for. The Elder has the right to accept or not accept tobacco.
Tobacco is very important to our ceremonies. Without tobacco it is pretty hard to establish communication with the spirits. Without tobacco the ceremonies would be different. For the pipe ceremony you need to have tobacco, to have a sweatlodge ceremony you need tobacco because we start with the pipe, so the lodge would be different too. During fasting too, tobacco is the central medicine in your fast and you have it with you all the time. And we are told to always carry tobacco because you never know what the day will bring and you may need to put it down for something or offer it to an Elder for help. So it is very significant to me.
Archie’s views on smoking cigarettes:
A lot of people have a hard time quitting smoking; it is like alcohol — you become addicted. Even me, I began at age 16 to smoke. After my heart operation, even after my heart attack, I was still smoking. I had a hard time then. One day I had to make the decision and I was trying different ways to quit. I knew if I didn’t do this it would kill me. So I went to the sweatlodge and I took my tobacco, as our grandfathers had offered this tobacco to the spirits.
And I said, “I know we offer this tobacco to the spirits for help; I ‘m offering this tobacco to you because I smoke a lot of cigarettes and there’s stuff in these cigarettes that hurts people. And I know I’m not rejecting the tobacco spirit but I’m rejecting the things in cigarettes that hurt me. And so I have to let go this year but I’ll still be smoking the sacred pipe when we have ceremonies. So I need help — so can he help me that I can quit?” And so that’s how I quit smoking. And I was able to do it cold-turkey, I had a hard time, but I succeeded after six months and I fell off here and there, but I did it. And I haven’t had a craving for a cigarette since then. So it’s your willpower and determination.
Where I’m from, that commercial tobacco was being used back in the 1900s; they were using it in pipes. The Europeans got the little pipes from the Native people. We were already smoking our traditional tobacco but they brought that tar tobacco over from England. But smoking that kind of tobacco goes back to 1673, when the European merchants first came to the shores of James Bay. And they came with their long clay pipes.
People are starting to get the message that smoking is bad for them.
I see a lot more people smoking outside because of second-hand smoke, even way up North. I think the advertisements are working. Children as young as those in Grade 3 should be taught smoking is bad for them, because a lot of kids start smoking at a young age.
We also need positive role models for the kids, especially in sports, to show smoking is bad. The problem is there is little for the kids to do in some communities. So they just hang out, and the only acceptable leisure activity that doesn’t seem to have any legal consequences in the courts is smoking cigarettes. And some of it is done as a status symbol, some because of peer pressure, but then they get addicted. And if you don’t have the money to feed that addiction it can lead to other things to get that money.
Source: http://www.tobaccowise.com/traditional/elders
What Some Historical Researchers have to Say
If we seek to account for the use of tobacco in ritual, we shall probably be on the right track if we take into account the general reasons for fumigation by censing as they apply to an early stage of religious belief. In all likelihood, tobacco came to be regarded as a sacred substance given to man by the gods because it was found to be so admirable a material for the purpose of censing or fumigation. The practice of censing itself originated, one is convinced, not merely in the belief that fragrant smoke of any kind must prove an acceptable offering to the gods, though we must not altogether discount that possibility, but more probably because smoke, steam, mist, cloud and other vaporous exhalations recalled to primitive man the ghostly nature and unsubstantial essence of which he believed the gods, and indeed all spiritual beings, were composed. To put the matter plainly, that which resembles the essence of the gods must itself be godlike or sacred. The suggestion may not be too strained that vapour which ascends to heaven, appearing to be lost or absorbed, may have come to be regarded as nourishing the spirit-bodies of the divinities precisely as offerings of blood were considered as reinforcing them for the task of providing a plentiful supply of rain in season, as the peoples of Mexico and Central America firmly believed.
Nor can the magical protective efficacy attributed to tobacco by the hunter, the fisher, and the husbandman among many of the North American tribes while pursuing their avocations, be otherwise accounted for than as the employment of a sacred substance, the very essence of the divine spirit of the herb, to avert evil or malignant agencies or drive away the demons of tempest, or the devouring goblins of the lake or river when agitated by the storms. Offerings of the kind were actually made to spirits in Scotland only a generation or so ago. Fishermen on the Tweed cast salt upon the surface of the river in order to "drive away the fairies." In Derbyshire and in Ireland, not so very long ago, tobacco pipes were offered up to the elves, a custom which may or may not have been introduced by returned colonists from the American provinces, while countless analogies of sacred substances being cast in the path of eddies of wind or whirlwinds could be adduced from Greece, Arabia, and the East, as well as from Scotland and Ireland.
Source: http://home.att.net/~waeshael/sacred.htm
Some Traditional Uses of Sacred Tobacco
Traditional tobacco was:
cultivated separately from other crops
burnt over the fire
thrown on water
left on the ground
smoked in a pipe either by an individual or passed around a circle of people
chewed as a way to soften it for medicine
Generally, traditional tobacco was an important component of
Native cultures in two main aspects:
Ceremonial
communication with the spirits (smoke)
thanking the Creator
praying for a good harvest or better fish catch
rites of passage ceremonies (birth, weddings, funerals)
sealing the peace with enemies (peace pipe)
Medicinal
To treat earaches and snakebites
As a poultice on skin inflammations, bruises and eruptions
To purify the mind and heal the body
Some nations have a "pipe carrier", a special medicine person who uses tobacco the traditional way to communicate with the Creator.
Today, traditional tobacco is still regarded as sacred by most Aboriginal groups and retains its spiritual and, in some cases, medicinal value. However, because tobacco has been a vital part of Aboriginal culture for so long, its traditional use is sometimes given as a justification for smoking or chewing commercial tobacco. Such confusion can hinder efforts to reduce the unhealthy consumption or to deal with the harmful effects of non-traditional tobacco use.
Source: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/pubs/tobac-tabac/quit-cesser-guide/session-seance_3_e.html
How Important was Tobacco to the Indians?
Before all religious ceremonies, tobacco was offered to the spirits. The universal method of inviting people to feasts or notifying them of ceremonies was the delivery of a small amount of dry tobacco by a runner sent out for that purpose. When a shaman agreed to accept a client's case, he indicated it by taking the offered gift of tobacco.
Tobacco also sealed peace treaties between tribes and agreements between individuals. For such a purpose, the chief often kept a special pipe with a long decorated stem. While pipes of this sort have been called "peace pipes," the stem-called a calumet-was actually more important. During disagreements between individuals in a tribe the pipe or the stem could be held between them to stop the quarrel, an they would be encouraged to smoke together to end their disagreement. Smoking together was also a way to seal bargains or agreements between leaders of different groups, and offering a pipe to someone meant an end to hostilities.
Everyday Use of Tobacco vs. Ceremonial Use
Smoking a pipe as part of a ceremony or spiritual offering seems to have been about as common as smoking it for personal satisfaction. For personal use, tobacco was consumed primarily in pipes and was smoked by both men and women, but never by children. Kinnickinnick-- a mix with various other herbal substances, usually red willow --was used with strong native tobacco in varying amounts to suit the individual smoker. Personal pipes were small with a short stem.
Kinnickinnick (an Ojibwe word) literally means "what is mixed," and refers to plant materials that Indian people mixed with tobacco for smoking. Use of kinnickinnick was widespread in North America but the ingredients varied regionally. In the Woodlands, the favorite ingredients were the inner bark of certain willows, dogwoods, or sumac leaves. The final mixture usually only contained about one third tobacco.
Source: http://www.mpm.edu/wirp/ICW-166.html
Sacred Tobacco Vs. Commercial Tobacco
Two varieties of tobacco interest us here. One is Nicotiana rustica, or "true tobacco", which was used by Native peoples in the Americas long before the arrival of Europeans. This variety, although not native to North America, has adapted successfully to the climate. Commercial tobacco such as the one used in cigarettes, is Nicotiana tabacum which was originally grown in South and Central America but was later cultivated successfully in Virginia where it became a major cash crop 1. "True tobacco", a milder form than the tobacco used in commercial tobacco products, was widely regarded by North American Indians as a sacred plant and was often cultivated separately from other crops involving specific rituals for sowing and harvesting. It was used in a great number of ceremonies as an essential element of ritual. It could be burnt over the fire, thrown on water, left on the ground or smoked in a pipe that was passed around a circle of people or in individual pipes.
In South and Central America where the stronger, larger- leafed Non-Traditional use of Nicotiana Tabacum grew, Indians smoked tobacco in pipes of many shapes and sizes, or in the form of cones or "smoking rolls", sometimes elaborately decorated. In some parts of South America, tobacco was chewed or used as snuff to "clear the head" but this was largely a custom brought in by the whites. In addition, tobacco was also used as a remedy for many ailments. The Mayas took tobacco for such varied conditions as asthma, bites and stings, bowel complaints, chills, fever, convulsions, nervous ailments, sore eyes, skin diseases and urinary ailments" (Tierra:56).
Some tribes also cultivated tobacco "as an insecticide against certain fly larvae which were parasites to the skin" (Idem). But whatever the method of use, tobacco was present in every aspect of life and was essential on various occasions such as sowing or harvesting, births, marriages, rites of passage and funerals, and praying and offering thanks to the spirits or the gods.
Among North American Indians, tobacco traditionally also served many purposes including sealing the peace with other tribes; healing various ailments such as earaches (Malecites) snake bites (Choctaws), cuts and burns (Crees); preventing lightning and storms (Seminoles) or aiding in the fish catch (Carolina Indians) (N.N.A.D.A.P:28). The most prominent use of tobacco smoke however, was as an offering to the spirits. This could be achieved by smoking it in a pipe or placing it directly on the fire. In some cases, tobacco was "placed on the ground as an offering to the earth, thrown on water, or placed on or by sacred rocks or trees" (Idem). But the most powerful way of communicating with the spirits was to smoke the tobacco in a pipe "because the sharing of the smoke between the one making the offering and the spirit receiving it created a communion between the two" (Schissel:3).
Source: http://www.niichro.com/Tobacco/Tobac1.html
Bibliography
1. Blondin, Bertha, "Traditional use of Tobacco Among the Dene", Arctic Medical Research, 1990;49:Suppl.2:51-53.
2. * N.N.A.D.A.P.; Liz O'Bomsawin, The Smoke-free Kit for Native Communities; Health and Welfare Canada 1991.
3. National Association of Friendship Centres; Bill Dare; Sacred Plant, Sacred Ways:", NAFC Tobacco Demand Reduction Strategy; N.A.F.C., Ottawa, 1995.
4. * Paper Jordan, Offering Smoke, The Sacred Pipe and Native American Religion, The University of Idaho Press, Moscow, Idaho, 1988.5. Pendell Dale, Plant Powers, Poisons and Herbcraft, Mercury House, San Francisco, 1995.
5. * Rutsch, Edward, S., Smoking Technology of the Aborigines of the Iroquois Area of New York State, Associated University Presses Inc., Cranberry, New Jersey, 1973.
6. Schissel, Catherine, "Traditional Tobacco Use in Plains Indian Societies", Report Commissioned by Canadian Cancer Society, Alberta, N.W.T. Division; Jan.1994;8. Tierra, Michael, "Healing Herbs - Tobacco: Native Blessing or Whiteman's curse"; Shaman's Drum; Summer 1986; 56-58.
7. Voges Ernst, Tobacco Encyclopedia (extract) Tobacco Journal International; N.D., 363-369.
COMMENTS
-