Kinnikinnick is a Native American and First Nations herbalism smoking mixture made from a traditional combination of leaves or barks. Recipes for the mixture vary, as do the uses, including social, spiritual, and medicinal.
Etymology
The term
kinnikinnick derives from the
Lenape language , (
cf. Ojibwe language giniginige 'to mix
something animate with
something inanimate'),
[" kiniginige" in Frederic Baraga A Dictionary of the Ojibway Language. Minnesota Historical Society Press (St. Paul, MN: 1992). . Part II, page 189.] from Proto-Algonquian kereken-, .
[Flexner, Stuart Berg and Leonore Crary Hauck, eds.. The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, 2nd ed. (unabridged). Random House (New York: 1987). Page 1058.]
By extension, the name was also applied by the colonial European hunters, traders, and settlers to various shrubs of which the bark or leaves are traditionally smoked,["Kinnikinnick" in Frederick Webb Hodge (editor) Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Bureau of American Ethnology (Washington: 1911). Part 1, page 692.] most often bearberry ( Arctostaphylos spp.)[ Smoking and Pipes , Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook-Abenaki People]
Indigenous names
-
Algonquin: nasemà, (mitàkozigan, ; apàkozigan, )
-
Dakota language and Lakota language: čhaŋšáša
-
Hul̓q̓umín̓um̓’: Tl’ikw’iyelhp,
-
Lushootseed: k̓ayuk̓ayu,
-
Menominee: ahpa͞esāwān,
-
Ottawa language: semaa, (mtaaḳzigan, ; paaḳzigan, )
-
Ojibwe language: asemaa, (mitaakozigan, ; apaakozigan, )
-
Shoshoni: äñ′-ka-kwi-nûp,
-
Twana language: sQiwat,
-
Winnebago: roxį́šučkéra,
Preparation and use
The preparation varies by locality and nation. Bartlett quotes Trumbull as saying: "I have smoked half a dozen varieties of kinnikinnick in the North-west — all genuine; and have scraped and prepared the
Cornus sericea-bark, which is not much worse than Suffield
oak-leaf."
[" "Kinnikinnick" in John Russell Bartlett. Dictionary of Americanisms, 4th Edition. Little, Brown, and Company (New York: 1877). Page 335.]
Eastern tribes have traditionally used Nicotiana rustica for social smoking, while western tribes usually use a variety of kinnikinick for Ceremonial pipe.[Charles L. Cutler. Tracks that speak: the legacy of Native American words in North American culture. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (Boston : 2002). Pages 174–176. ] Cutler cites Edward S. Rutsch's study of the Iroquois, listing ingredients used by other Native American tribes: leaves or bark of red osier dogwood, arrowroot, red sumac, laurus nobilis, ironwood, wahoo, huckleberry, Lobelia inflata, cherry bark, and Verbascum, among other ingredients.
Historical references
Among the
Ojibwe, Densmore records the following: The material smoked by the Chippewa in earliest times were said to be the dried leaves of the bearberry (
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (L.) Spreng.), and the dried, powdered root of a plant identified as
Aster novae-angliae L. Two sorts of bark were smoked, one being known as "red willow" (
Cornus sericea) and the other as "spotted willow" (
Cornus rugosa Lam.). The inner bark is used, after being toasted over a fire and powdered. It is then stored in a cloth or leather bag, and may be used on its own or in combination with other herbs.
[Frances Densmore. Chippewa Customs. Bureau of American Ethnology (Washington: 1929) Reprint: Minnesota Historical Society Press (St. Paul: 1979). Pages 144-145.]
See also
Bibliography
External links
-
Traditional Tobacco pamphlet by the Urban American Indian Tobacco Prevention & Education Network
