Native Smudging In Our Ceremony

I have Native roots and am thinking of including "Smudging" in our ceremony. I have ran it past FH and he is neither here nor there about the idea. Has anyone heard of incorporating this in the ceremony, or is it more a reception ritual. We have included Native prayers/blessings into our ceremony as well.

Any ideas?

Here is a link to explain more about smudging. http://healing.about.com/cs/native/a/smudging.htm

I have Native American roots too! But smudging is also a Pagan tradition as well. We're having that in our Handfasting ritual. So, obviously I think it's a GREAT idea!

You can tell FH that it doesn't need to be a HUGE show or anything. A smudging is very subtle and explain it would be very meaningful to you. I'm assuming that you explained the significance behind the ceremony to him? I completely love the idea and it will fit into any religious (or non-religious) ceremony. I'd say the best place for it would probably be right at the very beginning of the ceremony, right before or after the opening greeting.

You can buy a small sage bundle for a few bucks at any New Age store. And if you want to get a shell to lay the sage stick on, that's only maybe $5 for a big shell. Wayne and I recently bought a medium size bundle for I believe $3-4, along with a new shell (I lost my old one) and we cleansed the whole house with it.

Lol I spent like 2 hours the other day talking to him about it. Here in Ontario we have an organization Metis Nation of Ontario, which I am a part of, so he has been exposed to alot of cultural things and Native events. He doesnt seem to see a need for it, I think mainly because he isn't native. I know I would like to be smudged, mainly because it is a ritual I am used to seeing done at important events etc. I know he and I have been having a rough time financially, and housing ha been rough the past few months, so cleansing ourselves, and completely having a new clean start to our marriage would be beneficial. Glad to know someone else knows what smudging is lol

sarah1989 wrote:so cleansing ourselves, and completely having a new clean start to our marriage would be beneficial.

Yup, that's the main reason we're doing it. We're doing it at the beginning so that everyone that's up there with us- everyone in the circle- will be cleansed, as it's a sacred space... and also as you said with the new beginnings.

Is it just the two of you being blessed? Or would you want to include the wedding party too? I think it would be fine either way. But if you wanted the wedding party to participate, I'd explain everything first and the ones who aren't comfortable with it your officiant could just skip.

I know once we get our whole ceremony written completely we're going over EVERY detail with the wedding party. A Wiccan Handfasting is something VERY different than they are used to, lol. Though they already got the "sit down talk" about it when we asked to begin with.

Well I am sure a few members of our wedding party would go along with it, but one I am positive would not. She is very religious and against anything that she has not been brought up with. I want to make sure Alex is up for it first before we open up the idea to everyone in the wedding party. I know idealy I would like everyone in the wedding party to have it done.

sarah1989 wrote:She is very religious and against anything that she has not been brought up with.

Sounds like my Aunt. I'm gonna just LOVE it when she gets our invite and finds out it's a Wiccan ceremony, mwhaha. But my best friend- who I wanted to be my MOH- already declined to be in the wedding cause it was Wiccan, which I don't hold it against her. Hey, at least she's coming to support me, and she really doesn't care we're Wiccan, so...

sarah1989 wrote:I know idealy I would like everyone in the wedding party to have it done.

I know what you mean. I think Wayne's best friend, who is BM, probably won't want to do anything other than the "norm" BM duties. I originally wanted to include some of the wedding party members in calling the elements- my sis is Wiccan as is my best guy friend so those two I figured would work, and then I figured it's only right the MOH and BM have the other two spots, but Wayne knew the BM wasn't gonna go for it, so we're just calling the elements ourselves. *shrugs*

WolfSpirit292 wrote:
Sounds like my Aunt. I'm gonna just LOVE it when she gets our invite and finds out it's a Wiccan ceremony, mwhaha. But my best friend- who I wanted to be my MOH- already declined to be in the wedding cause it was Wiccan, which I don't hold it against her. Hey, at least she's coming to support me, and she really doesn't care we're Wiccan, so...

Lol too funny. I love my friend I do, she has always been there for me so I will stand by her whether she wants to be involved in the smudging or not.

WolfSpirit292 wrote:
I know what you mean. I think Wayne's best friend, who is BM, probably won't want to do anything other than the "norm" BM duties. I originally wanted to include some of the wedding party members in calling the elements- my sis is Wiccan as is my best guy friend so those two I figured would work, and then I figured it's only right the MOH and BM have the other two spots, but Wayne knew the BM wasn't gonna go for it, so we're just calling the elements ourselves. *shrugs*

The more I think about it lol, I think it will only be us, our maid of honour and maybe our bestman. Our bestman is Alex's (step)father, who as well has Native roots, and may be more open to his heritage.