Kinnikinnick is a Native American and First Nations herbal

smoking Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke is typically breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, which have bee ...

mixture, made from a traditional combination of leaves or barks. Recipes for the mixture vary, as do the uses, from social, to spiritual to medicinal.

Etymology

The term "kinnikinnick" derives from the Unami Delaware , "mixture" (''c.f.'' Ojibwe ''giniginige'' "to mix ''something animate'' with ''something inanimate''"), from

Proto-Algonquian Proto-Algonquian (commonly abbreviated PA) is the proto-language from which the various Algonquian languages are descended. It is generally estimated to have been spoken around 2,500 to 3,000 years ago, but there is less agreement on where it was ...

''*kereken-'', "mix (it) with something different by hand". 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 used in the mixture,"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.'') and to lesser degree, red osier dogwood ('' Cornus sericea'') and silky cornel ('' Cornus amomum''), and even to Canadian bunchberry ('' Cornus canadensis''), evergreen sumac (''

Rhus virens ''Rhus virens'' is a species of flowering plant in the mango family, Anacardiaceae, that is native to Arizona, southern New Mexico, and Texas in the United States as well as northern and central Mexico as far south as Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , ...

''), littleleaf sumac ('' Rhus microphylla''), smooth sumac (''

Rhus glabra ''Rhus glabra'', the smooth sumac, (also known as white sumac, upland sumac, or scarlet sumac) is a species of sumac in the family Anacardiaceae, native to North America, from southern Quebec west to southern British Columbia in Canada, and sou ...

''), and staghorn sumac ('' Rhus typhina'').

Indigenous names

* Algonquin: ''nasemà'', "tobacco" (''mitàkozigan'', "unmixed tobacco"; ''apàkozigan'', "mixed tobacco") * Dakota and Lakota: ''čhaŋšáša'' * Menominee : ''ahpa͞esāwān'', "kinnikinnick" * Odaawaa: ''semaa'', "tobacco" (''mtaaḳzigan'', "unmixed tobacco"; ''paaḳzigan'', "mixed tobacco") * Ojibwe: ''asemaa'', "tobacco" (''mitaakozigan'', "unmixed tobacco"; ''apaakozigan'', "mixed tobacco") * Shoshoni: ''äñ′-ka-kwi-nûp'', "kinnikinnick" *

Winnebago Winnebago can refer to: * The exonym of the Ho-Chunk tribe of Native North Americans with reservations in Nebraska, Iowa, and Wisconsin ** Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, a federally recognized tribe group in the state ** The Winnebago language of the ...

: ''roxį́šučkéra'', "bark to smoke"

Preparation and use

The preparation varies by locality and nation.

Bartlett Bartlett may refer to: Places *Bartlett Bay, Canada, Arctic waterway * Wharerata, New Zealand, also known as Bartletts United States * Bartlett, Illinois ** Bartlett station, a commuter railroad station * Bartlett, Iowa Bartlett is an uninc ...

quotes

Trumbull Trumbull may refer to: Places United States * Trumbull County, Ohio ** Trumbull Township, Ashtabula County, Ohio * Trumbull, Connecticut * Trumbull, Nebraska * Fort Trumbull, Connecticut * Mount Trumbull Wilderness in Arizona People Surname * ...

as saying: "I have smoked half a dozen varieties of kinnikinnick in the North-west — all genuine; and have scraped and prepared the red willow-

bark Bark may refer to: * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Places * Bark, Germany * Bark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland Arts, ...

, 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 use.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, laurel, ironwood, wahoo, huckleberry, Indian tobacco,

cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The nam ...

bark, and mullein, 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 stolonifera'' Michx.) 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.

References

Bibliography

* Moerman, Daniel E. (1998)
Native American Ethnobotany
'. Timber Press. .

External links

Traditional Tobacco
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