Kinnikinnick is a Native American and

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

herbal A herbal is a book containing the names and descriptions of plants, usually with information on their medicinal, tonic, culinary, toxic, hallucinatory, aromatic, or magical powers, and the legends associated with them.Arber, p. 14. A herbal m ...

smoking 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 Frederick Webb Hodge (October 28, 1864 – September 28, 1956) was an American editor, anthropologist, archaeologist, and historian. Born in England, he immigrated at the age of seven with his family to Washington, DC. He was educated at America ...

(editor) ''Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico''. Bureau of American Ethnology (Washington: 1911). Part 1, page 692. most often

bearberry Bearberries ( indigenous kinnickinnick) are three species of dwarf shrubs in the genus ''Arctostaphylos''. Unlike the other species of ''Arctostaphylos'' (see manzanita), they are adapted to Arctic and Subarctic climates, and have a circumpolar ...

(''Arctostaphylos spp.'') and to lesser degree, red osier dogwood (''

Cornus sericea ''Cornus sericea'', the red osier or red-osier dogwood, is a species of flowering plant in the family Cornaceae, native to much of North America. It has sometimes been considered a synonym of the Asian species ''Cornus alba''. Other names includ ...

'') and silky cornel (''

Cornus amomum ''Cornus amomum'', the silky dogwood, is a species of dogwood native to the eastern United States, from Michigan and Vermont south to Alabama and Florida. Other names include red willow, silky cornel, kinnikinnick, and squawbush. Description ' ...

''), and even to Canadian bunchberry (''

Cornus canadensis ''Cornus canadensis'' is a species of flowering plant in the dogwood family Cornaceae, native to eastern Asia and North America. Common names include Canadian dwarf cornel, Canadian bunchberry, quatre-temps, crackerberry, and creeping dogwood. Un ...

''), evergreen sumac ('' Rhus virens''), littleleaf sumac (''

Rhus microphylla ''Rhus microphylla'', the littleleaf sumac, desert sumac, ''correosa'', or ''agritos'', is a species of sumac in the family Anacardiaceae, native to North America, in the southwestern United States and northern and central Mexico, from central a ...

''), 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 so ...

''), and staghorn sumac (''

Rhus typhina ''Rhus typhina'', the staghorn sumac, is a species of flowering plant in the family Anacardiaceae, native to eastern North America. It is primarily found in southeastern Canada, the northeastern and midwestern United States, and the Appalachian M ...

'').

Indigenous names

Algonquin Algonquin or Algonquian—and the variation Algonki(a)n—may refer to: Languages and peoples *Algonquian languages, a large subfamily of Native American languages in a wide swath of eastern North America from Canada to Virginia **Algonquin la ...

: ''nasemà'', "tobacco" (''mitàkozigan'', "unmixed tobacco"; ''apàkozigan'', "mixed tobacco") *

Dakota Dakota may refer to: * Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux ** Dakota language, their language Dakota may also refer to: Places United States * Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Dakota, Illinois, a town * Dakota, Minnesota, ...

and

Lakota Lakota may refer to: * Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples Place names In the United States: * Lakota, Iowa * Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County * La ...

: ''čhaŋšáša'' *

Menominee The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...

: ''ahpa͞esāwān'', "kinnikinnick" *

Odaawaa The Odawa (also Ottawa or Odaawaa ), said to mean "traders", are an Indigenous American ethnic group who primarily inhabit land in the Eastern Woodlands region, commonly known as the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. They ha ...

: ''semaa'', "tobacco" (''mtaaḳzigan'', "unmixed tobacco"; ''paaḳzigan'', "mixed tobacco") *

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

: ''asemaa'', "tobacco" (''mitaakozigan'', "unmixed tobacco"; ''apaakozigan'', "mixed tobacco") *

Shoshoni The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho * Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah * Goshute: western Utah, east ...

: ''äñ′-ka-kwi-nûp'', "kinnikinnick" * Winnebago: ''roxį́šučkéra'', "bark to smoke"

Preparation and use

The preparation varies by locality and

nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective Identity (social science), identity of a group of people unde ...

. 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 red willow- bark, which is not much worse than Suffield

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

-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 ''Nicotiana rustica'', commonly known as Aztec tobacco or strong tobacco, is a rainforest plant in the family Solanaceae. It is a very potent variety of tobacco, containing up to nine times more nicotine than common species of ''Nicotiana'' such ...

'' 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 The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

, listing ingredients used by other Native American tribes: leaves or bark of

red osier dogwood ''Cornus sericea'', the red osier or red-osier dogwood, is a species of flowering plant in the family Cornaceae, native to much of North America. It has sometimes been considered a synonym of the Asian species '' Cornus alba''. Other names inclu ...

arrowroot Arrowroot is a starch obtained from the rhizomes (rootstock) of several tropical plants, traditionally ''Maranta arundinacea'', but also Florida arrowroot from ''Zamia integrifolia'', and tapioca from cassava (''Manihot esculenta''), which is oft ...

, red

sumac Sumac ( or ), also spelled sumach, is any of about 35 species of flowering plants in the genus ''Rhus'' and related genera in the cashew family (Anacardiaceae). Sumacs grow in subtropical and temperate regions throughout the world, including Eas ...

laurel Laurel may refer to: Plants * Lauraceae, the laurel family * Laurel (plant), including a list of trees and plants known as laurel People * Laurel (given name), people with the given name * Laurel (surname), people with the surname * Laurel (mus ...

ironwood Ironwood is a common name for many woods or plants that have a reputation for hardness, or specifically a wood density that is heavier than water (approximately 1000 kg/m3, or 62 pounds per cubic foot), although usage of the name ironwood in E ...

wahoo Wahoo (''Acanthocybium solandri'') is a scombrid fish found worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas. It is best known to sports fishermen, as its speed and high-quality flesh makes it a prized and valued game fish. In Hawaii, the wahoo is kn ...

huckleberry Huckleberry is a name used in North America for several plants in the family Ericaceae, in two closely related genera: ''Vaccinium'' and '' Gaylussacia''. The huckleberry is the state fruit of Idaho. Nomenclature The name 'huckleberry' is a No ...

, Indian tobacco, cherry bark, and

mullein ''Verbascum'' is a genus of over 450 species of flowering plants, common name mullein (), in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae. They are native to Europe and Asia, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean. Mullein or "mullein le ...

, among other ingredients.

Historical references

Among the

, 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
pamphlet by the Urban American Indian Tobacco Prevention & Education Network {{Smoking nav * Native American culture Native American religion Pipe smoking Religion and politics Tobacco smoking