Project 57 Week 32: The Three Sisters

Smudging is a “sacred ceremony to most First Nations” (Indigenous Saskatchewan Encyclopedia) and Métis Nation (Fiola, 2015). Smudging is a significant aspect of Indigenous culture across Turtle Island, connecting people to “spirit and to the creator” using the “sacred medicines sage, sweetgrass, cedar, and tobacco” (Cecil Isaac, Fanshawe Institute of Indigenous Learning). It is important to recognize that each nation may not refer to this practice as smudging and that each may also have their own unique protocols and practices.  

Traditionally, one or more of the “sacred medicines are gathered from nature and burned” in an “abalone shell” or a “copper vessel”, and “each medicine will make a different amount of smoke” (7generations.org). Through burning the sacred medicines, the “smoke purifies the body, soul, and brings clarity to the mind” and is considered a way to “clear away negativity” (7generations.org). Like the practice of cleansing bodies with water, the smoke from burning sacred medicines “cleanses the spirit” (7generations.org). The act of smudging “allows people to participate fully in whatever event is happening later” or functions as a “separate sacred ceremony” (Indigenous Saskatchewan Encyclopedia).   

For more information, please consider the following resources:  

• Smudging Ceremony Explained by Stephen Augustine, CBU. (n.d.). 5 minute 32 second video.
• “Sacred ceremony of smudging” by Darlene McIntosh, (2019) in Calvert, M., Metatawabin, E. (Eds.) In our own Aboriginal voice 2 : a collection of indigenous authors and artists in Canada
• Stay home: Learn Cree 11. About Smudging. (2020, March 28). Cree Literacy Network.In Indigenous agriculture, the Three Sisters (corn, beans, and squash) are a form of sustainable farming “that involves the practice of intercropping or companion planting, where plants are grown next to each other for mutual benefit” (Indigeneous Climate Hub). The name “Three Sisters” is said to have originated with the “Haudenosaunee, also known as the Iroquois” who “live in regions around the Great Lake in the Northeastern United States and Canada” (Native Seeds). The Three Sisters is a “traditional form of intercropping” that produces a “high food yield” and is “crucial to Indigenous food sovereignty and long-term food security” (Indigeneous Climate Hub). Robin Wall Kimmerer is a Potawatomi botanist and the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants in which she illustrates the interconnectedness and deep traditional history of the Three Sisters for many Indigenous nations.   
• Three Sister Excerpt: Braiding Sweetgrass 

• See also: Land based Pedagogy
• For more information on The Three Sisters, please consider the following resources:
• Three Sisters Garden — How to plant corn, squash & beans together. Modern Farmer (2018, June 09). EcoWatch.
• Historical Indigenous food preparation using produce of the Three Sisters intercropping system. Ngapo, Tania M., et al. (2021). Foods, 10(3), p. 524
• Learning from the Land: Developing a Course on Indigenous Foodways. Luby, Claire, et al. (2021). Natural Sciences Education, 50(2)
• A pedagogical venturing into the Three Sisters' Garden: Lessons of attunement and reciprocity in education. Skuce, T. and Pelech, S. (2020). Journal of Applied Hermeneutics
• The gift of the Three sisters. (Native American story of corn, beans and squash). Tesdahl, S. (2013). Skipping Stones, 25(3)