Healing takes place in many forms.
For Indigenous students in Minnesota, taking care of their mental and spiritual health in a culturally specific manner may soon be viable, thanks to a bill introduced by Sen. Mary Kunesh (DFL-New Brighton). This bill, S.F. 2998, would permit Indigenous students to smudge in Minnesota public schools with staff supervision. Prior to the introduction of this bill, schools in the St. Paul Public Schools system adopted a policy in 2022 allowing students and staff to smudge in school buildings under the supervision “of an appropriate School District staff member.”
Smudging is a spiritual practice in various Indigenous communities that involves the burning of one or more sacred medicines, these being sage, cedar, sweetgrass and/or tobacco, as a form of cleansing. The use of tobacco as part of ceremonial practices such as smudging, according to the National Native Network, is not associated with negative health outcomes such as addiction, and tobacco smoke is not generally inhaled during these ceremonies.
The bill was presented on March 4 during a Senate Education Committee hearing. Beth Tepper, vice-chair of the Tribal Nations Education Committee, said her son, who has a disability, uses smudging as part of his individual education plan. Tepper said the practice benefits her son.
“He’s been taught how to smudge at home from a very young age,” Tepper said. “When he’s feeling upset or dysregulated, he’s mentioned that (smudging) just helps him stay calm and helps him get through whatever difficulties he’s having so he can get back to why he’s supposed to be at school, which is his education.”
While smudging is a form of prayer, it, according to Suzanne Nash, a program manager at the Indigenous Peoples Task Force, can also promote mindfulness as “another form of meditation.” In 2013, a scientific review of more than 200 studies cited by the American Psychological Association concluded that mindfulness based therapy was effective in reducing “anxiety, depression and stress.”
In her own testimony, Nash expanded on the mental benefits of smudging, calling it “another way for us (Native American/Indigenous Americans) to deal with negative energy, anxiety, to clear the air before we start meetings, before we start school, before we start prayers.”
Vernon Rowe, the principal of Minneapolis’ Northeast Middle School, pointed to Northeast’s own positive experience with smudging during his testimony.
“It’s a way in which we start off the day with our students,” Rowe said, adding that “starting off peaceful that way (via smudging) creates an atmosphere that is rewarding.”
Young members of the Indigenous Peoples Task Force Youth Program also spoke in favor of the bill. Emily Vinueza, a student at Thomas Edison High School and a member of the Lower Sioux, told the senators that she likes smudging because it connects her to her culture and “helps with (her) mental health.”
“When I’m stressed or overwhelmed … it helps get rid of that … and I feel a lot better after,” Vinueza said in an interview after her testimony. “I think it would be good for schools to have it because it’s part of our culture and it helps; it really does. And I would like to be able to do it without having my school deans come up to me and be like, ‘Are you smoking?’ or ‘What are you doing?’… (Smudging) is part of our culture and helps us calm down. It’s part of us, it’s our medicine.”
But access to this cultural medicine has not always been permitted or possible for Indigenous people in the United States.
“It was illegal for our American Indian people to practice their culture, their religion, their sacred practices until 1978,” said Kunesh as she introduced the bill. “Up until 1978, it was illegal to hold ceremonies, it was illegal to smudge, it was illegal to do any of those things. It took President Jimmy Carter to pass the American Indian Religious (Freedom) Act before it was actually legal … For many, our ancestors were forbidden to practice any part of our cultures, and this has included smudging.”
After giving their testimonies, Vinueza and other young members of the Indigenous Peoples Task Force Youth Program presented senators with medicine pouches filled with tobacco leaves. The pouches, Nash said, had been smudged out before they were given.
“When we do something or we ask somebody for something … we offer them the tobacco tie,” Nash said in reference to the pouches, which were given to request action on the bill.
“I’m asking you to do something for me,” Nash continued. “So I’m offering this prayer for you.”
Deanna Pistono
Deanna Pistono is MinnPost’s Race & Health Equity fellow. Follow her on Twitter @deannapistono or email her at dpistono@minnpost.com.
