Native American Indians considered tobacco to be a sacred drug to be used only for ceremonial purposes. The way the conquering peoples have come to use tobacco violates its purpose and spirit. Apparently cultural misappropriation can be fatal.
The Hurons tell this story:
When the land was barren and the people were starving, the Great Spirit sent forth a woman to save humanity. As she traveled over the world, everywhere her right hand touched the soil, there grew potatoes. And everywhere her left hand touched the soil, there grew corn. And when the world was rich and fertile, she sat down and rested. When she arose, there grew tobacco . . .
Sometimes people tell me that they love this and that about indigenous peoples “culture.” But can one take this artifact and that ceremony but fail to understand plants? The sacred Selu (maize) and her role not only as “food” but as creator and sustainer of the people. Or how does one love indigenous “cultures” and fail to notice the notion of “all our relatives” was taken seriously relative to the treatment of animals.
Understanding may be more than selecting this and that from a whole world of human creativity.
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