However, the herbs used in commercial "smudge sticks" or "sage bundles," and the rituals performed with them by non-Natives, are rarely the actual materials or ceremonies used by traditional Native Americans. Some of the terminology in use among non- Indigenous people, such as the American English term "smudge stick" is usually found in use among those who imitate what they believe are Native American sacred ceremonies. Native ceremonial people have reported that visits to their traditional harvesting sites in recent years have found them bare, their personal supply of sage taken from the tribe forever by new age, hippie, and other commercial poachers who have "destroyed" the sites by ripping the plants up by their roots.
While white sage is not currently on the endangered list, the over-harvesting by commercial sellers has severely depleted the amount available, and many fear that it is soon to be endangered or extinct.
While using various forms of scent and scented smoke (such as incense) in religious and spiritual rites is an element common to many different cultures worldwide, the details, reasons, desired effects, and spiritual meanings are usually unique to the specific cultures in question. Likewise, not all Native American or Indigenous Canadian cultures that burn herbs or resins for ceremony call this practice "smudging". In some cases it may be in direct opposition to what is traditional for that region. Its use in regions that have not traditionally used sage for purification is largely a result of the Pan-Indian movement, rather than traditional practice. While sage is commonly associated with smudging and several Native American, First Nations, Inuit or Métis cultures may use forms of sage that are local to their region, the use of sage is neither universal, nor as widespread as many believe. Gertrude Allen, a Lumbee, reported that her father, an expert in healing with plants, stated that sage varies in potency at different times of the year. Traditionally, when gathering herbs for ceremonial use, care is taken to determine the time of day, month, or year when the herbs should be collected for example, at dawn or evening, at certain phases of the moon, or according to yearly cycles.
When specific herbs are burned ceremonially, this may or may not be called "smudging", depending on the culture. Sometimes this is done in hospitals to "cleanse and repel evil influence." However, the same herbs that are burned by one culture may be taboo to burn in another, or they may be used for a completely different purpose. For instance, some cultures use the smoke of burning red cedar as part of their particular purification and healing ceremonies. In some Indigenous American and Canadian ceremonies, certain herbs are traditionally used to purify or bless people and places. The appropriation and the over-harvesting have both been protested by Indigenous people in the US and Canada. The smudging ceremony, by various names, has been appropriated by others outside of the Indigenous communities as part of New Age or commercial practices, which has also led to the over-harvesting of some of the plants used in ceremonies. In traditional communities, Elders maintain the protocols around these ceremonies and provide culturally specific guidance. While it bears some resemblance to other ceremonies and rituals involving smoke (e.g., Australian smoking ceremony, some types of saining) from other world cultures, notably those that use smoke for spiritual cleansing or blessing, the purposes and particulars of the ceremonies, and the substances used, can vary widely among tribes, bands and nations, and even more so among different world cultures. Smudging, or other rites involving the burning of sacred herbs (e.g., white sage) or resins, is a ceremony practiced by some Indigenous peoples of the Americas.
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