VICTORIAN FUNERAL TEA

Have you attended a Victorian Funeral Tea yet? If you have any interest at all in history you would enjoy this look back in time. At today's event a mourning culture historian from Crocker House Museum spoke about funeral wakes and the various foods that might be served. The wake itself or "watch" was held to make sure the deceased was really deceased and to pray in the presence of the body.
A Dutch tradition was to use a funeral cake to invite guests to a wake. This caraway and molasses biscuit (Doed Koek) was inscribed with the initials of the deceased. The Amish serve a raisin pie called "funeral pie". Prune cakes were on the menu for English wakes. Jewish funerals discouraged pomp so only hard boiled eggs with salt were offered to guests.
Our speaker also talked about embalming, mourning clothing, mourning periods, and many other traditions surrounding funerals.
After the tea we were transported to a local cemetery where several early city dignitaries are buried. Local townspeople portrayed six of these early residents as they told stories or highlighted significant events in their lives.

SAGE

Today I attended a small Pow Wow with some friends. As we waited for the grand entry of the dancers we noticed the distinctive smell of sage permeating the air. This led to the discussion of the importance of sage in Native American culture. Many tribes consider sage a sacred herb. To these Native Americans, the smoke from burning sage offers remedy for physical, emotional, spiritual, or mental imbalances. Sage is thought to cleanse the body and mind of negative spirits and impurities.

I thought it would be interesting to try sage smudging so I did some research.

Here are some basic directions.

You will need a heat proof container, or hollowed rock.

Tie the sage in a bundle or crumble the dried sage and place in the container.

Light the sage, let it flame for a minute or two then extinguish the flame so the sage is smoldering and smoking.

Take the smudge container and using circular clockwise movements, encircle yourself with the smoke.

Additionally, you can use a large feather to fan the smoke around the room.

Start at the most northerly room and work clockwise through the house

Try to end at an open door.

Smudging is a sacred ceremony and should always be performed with sensitivity and respect