So, today class we will be going over something that has to do with Humanities. I think today we will be looking at the emotions that come from things that are heard, smelt or seen. As Miss Schuman was saying, many time smell can be much more powerful than sight. I think that a combination of many things can lead to a powerful response. Hearing certain songs for some people can cause such strong emotions that the song drives them to tears. Others, just seeing someone cry can make them join in. I know from experience that the combination of the visual aspect of someone crying mixed with sad music can cause many a wet eye. Just look at any sad movie.
Smells can be stimulating to the mind, they can also be relaxing. Pair this to music that may be played in a sacred space and you have yourself one super religious time. The Lakota tribe uses several smells in the ceremonies for several reasons. Sage is burned to cleanse because it has the cleanest smell. Ceder is burned so that the smell may carry their prayers to the Creator. Sweet grass is burned as a gift to the Creator. All these smells are pleasing to The Great Mystery. The ceder is burned and carries prayers. These prayers may be aloud. This combines the smell of ceder with the sound of prayer.
Now, a combination of all three things could be the Sun Dance. Many Native American tribes practiced this dance. It would usually involve some sort of dressing up with ceremonial feathers, the burning of certain smelling things, the sounds of drums, self mutilation, and sometimes fasting. This would lead whoever into having some sort of trance. The reasons certain tribes did this ceremony were different, but the common reason was for renewal. It was done around the summer solstice and stood for the renewal of the earth and a spiritual rebirth.
The sense of smell is powerful, I agree, but it is most likely not nearly as powerful today. In a world where sense of sight is everything, from computers to road signs to the written word, smell is slowly losing its influence. I tend to think of smell being a sense mainly associated with the left, masculine brain, for tracking animals through scents in hunter/gatherer societies seems critical. Ironically, a left brain sense of smell is now underused in a left-brained society!
ReplyDeleteSmells can also produce a synergistic effect, for when I smell frankincense or myrrh, I immediately think of this church in Brattleboro I attended about twice, simply because I have associated such smells with my first experience of religion. The sense of smell seems to be a critical component of entering a form of trance, and I fear that with today's culture, the sense of smell will be disregarded and a realm of trance may be lost.
I approve of this title.
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