'It's how we pray': How smudging works

Smudging is a traditional custom shared by many North American Indigenous cultures and is intended to purify the body of illness or negative energy.
The smudge is a bundle of various herbs and plants, that may include tobacco, sage, cedar, sweetgrass, and lavendar, tied tightly together into a smudge stick. When lit in a smudge bowl, the mixture produces a sweet-smelling smoke that is wafted over the individual being smudged by waving a feather, fan or hand.
The smoke is said to chase away bad f