Whispers hi i have a question about appropriation of NA culture. My family lines are susquahannok though I am only 1/4th, my grandpa being full blooded and my mother being susquahannok/german, and I'm p sure that means im considered completely white to NA ppl. Though my question is would I be allowed to use smudging or is the line drawn at half NA? I'm sorry if this seems extreemly out of the blue. Gpa said that it doesnt matter anymore but i know it matters to most NA people so I wanted to ask.
// pt 2// whispers quieter bc ask limit stopped me short I should mention that my grandpa meerly claims to be susquahannok since history says they've been pretty much wiped out. Though he is NA and is dark skinned. Not to mention Susquahannok culture is sortof unknown I dont even know if they smudged hhh sorry if im babbling im just nervous about accidently being offensive rip its just bugging me bc i wanted to try it but also didnt want to appropriate. //
im sorry if you didnt want me to publish this but i didnt see anything asking me not to and plus this is a good question for an mixed native ppl yo.
lemme just say this first: eyy fello iroquoiannn
tbh i dont rly think it matters if you’re less than half na. i’m just half na myself (the other half is italian + a teeny bit swedish or finnish or something like that) and i smudge all the time for religious purposes, if i’m nervous about something, etc.
tbh i dont know much about susquahannok culture because i’m not of that tribe (specifically i’m mohawk which is ofc iroquois/6 nations like i mentioned) but i think in a general sense most if not all native tribes burned sage at one point so i think itd be good to go as long as you’re at least a little bit native.
some people are extremely traditional in their beliefs and while there’s nothing wrong with that at all, it’s a bit dated and sage is so easily accessable that honestly personally i dont even have a problem with 100% white people without a drop of native blood in their body burning sage as long as they do it respectfully.
honestly my philosophy is the same with dreamcatchers and the like.
i find it doesnt matter what race you are at all but as long as you’re doing whatever you’re doing respectfully and acknowledge the meaning behind it then theres nothing really wrong with it.
in general though even if you’re just a bit native id say its 100% totally fine to burn sage bc hey man thts part of native culture in general and nobody should take tht away from us regardless of how much of another race is mixed in.
esp because you’re susquahannok and thts iroquoian i think you’re good to go because we’re in the same generalization of tribes so i rly doubt in tht close of a relation there’d be smudging in one community and not the other.
i mean traditionally speaking i’m not even considered a true native because my mom is native and my dad isnt but like. honestly i dont understand that logic and here in canada where i am atm the government is rly anti-native anyways so their rules dont apply to people much anymore anyways because of that.
tldr tumblr user baroqueparadigm says its a-ok to use sage and dreamcatchers and whatever else as long as you do it respectfully and arent a total idiot about it, esp if you’re at least partially native.
