Vacation Log Supplemental

Reflections on a Fire stick

     Do you ever wonder about the first "medicine stick" or "shaman stick"  I wonder if it started as a fire poking stick.  We have a nice piece of driftwood with a blackened end which has been serving as our fire poking stick.  It had obviously been used by others before us.  And every other campfire I have ever witnessed or been a part of has had a special stick used to poke and never burned.  And when people want to adjust the fire they ask for that specific stick.  Admittedly sometimes in the beginnings two (or more) people will start their own fire pushing stick.  But it always settles down to one stick and the others get burned.  Generally (and to my memory always in my experience)  if there are to be multiple fires over several days (ie a camping trip)  the same stick is used for the duration.  (occasionally in a bit of a ceremony we will burn the fire pushing stick as the last item added to the last fire.)  But this is human nature.  Every campfire I have ever seen somebody has a special fire pushing stick.  And I have come across several old campfire sites which had an obvious fire pushing stick.  (relatively big, sturdy, one end blackened)  there is never more than1 fire pushing sticks at these sites.  (In my admittedly anecdotal experience)  So my theory is that way back when fire was a survival necessity rather than a camping comfort & treat, the job of keeping the fire was much more important.  Perhaps almost as important as hunting/gathering food.  Most probably a job to take pride in.  I can see how a fire keeper might decorate his fire pushing stick so it looks more like a tool of office important and worthy of pride and less like just a pointy stick with a burned end.  I can see the passing of the fire pushing stick to an apprentice being a super-big deal.  (at least to those involved.)  And, I an see how a fire pusher who keeps the secret of fire, might  when he felt slighted, try to enhance his position.  Merely by letting the fire go until he receives the respect he feels he deserves.  From there it is not a giant leap to inventing "fire spirits" who need to be appeased in order to keep the vital fire going.  From that stone it is merely a hop to inventing other spirits for other things.  Soon the fire is left behind.  The fire pushing stick has lost it's burned tip but kept it's decorations of office.  The once humble fire tender is now tribal medicine man, and secure with power locked in by shaping a culture over time fire need not be kept a secret.  It can be shared with all.  Yet the fire pushing stick remains.  Locked in human genetic memory pointing back to where it all began.  Or not, who knows.  But it's an interesting thought to play with.  I bet I am not the first to think of it.  I am going to do a Google search when I get home.