It’s been a few years since I ordered my copy, but after reading quotes and reviews, around 2021, I purchased Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass. As I read it, I wondered… what does Sweetgrass smell like? My curiosity raised, I looked to Etsy to order a braid of Sweetgrass (actually, I ended up ordering a few). Excited when the package arrived, I hastily ripped open the top, reached inside, grabbed a braid, and raising it to my nose, exclaiming in my mind, “I’ve known you all along!”

It was a familiar scent that I connected to specific places, even back to my childhood. Now, I imagine individual associations likely vary, but with me, I often caught a whiff of it when near certain historic sites in the eastern US… most especially those where battles of the American Civil War and Revolutionary War were fought (and even Colonial Williamsburg). It’s not like the scent floats over the entire battlefield or site, but I tend to pick up the fragrance in nearing or passing said places. After a while, I just joked about it as if it were my own personal radar to those historic sites, but, when I traveled to Europe (specifically, on a trip in 2022), I caught a hint of it in Scotland, when approaching a family castle, and later, in 2023, when near a broch near the Isle of Skye.

Surprised I found it outside the US, I had to look up the distribution of the grass… the botanical name being… Hierochloe odorata or Anthoxanthum nitens (though it is not the same as Anthoxanthum odoratum… Sweet Vernal Grass… which smells more like freshly mowed hay). In addition to being referred to as Sweetgrass/Sweet Grass, it is also known as Manna grass, Mary’s grass, or vanilla grass. Further, not only is it found in North America, but also the UK… where some refer to it as “holy grass”. So, smelling it in Scotland (and most recently, during my trip to Germany) is not unusual. Apparently, even Poland uses it (calling it bison grass) in some vodka (such as Żubrówka and Wisent)… and in Belgian-style beer. But, I digress…

It’s not my intent to write a paper on the subject, but I’m more interested in its spiritual connection. Among Indigenous peoples in both the US and Canada, it’s considered sacred and is used as a smudge in herbal medicine. Robin Wall Kimmerer notes:

When we braid sweetgrass, we are braiding the hair of Mother Earth, showing her our loving attention, our care for her beauty and well-being, in gratitude for all she has given us.

So, to me, the fragrance has a meaning that has grown in significance. It’s no longer just that radar pointing to personal connections to historic sites. But, putting aside my personal connection and love of its fragrance, if you’ve read Kimmerer’s book, have you also taken the time to discover the fragrance? Perhaps you’ve got your own personal connection.