Нов български университет

Севим Асимова

In a father’s advice to his child, the Winnebago Indians of North America explained tobacco with the following myth of origin:

“Earth maker created the spirits who live above the earth, those who live on the earth, those who live under the earth and those who live in the water; all these he created and placed in charge of some powers… In this fashion he created them and only afterwards did he created us. For that reason we were not put in control of any of these blessings. However, Earth maker did created a weed and put it in our charge, and he told us that none of the spirits he had created would have the power to take this away from us without giving us something in exchange. Thus said Earth maker. Even he, Earth maker, would not have the power of taking this from us without giving us something in return. He told us if we offered him a pipeful of tobacco, if this we poured out for him, he would grant us whatever we asked of him. Now all the spirits come to long for this tobacco as intensely as they longed for anything in creation, and for that reason, if at any time we make our cry to the spirits with tobacco, they will take pity on us and bestow on us the blessings of which Earth maker placed them in charge. Indeed so it shall be, for thus Earth maker created it.” [Goodman 2005:24]

 

“Telling of the Legends”

By Howard Terpning, master of Western art

 

Since the Plains Indians had no written language, old chiefs and medicine men passed on their wisdom, the traditions of the People and a measure of their own medicine to younger men who would become heirs to tribal authority. These chosen individuals then kept the legends alive and passed them down to the next generation.

 

Defining mythology

Before proceeding with structuring of the present synchronic analysis, it should be correct to explain the core term in the title – namely, mythology. According to the Ancient History Encyclopedia, mythology is the study and interpretation of tales known as “myths”, and the collection of such tales of a culture. Myths deal with origin of world and human, good and evil, life and death, afterlife, gods and supernatural beings, heroes with super-human powers. Another subject of myths is explaining a long-held customs and natural phenomena such as the sunrise and sunset, the thunder and lighting, and others. As further described in the Encyclopedia,“To the ancients the meaning of the story was most important, not the literal truth of the details of a certain version of a tale. There are many variations on the birth and life of the goddess Hathor of Egypt, for example, and no ancient Egyptian would have rejected one of these as 'false' and chosen another as 'true'. It was understood in the ancient world that the purpose of a myth was to provide the hearer with a truth which the audience then interpreted for themselves. Apprehension of reality was left up to the interpretation of the individual encountering the values expressed in the myths instead of having that reality interpreted for them by an authority figure. The ancient myths still resonate with a modern audience precisely because the ancient writers crafted them toward individual interpretation, leaving each person who heard the story to recognize the meaning in the tale for themselves”.

Tobacco is a sacred plant for the Amerindian society, believed to be a human gift by the God and one of the most probable signs for their existence and esteem for human beings [Goodman 2005:24; Burns 2007:3]. It was granted unique position in their life and took inseparable part from their mode of living. Amerindians perceived tobacco in a holistic way. They employed the weed in all their practices – from religion and beliefs through healing, social activities and cultivation. It brings to inherited rich culture of rituals and myths telling us about Amerindians connection with the supernatural world, spirits mastering, praying, governing, curing all involving tobacco and dating back before New World discovery by Europe.

Tobacco, called petun in the native language was wide-spread across the Americas spanning all territories and communities between Canada and Argentina, Atlantic and Pacific oceans [Goodman 2005:22, 45; Burns 2007:5]. While explaining tobacco meaning to Amerindians, literature on this topic explores life of varied tribes among which Mayas, Aztecs, Incas, Plains, Winnebago, Cuicuru, Fox, Toltec, Iroquois, Seminole, Algonquin, Micmac, Sioux, Jivaros and other Indians.

Why tobacco had an extra special role for the Amerindians and symbolizes them?

Understandinghallucinogenic experience

In order to find out answer on this question, we should realize first the meaning of hallucinogenic plants and altered state of consciousness to this society [Goodman 2005:18]. According to the religious ideology of Amerindians, existent are the worlds of natural and supernatural. The natural world is continuous, expected and comprehensible. While the supernatural one is characterized with opposite features. Spirits haunted the natural world, as well and influenced it. They inspired in different substances whereas it was believed that particularly powerful spirits resided in the hallucinogenic plants. By consuming such substances, Amerindians believed that they get the supernatural power into their bodies. This led to hallucinations and consciousness altering manifested in terms of flight of the soul from the natural to the supernatural world. The changed conscious is the only mode for connection with the supernatural and communication with the spirits [Goodman 2005:20].This state and way of prayers resembled a monologue on the nature [Burns 2007:4].

 

“Seeking Guidance from the Great Spirit”

By Howard Terpning

The hallucinatory experience played a superior role in the Amerindians’ life functioning. By that means the Natives searched for vision which is a fundamental aspect in their religious ideology. A great number of hallucinogenic plants were used by them whereas, Solanaceae family should be the most important source. Based on the application, Amerindians prepared compound mixtures containing varied hallucinogenic and non-hallucinogenic plants. Widespread was the use of datura that is also recognized as the most violent plant. Other narcotic sources of that experience were the Legume family (red been), Agaric family (divine mushroom), Cactus family (peyote) and others. What narcotic plant to be use depended on the purpose of rite and the violence level of the plant [Goodman 1995:18, 9].

And in fact, as highlighted by Jordan Goodman in his book “Tobacco in history – the cultures of dependence”, when one looks more carefully in the used hallucinogenic plants, discovers the remarkable phenomenon that the one plant used more than any other was tobacco. What made tobacco use unique was that its effects were mild, predictable, short-lived and not life-threaten compared to other narcotic plants like datura or peyote which made prayers so besotted that they lost their minds and thus, rites frustrated and vision was not received. These features of the weed explain its wide application [Goodman 2005:23; Burns 2007:4]. If on the other hand we have to classify functions of tobacco, then its main one was to create hallucinations in the shamanistic rites [Goodman 2005:23].

Tobacco meaning in medicine

In the Amerindian culture, shamans have a dominating function in religious practices that includes vision seeking, communication with spirits, divine, narcotic plants regulation, rites execution and etc. They also had a unique share in the healing. There were two healers in the Amerindian medicine – the shaman and the medicine-man. The shaman was curing through the power and influence of religion. He/ she used hallucinogenic mixtures in order to get into ecstatic or trance. This is the state when shamans alter conscious, make connection with the supernatural and get vision – for the health problem in that case. While on the other hand, treatment of the medicine-man was not based on the religious beliefs. Because of the great influence of divinity on Amerindians, in most cases they used the shamanistic methods of cure. Particularly, it was believed that illnesses were caused by the supernatural forces – either by intrusion of an evil spirit/ essence or by soul loss in the land of the dead. To treat the patient meant to extract the evil matter from its physique or restore to the natural world which was shamanistic ability and job [Goodman 2005:21].

The shaman mediated between the health and illness, and tobacco was universally upheld as a medicine of unrivalled application and efficacy used in all stages of treatment – from diagnosis to remedy [Goodman 2005:26]. Tobacco was inhaled directly into the lungs in contrast to other herbal remedies taken through water or wine. It was regarded as unique curing method that was said to give an immediate effect due to the direct application [Burns 2007:5].

The following practice of healing tradition should be a strong example of tobacco appliance in the New World:

 

 

“Metse inhaled deeply, and as he finished one cigarette an attending shaman handed him another lighted one. Metse inhaled all the smoke, and soon began to evince considerable physical distress. After about ten minutes his right leg began to tremble. Later his left arm began to twitch. He swallowed smoke as well as inhaling it, and soon was groaning in pain. His respiration became labored, and he groaned with every exhalation. By this time the smoke in his stomach was causing him to retch… The more he inhaled the more nervous he became… He took another cigarette and continued to inhale until he was near to collapse… Suddenly he “died”, flinging his arms outward and straightening legs stiffly… He remained in this state of collapse nearly fifteen minutes… When Metse had revived himself two attendant shamans rubbed his arms. One of the shamans drew on a cigarette and blew smoke gently on his chest and legs, especially on places that he indicated stroking himself.” [Goodman 2005:17]

 

Witnessed among Cuicuru Indians of South America, this rite describes the hallucinatory experience of “death” and restoration of a tobacco shaman tradition. The chemical substances in the tobacco plant that influence the nervous system and induce hallucinations are alkaloids and nicotine in particular. It should also worth mentioning that in the past, the nicotine content in the tobacco was much more than the content in the today’s commercial species which may lose some of its nicotine in the process of cultivation and manufacture [Goodman 2005:23; Burns 2007:4].

As mentioned in the medical narrative above, the Native Americans used the weed for both, diagnosis and remedy. In terms of diagnosis, tobacco was specially used for diseases assumed to have been caused by intrusion. In order to find out the injured part of the body and prepare it for surgery, the shaman blew smoke over the patient’s physique. Once the precise location of intrusion was found out and the injured part enough softened with smoke, the shaman began extracting the inspired object by sucking it through a straw or directly from the skin. Another intention of the smoke was to penetrate the patient’s skin and extract in that way the evil essence or master the spirits of the body who liked petun [Goodman 2005:26]. Tobacco was widely used in terms of remedy. Alphabetically listed, certain ailments it was prescribed for are asthma, abscess, bite from snake and insects, cramp, carbuncle, chilblain, colic, constipation, cyst, chest pain, delirium, diarrhea, earache, fatigue, fistula, fever, flatulence, gonorrhea, gout, halitosis, headache, herpes, hydrophobia, itchy eyes, malaria, miscarriage, polyps, paralysis, toothache, warts, worms, others as well as pains of unspecified nature. Often people suffered by toothache and for curing it, tobacco was very important remedy. And probably fatigue was the first ailment tobacco was used for. After a tiring hunting or farming, a man could seat smoking his pipe, restore some energy and feel better in that way [Goodman 2005:28; Burns 2007:6-7].

“Profile of Wisdom”

By Howard Terpning

 

 

Methods of treatment employed tobacco leaves more frequently than smoke. Tobacco was applied in the form of juice, chewed leaves, snuff, wet leaves, wad, paste, suppository, dentifrice, tea foot bath. For instance, suppository was used against malaria, paste rubbed on woman’s abdomen against miscarriage, washing painful teeth with juice and applying a wad on it and etc. Another form of treatment Amerindians utilized was enema through smoke or tobacco tea, using a syringe made of cane, bone, animal skin, hen’s bladder. It was a cure in a severe manner. For reaching certain effect generally and releasing nicotine more efficiently, the leaves were also mixed with other ingredients like water, lime, ground insects. Frequently people consumed tobacco in order to alleviate the hunger and thirst, too [Goodman 2005:27-8, 32-4; Burns 2007:6-9].

Besides diagnostic and remedy, the weed was also employed in a preventive form. Such an example we explore among the rites practiced by tribes of the Great Lakes. If they encountered a large boulder or a deformed tree trunk on their way, they would stop immediately, pray and scatter some tobacco leaves around. The Natives believed that this would expel the evil spirits living in the boulder or tree trunk before they could escape and spread their infections. Tobacco was utilized for pregnant women protection from a witchcraft, adults’ protection from poisonous snakes, insects and evil spirits and etc. Some tribes even prepared a hot drink from tobacco leaves and gave to women during childbirth for a faster give birth [Goodman 2005:28; Burns 2007:8-9].

Amerindians offered tobacco to the inhabitants of supernatural world in exchange for their care and good. This is why shamans healed people by direct tobacco offering to spirits, as well. In return, they begged for their powers for patients’ treatment. The paramount plant was also given to the Sun, Moon, Earth and the so called Disease-Giver. The mythology of the Fox Indians of North America exemplifies the tobacco offering. According to it, the tribe inherited the weed from the Great Manitou. As the Manitous were addicted to the plant, and as they could not grow it themselves, they entered into a contract of mutual benefit with humans, tobacco in return for care and protection.

Tobacco meaning in formal and everyday life

Tobacco played important role in both, formal and pastime social life of Amerindians. Passing a pipe in case of agreement meant to undertake the obligation. Especially across the tribes from North America, this role of tobacco represented the so called famous ritual calumet. Calumet is the name of the pipe that distinguishes with its elaboration. Calumet was the sign of peace. The rite was mainly performed for political reasons and exchanging goods. Beside the shared pipe, the ritual was often accompanied by dancing and singing [Goodman 2005:31-2].A myth of the Oglala Siux says that the peace pipe was a gift from a beautiful woman that came out of a cloud garbed in a white buckskin dress. She handed the pipe to a chief and let him know that it was a gift of secial significance. She said, “Behold!” With this you shall multiply and be a good nation. Nothing but good shall come from it” [Burns 2007:12].

A Native American calumet

In the National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustav Heye Center,
Smithsonian Institution, New York City.

 

Council members of Aztecs and other tribes would light their pipes before start of meetng and kept them lighted till end of deliberation. They believed that smoking made them working longer and more efficiently, like expressing themselves better. The more they smoked, the better they legislated. So, smoking pipe was a special component from the official meetings – the stimul and sign of complete and satisfying outcome [Burns 2007:10-1].

While considering the pastime social life, smoking was the favorite activity of royals in case of such communities. For instance, smoking was well established among the Aztec high classes. They practiced it as an after-dinner entertainment in the court. The scene is described as remarkably modern, accompanied by beautiful women, painted and gilded tubes with tobacco, singing and dancing. The emperor Montezuma took the smoke from the tubes and little by little he fell asleep in that way. According to the Aztecs mythology, the goddess Cihuacoahuatl was created from tobacco and the emperor Montezuma honored this deity the most [Goodman 2005:30; Burns 2007:10]. Amerindians offered tobacco to the newcomers. In this regard, it was a very significant mean of them in engaging social contacts [Goodman 2005:49].

Tobacco was ceremoniously offered for harvesting, raining, warding off a bad storm, winning a war and others. Some offerings took the form of smoke thrown on a fire or leaves left on a sacred place. [Goodman 2005:24, 27, 30]. While talking especially for the shamans, they offered tobacco by consuming it, falling in trance and connecting to the spirits. Tobacco smoke symbolized this connection and life-giving energy to spirits. According to Amerindians mythical concept, the craving for tobacco that shamans felt through the nicotine addiction was in fact the hunger pangs of the spirits who craved tobacco. Thus, when shamans were consuming tobacco, they were feeding the spirits [Goodman 2005:25].

Crop signification

In his book “The smoke of the Gods” Eric Burns mentions that tobacco originated back to 16 000 years before Christ (in Americas obviously) and the natives of Peru and Ecuador were cultivating it before 5 000 and 3 000 years BC. But for these ancient tribes the plant did not have same profound meaning and cultural role as to the tribes after Christ [Burns 2007:4]. Other sources mention that first growing commenced around 6000 BC while first smoking – around 1000 BC. Amerindians treated tobacco with special attitude as a crop, as well. For example, it was often grown separately from other food plants and in gardens designed particularly for it. Not all Native American communities practiced agriculture in general but they did however planted tobacco [Goodman 2005:22]. In deifying the weed, the Plains Indians went even further. They believed that tobacco came to them in a mythic time when a star was planted. Because of this the tribe qualified it equally to the stars. The Plains Indians did not cultivated any other crops beside tobacco. It was accompanied by elaborate and varied ceremonies and other rithuals. Planting tobacco was a privilege. The crop formed an institution in their life that created tobacco society and structured the community [Goodman 2005:31].

Prototypes and smoking signification

Amerindians consumed tobacco as they did with food and water. They took it throughout the whole day – in the morning, afternoon and night, before and after eating. They took it at home or common areas, during formal or pastime occasions, alone or with others whereas smoking in a group was the more frequent and valuable occasion. Eric Burns further interprets the value of the common smoking. A Native might not be sure that his smoke reached the heaven, but he could see it reaching his companions, wind around them, same of the smoke of others coming to him which bonded them and completed the circle of friendship [Burns 2007:10].

Amerindians are those who developed the technology for consuming tobacco. They had experienced with all possible methods for utilizing it and practiced all main among them, namely: smoking, chewing, snuffing, drinking. Definitely, smoking was the most often way of tobacco consumption. Mentioned are two modes of smoking – inhaling or blowing the smoke. For these acts, the Natives prepared the dried tobacco by wrapping it with a palm or corn leaves. Further, in Central and South America, the most common form of smoking was cigar. In North America on the other hand, it was pipe. The next methods, chewing, snuffing and drinking were probably equally common across Central and South America [Goodman 2005:32-4, 45]. Eric Burns determines that “Both the cigar and the pipe were genuine trappings of civilization… Serving as totems no less than tools, pipes and cigars stood for behaviors of which their users were proud”. The author explains the prototypes and messages encoded in the two artifacts. The cigar he says, represented the spear with which a man battled another man or a beast. The cigar smoker advertised himself as more robust than the pipe smoker. This comes not only of the kind of artefact but product, as well. Cigars had stronger taste and aroma. They were extremely large at that time and because of this associated with monsters. Through cigar smoking, a man announced his presence and underlined his individuality. The pipe on the other side speaked for peace and cooperation, and encouraged deliberation. Smoking pipe during council meetings stilled the temper in case of different stances and allowed one to attend business in a reasonable way. So, in the prototype of the pipe smoker, the wise man was encoded [Burns 2007:11-2].

The French missionary Jacques Cartier who explored the Mississippi River, understood the deep meaning of pipe to Amerindians though it was a strange practice for him personally:

 

“There is nothing more mysterious or respected than the pipe. … Less honor is paid to the crowns and scepters of kings. It seems to be the god of peace and war, the arbiter of life and death. It has to be but carried on one’s person, and displayed, to enable one to walk through the midst of enemies, who, in the hottest of fights, lay down their arms when it is shown.” [Burns 2007:13]

 

Because of above explained signification of pipe, historians call it “portable alter” and “most ingenious religious artifact ever invented” [Burns 2007:3].

“Grandfather Prays to Sun”

By Howard Terpning

“Many years ago, I camped overnight about a hundred feet from this spot,” says Howard Terpning. “As I recall, it is in an area of the Ruby Mountains in Montana, which was part of the vast region that was home to the Blackfoot people.”
“...early one morning as Sun’s rays swept across the land, this old man dismounted from his pony. He held up his sacred eagle wing fan and his pipe and prayed to Sun as his two warrior grandsons looked on with deep respect for their grandfather and the traditions he embodied."

 

After concerning smoking into several narratives related to religion, medicine, formal and informal social life, we should interpret also signification of this process as a whole. For Amerindians smoking was a cosmology act but not just a smoking with no meaning embedded in it. Smoking provided a way of praying and the smoke itself was the mediator of longings. It was perceived as a mystic creation with free spirit, having a mission. It races a bit and disappear quickly which fact Natives understood as a magical evidence that Gods are around you and accept your desires by taking them with invisible hands. Another way, Natives interpreted this process as breathing out of smoker to breathing in to Gods which resembles give – take communication between the natural and supernatural creations. Important is to add that prayers didn’t expect everything they asked for to happen – harvest to be abundant, to win the battle after blowing smoke over weapons and etc. Instead, prayers believed that the disappeared smoke means Gods have taken their requests under advisement and payed attention to them [Burns 2007:3, 9-8].

Such were the earliest perceptions and praises about the plant. From today’s perspective, the Natives didn’t know that they were poisoning them and that the God who gifted them the weed was a God of the underworld. What contrary the tribes knew was that if their prayers would not be fulfilled today, there is enough tobacco for tomorrow to keep hope on it [Burns 2007:4, 13).

Semiotic inference

We could say that the first phase of tobacco entering people’s life is semiotically rich presuming the explained meanings of the plant and its holistic usage functions. In that context, another inference is that tobacco become a sign since its discovery and first use by people.

Tobacco is a strongly influential symbolic sign to Amerindians with embedded in it denotative, connotative and mythological signification. Understanding of these meanings however depends and vary according to the reader/ interpreter – whether he/ she is a representative of today’s modern society or a representative of ancient Amerindian society this tobacco mythology is reviewed for. It is naturally to be so since evolutionary we are talking for two completely different cultural environments and languages (one that is developed and another one that is primitive), bringing to different articulation of the studied reality. In this regard, signification depends on respective language community, system and established social conventions that differ and apply individually to each language [Bankov 2001:24-7].

Based on the abovetheory, we identify the following two interpretations of tobacco as a sign:

1. Through the view of the ancient Amerindian reader. In this language and cultural environment, depending on development level we couldn’t clearly articulate the denotative, connotative and mythological signification of petun. For the Amerindian reader, understanding and importance meaning of the plant is simple coming to say that the signification is rather one but not structured in three levels. What the today’s reader decode as mythology is reality for the primitive reader. Explaining on the other hand petun signification itself to the Amerindians, then it comes a complex meaning as a result of the holistic way tobacco was perceived and utilized.

2. Through the view of the today’s modern reader. In this language and cultural environment on the other hand, we certainly can articulate the denotative, connotative and mythological signification of tobacco.The termsdenotation and conotation oppose to each other. Denotation is the bearer of the literal meaning of the word. It is based on convention among majority of people. Connotation on the other side is the bearer of the metaphorical meaning. It is based on associations that people’s mentality do. Both however are interrelated and brings together to completeness of the signifying concept. As a result of this, the denotative sign is composed by one signifier and one signifying while the connotative one has as a signifier the whole denotative sign and then its own signifying evolving from it. Depending on strength of convention, connotative meanings can take the form of denotative ones.The French semiotician and cultural philosopher RolandBarthes deals with a same principle. He focuses on the hidden ideology disseminated through the power of the connotations. In fact, the so called myths are another form of connotations. They should be more powerful though since through strength of ideology, myths are perceived as a natural state. In the mythical sign, we have the following constructs: 1. Signifier – the material vector, 2. Signifying – the meaning of the vecor, 3. Denotative sign – composed by 1 and 2, 4. SIGNIFIER – the material vector of the connotative sign given by the denotative one, 5. SIGNIFYING – the meaning of the vector of the connotative sign, 6. MYTHICAL SIGN – composed by 4 and 5 [Bankov 2001:85-96].

a. Denotative signification of tobacco. The modern reader would firstly determine the current denotative meaning of tobacco as a sign. Thus, tobacco is a plant that is part of Solanaceae family. The plant is consumable and it is the source for tobacco products manufacture. Among these products, mostly spread nowadays are the cigarettes. Very famous are the cigars and pipe tobacco, as well. Among the other tobacco products present cigarillos, snuff, chewing tobacco, shisha as well as local users’ products like betel, kretek, cheroot. The plant is a cultivated crop. It consists of the alkaloid nicotine that leads to addiction. In the past, people believed that tobacco healed them and even reckoned it as a panacea. But the scientific findings since the middle of XX century proved that tobacco is a risky factor for health and may cause a serious illnesses including cancer. This challenged development of new products most famous among which are the electronic cigarettes. This signification of tobacco can be encountered across many information sources.

b. Connotative signification of tobacco. We realize that Amerindians produced a profoundconnotative associations with tobacco. It comes from the rich cosmology the weed was incorporated in. They perceived it with the following main connotations:

Power gift created for them by the Earth maker
Communication mean with the supernatural world
Saver of various misfortunes
Medicine
Agreement medium
Social hierarchy medium
Form of entertainment

The determined associations are reasons why Amerindians regarded tobacco as a sacred plant and thus is a mythof them in the view of today’s reader.

c. Mythological signification of tobacco. It was determined above that what the today’s reader decode as mythology is reality for the primitive reader. Esteemed as a sacred plant, tobacco was an extra special component of the Natives believes and inseparable part from their mode of living. Amerindians consumed tobacco as they did with food and water. It was a culture creator element. According to a myth, Earth maker did created a weed and put it in charge of Amerindians. None of the spirits would have the power to take this away from them without giving them something in exchange. Earth maker and spirits loved tobacco and they would give whatever asked in return if offered a pipeful of the weed. This mythical belief though describes the real life of Amerindians. Through tobacco, they got hallucination and consciousness altering which state allowed them to fly to the supernatural world and communicate with spirits. Believing in the supernatural power of the weed, it was employed in all kind of rituals – healing, harvesting, raining, making peace. The shaman mediated between the health and illness, and tobacco was universally upheld as a medicine of unrivalled application and efficacy used in all stages of treatment. Smoking and more specifically the (calumet) pipe was a medium of deliberation, trust and sign of peace. Both, the cigar and the pipe served as totems no less than tools. The two artifacts stood for behaviors of which their users were proud. And smoke itself was perceived as a mystic creation with free spirit, having a mission. Not lastly, the Natives treated tobacco with special stance as a crop, as well. Not all of them practiced agriculture in general but they did however planted tobacco. Among some Amerindians, the crop formed an institution in their life that created tobacco society and structured the community.

In conclusion we can say that tobacco was a language form for the Amerindian societies. It was utilized as a communication means in their daily life and all practices. We can prove that by identifying a language system constructed by following invariant axes:

 

 

Tobacco was a symbolic sign of the performed rituals while shamans can be defined as the major communication media through which tobacco was utilized. Finally we can also view tobacco as a communication means with its own meaning as a result of the value it was granted in this ancient culture.

 

 

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БАРТ, Ролан. Нулева степен на почерка. Митологии, София: Колибри, 2005

ДИСКУРСИТЕ на бельото, КРАЕВ, Георг, съст. София: Нов български университет, 2010  – Достъп на http://ebox.nbu.bg/unclo10/

APPERSON, G.L. The social history of smoking, Salt Lake City: Project Gutenberg, 2006

BILLING, E.R. Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce, Salt Lake City: Project Gutenberg, 2008

BURNS, Erik. The smoke of the Gods – a social history of tobacco, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2007

GOODMAN, Jordan. Tobacco in history – the cultures of dependence, Oxfordshire: Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005

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Ancient History Encyclopedia: http://www.ancient.eu/mythology/

Artifacts Gallery: https://www.artifactsgallery.com/art.asp?!=A&ID=637

Encyclopædia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Northeast-Indian

Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco