Observations placeholder

Before the tying up the room is purified with sweet grass.  We call it wacacanga and it is braided like a woman's pigtail.  We burn it at one end, walking around with it, waving it so that the scent spreads through the room blessing it with its fragrance.  It smells so good; it swirls around us and makes us all relatives.

With it we purify all the things we use in the ceremony.  It drives out evil influences.  

It counteracts the effects of a woman having her monthly time.  When she has her period she is not suppose to take part in a ceremony because being isnati is having a great nature power which could spoil the medicine and undo the curing.  If a woman is isnati one can't doctor her.  Women know this and stay away from a ceremony when they have their time, but in case there should be one who doesn't know, well, the smoke from the sweet grass will neutralise this power.

For some ceremonies one uses cedar smoke, which gives the man the power to dream, but for yuwipi we prefer sweetgrass.