 | Incense as a product that was blended and formed on purpose, has been around for nearly 2,000 years, but informal incense burners actually came into being the first time a caveman threw a log on the fire that came from an aromatic tree such as apple, or pine.
As time passed, the burning of incense became part of many religious rites. Possibly, this grew out of early Man’s respect for fire, and for the pleasing smells that were released when certain woods were burned. Incense in its base form at that time, was burned simply as the hardened drops of sap harvested from trees, or as the dried leaves and petals of aromatic plants. Sometimes artisans created hand-thrown pottery bowls, and at other times ancient incense burners were nothing more than a clay dish.
The most famous “incense” of all, would have to be the frankincense brought to the Christ child by one of the three Wise Men. Frankincense is the sap of the genus Boswellia, a tree common to the Middle East. It would have been presented as a dried substance. The same frankincense is still used in the making of incense products, today, as one of the most aromatic of substances. It is also included with the incense burned in censers during religious ceremonies.
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Incense Burners
When most people think of incense, the images that come to mind are the joss sticks and cones. But the history of the cone shape is relatively short, being an invention that Chinese makers brought to the World’s Fair in the 1800s. Prior to that, the stick form was the most common. Fashioned in the Ayurdeveda healing period in India, the joss stick at one time was made on a thin splinter of fragrant sandalwood, which was then rolled in a blend of powders, seeds, oils and dung, with the sandalwood serving as a “wick” for burning. During this period, when Buddha was also a healing master, a philosophy emerged in India, with regard to the ingredients of incense, and set down a required blend of parts of the living plant, including that which was derived from the fruits, root, flowers, stems and branches, or leaves.
Today, people who enjoy the fragrance of incense, and who like to create an ambience or mood with it, have any number of delightful choices in incense burners, from the mystic dragon incense burner, to a haunting tree man incense burner, and even a hippy incense burner, who will “smoke” a joss stick. Whether you choose sticks, cones, or Spring incense powder to toss on a winter night’s fire, you’ll enjoy the aroma of history. |
