SACRED HEARTH FRICTION FIRE
  • Home
  • Events
  • Sacred Fire
    • Sacred Fire Overview
    • Ancestral Fire
    • Ritual Welcoming of Fire
    • What is fire?
    • Fire Dieties
    • Stories >
      • Myths - China - Sui
      • Myths - Aztec - New Fire Ceremony
      • Myths - Evenki - Fire
      • Myths - Navajo - Black God
      • Myths - Polynesian - Maui1
      • Myths - Polynesian - Maui2
      • Myths - Slavic - Living Fire
    • Symbolism
  • Methods
    • History of Fire
    • Friction Methods
    • Fire Plough UK
    • Bow Drill >
      • Overview and Principles
      • Method
      • Demonstration
    • Hand Drill
    • Celtic Fire Churn >
      • Neid Fire
      • Need Fire
      • Force Fire
      • Teine eginn
    • Vedic Fire Churn
  • Blog
  • About Me
  • Contact
  • Links

Holy Smoke - Horizontal Fire Churn!

9/2/2018

 
A video of my attempt at a rather peculiar friction fire method - the horizontal fire churn! Not efficient, not effective, best to be avoided unless of course it's for ritual! 
And also see the video from India which inspired me to give it a go!

Fire Churn (India)

12/9/2016

 
Picture
Picture
 I have recently discovered "fire churning" or "churning of fire" which is a friction fire method in India, similar to strap  drill made from the Banyan tree, and it seems to be specifically for use during Hindu Vedic fire rituals. There is also the variation of the "fire churn" which seems to have been used in Celtic and Northern European traditions, e.g creating Need Fire which I talk about in these posts: Samhain; Neid Fire
​
This post focusses on the Fire Churn used within the Hindu religion.


The fire sticks are also called the Arani.
The Fire Churn is also known as the Agni Manthan by some.
The Banyan tree is significant and seems to be the only wood that these are made of.


I'm only just learning about this, so I apologise if I get any of this confused, and I welcome any feedback\corrections.

From my searches and limited understanding, it seems the Fire Churn may be used in different "strands" of Hinduism but seems to be primarily used in the Hindu religion for the the "invocation" of Lord Agni (Fire.) In some Hindu symbolism, Agni's parents are said to be the two Arani used to start the fire, and when young Arani was said to be cared for by ten servants who are represented by the ten fingers of the man who starts the fire.
There is also belief that he is the son of two mothers, the two Arani which are female (in Sanskrit the gender of Arani is female.) The Arani were made from the banyan tree.
From "HOW TO PREPARE HOMA YAGNYA FIRE AGNI MANTHAN PROCESS" :
"Fire (Agni) is the primary God in Vedas and the Agni is to be prepared manually using Banyan twigs/logs ,chanting Agni Suktham. The lighting of the Havan Agni with the churning (Manthan) of the special instrument (Agni Manthan) made from a banyan tree, is considered extremely auspicious.
A participant said it required a lot of effort and that is why it is generally not used. It took them about 15 minutes to get it going.
...
​Preparing Homa, Yagnya fire with Camphor as is being practiced now is incorrect."
From an article in the "Hindu" :
"The ‘Yaga Karta' (chief performer of the yagam) Kapilawai Ramakrishna Sastry and other ‘ritviks' (officiating priests) made the holy fire using ‘Arani Manthani', an instrument similar to a hand drill. While chanting Vedic hymns, they vigorously drilled a wooden shaft. The spinning caused black dust to form near the hole of the soft wood. The black dust with smoulder was transferred onto tinder of twigs. As soon as the flames emanated from the plate of twigs, the environs echoed with the words ‘Harom Hara'.“It is Vedic procedure to make fire with Arani Manthani. We can call it as ‘Agni Madhanam' (churning of fire). It is done with ‘Agni Prathisthana' mantras,” explained P. V. Suryanarayana Sarma, principal of the Vedic School run by the temple. "
So  with Fire Churning, it is not about how quick the fire is produced or how easy but it is the ritual of producing the fire and the significance of the materials used (in this case Banyan wood) and the chants and songs that go with it.

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    October 2022
    September 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    May 2021
    January 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    August 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016

    Categories

    All
    Africa
    Agni
    Agni Manthan
    Ancestral Fire
    Ancestry Of Fire
    Ancient Greece
    Arani
    Bow Drill
    Bow Drill Experiments
    Bow Drill Tips
    Connecting With Fire
    Cordage
    Earliest Fire Drill
    Fire Brace
    Fire Ceremony
    Fire Churn
    Fire Plough
    Fire Plow
    Fire Ritual
    Fire Steel
    Fire Wood
    Foraging
    Force Fire
    Friction Fire
    Hand Drill
    Heathen
    Inuit
    Legends And Myths
    Mouth Drill
    Natural Cordage
    Need Fire
    Neid Fire
    Oak
    Oak Bow Drill
    Pagan
    Pagan Friction Fire
    Pump Drill
    Roman Empire
    Samhain
    Sparks Of Possibilities
    Stone Tools
    Teine Eigin
    The Sacredness Of Fire
    Tinder
    Tinder Nest
    Vedic Fire Ritual
    Wet Bow Drill

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Events
  • Sacred Fire
    • Sacred Fire Overview
    • Ancestral Fire
    • Ritual Welcoming of Fire
    • What is fire?
    • Fire Dieties
    • Stories >
      • Myths - China - Sui
      • Myths - Aztec - New Fire Ceremony
      • Myths - Evenki - Fire
      • Myths - Navajo - Black God
      • Myths - Polynesian - Maui1
      • Myths - Polynesian - Maui2
      • Myths - Slavic - Living Fire
    • Symbolism
  • Methods
    • History of Fire
    • Friction Methods
    • Fire Plough UK
    • Bow Drill >
      • Overview and Principles
      • Method
      • Demonstration
    • Hand Drill
    • Celtic Fire Churn >
      • Neid Fire
      • Need Fire
      • Force Fire
      • Teine eginn
    • Vedic Fire Churn
  • Blog
  • About Me
  • Contact
  • Links