Brazier with burning fire in a rune stone circle at a summer solsticeA brazier being used to grill chicken and steaks.
Abrazier (/ˈbreɪʒər/) is a container for fuel-burning, often taking the form of a with-feet or hanging metal bowl or box, a synonym is an "open furnace". Used for burning solid fuel, usually charcoal. Any elevation means slightly more oxygenation from wind and less conduction by the air gap made below (than soils) and may enable movement of the fire; they may be used for cooking and cultural rituals. They have been recovered from many early archaeological sites like the Nimrud brazier, in 2003 excavated by the Iraqi National Museum, which dates to at least 824 BC.[1]
Braziers are mentioned in the Bible. The Hebrew word for brazier is of Egyptian origin, suggesting that it was imported from Egypt. There are two references to it in the Bible:
Genesis 15:17 - God himself sent and provided a "smoking brazier" for the sacrifice which Abram prepared.
Jeremiah 36:22–23 - the winter palace of King Jehoiakim was heated by braziers.
Despite risks in burning charcoal on open fires, braziers were widely adopted for domestic heating, particularly and somewhat more safely used (namely in unglazed, shuttered-only buildings) in the Spanish-speaking world. Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxochitl noted that Tezozomoc, the Tlatoani of the Tepanec city of Azcapotzalco, slept between two braziers because he was so old that he produced no natural heat. Nineteenth-century British travellers such as diplomat and scientist Woodbine Parish and the writer Richard Ford, author of A Handbook for Travellers in Spain, state that widely braziers were considered healthier than fireplaces and chimneys.[2][3]
The brazier could sit in the open in a large room; often it was incorporated into furniture. Many cultures developed their own variants of a low table, with a heat source underneath and blankets to capture the warmth: the kotatsu in Japan, the korsi in Iran, the sandali in Afghanistan,[4] and the foot stove in northern Europe. In Spain the brasero continued to be one of the main means of heating until the early 20th century; Gerald Brenan described in his memoir South from Granada its widespread habit in the 1920s of dying embers of a brazier beneath a cloth-covered table to keep the legs and feet of the family warm on winter evenings.[5]
Scent
Moist rose and grapevine trimmings produce a pungent, sweet-smelling smoke, and make charcoal, but unless fully pre-dried (seasoned or kilned) as with wood, do produce carcinogenic particulates in the air.
Aromatics (lavender seeds, orange peel) were sometimes added to the embers in the brazier.[3]
In some churches a brazier is used to host a small fire, called new fire, which is then used to light the Paschal candle during the Easter Vigil.
Braziers were common on industrial picket lines, largely replaced by protest marches and rallies, and a newspaper casts strikes as more white collar as a further reason for their decline.[6]
The Japanese translation is hibachi - principally for cooking and in cultural rituals such as the Japanese tea ceremony.
Gallery
Simple box-style brazier, with broad grill, ideal a metal container (e.g. kettle) heater
Pompeii, Italy. Table and small brazier to keep food warm. Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection