Brazier

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This article is about the container for fire. For other uses, see Brazier
(disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Brassiere or Brasserie.

Brazier with burning fire in a rune stone circle at a summer solstice

A brazier being used to grill chicken and steaks.

A brazier (/ˈbreɪʒər/) is a container used to burn charcoal or other solid fuel for
cooking, heating or cultural rituals. It often takes the form of a metal box or bowl
with feet. Its elevation helps circulate air, feeding oxygen to the fire. Braziers have
been used since ancient times; the Nimrud brazier dates to at least 824 BC. [1]

Contents

 1History
 2Uses
o 2.1Heating
o 2.2Scent
o 2.3Other
 3Gallery
 4See also
 5References

History[edit]
Ancient Greek brazier and casserole, 6th/4th century BC, exhibited in the Ancient
Agora Museum in Athens, housed in the Stoa of Attalus
The word brazier is mentioned in the Bible. The Hebrew word for brazier is believed
to be of Egyptian origin, suggesting that it was imported from Egypt. The lone
reference to it in the Bible being the following verse:

 Jeremiah 36:22–23 - the winter palace of King Jehoiakim was heated by a

brazier (Hebrew: ‫)ָאח‬.
Roman Emperor Jovian was poisoned by the fumes from a brazier in his tent in 364,
ending the line of Constantine.

Uses[edit]
Heating[edit]
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[edit]
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]
A "brazier" for burning aromatics (incense) is known as a censer or thurible.
Other[edit]
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[edit]

Simple box-style brazier, with broad grill, intended as a metal container (e.g.
kettle/tray) heater/cooker
 

Pompeii, Italy. Table and small brazier to keep food warm. Brooklyn Museum
Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection
 

Brazier used for lighting the Paschal candle during Easter Vigil.

 
 

This is a small one used for cooking tortillas.

See also[edit]

Look
up brazier in
Wiktionary, the
free dictionary.

Wikimedia
Commons has
media related
to Braziers (fire
container).

Wikisource has the
text of
the 1911  Encyclopædi
a
Britannica article Bra
zier.

 Asado
 Angithi, a traditional Indian brazier
 Barbecue grill
 Chafing dish, a cooking implement
 Hibachi, a Japanese brazier
 List of cooking appliances
 Fire basket
 Torch
 Cresset, a cup for burning oil
 Kanger, a traditional Kashmiri personal heating device
 Crucible

References[edit]
1. ^ Russell, John M. (November 2003). "The MPs Do It Again: Two More
Antiquities from the Top 30 Are Back in the Iraq
Museum" (PDF). Archaeological Institute of America. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
2. ^ Parish, Sir Woodbine (1839). Buenos Ayres and the Provinces of the Rio
de La Plata; Their Present State, Trade and Debt. John Murray.
3. ^ Jump up to:a b Ford, Richard (1845). A Handbook for Travellers in
Spain. John Murray.
4. ^ Jessica Barry. "Afghanistan: Sandali stoves, a blessing and a
curse". ICRC. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
5. ^ Brenan, Gerald (1957). South from Granada. Hamish
Hamilton. ISBN 9780241890028.
6. ^ Bennett, Catherine (2001-11-28). "Every strike needs a brazier". The
Guardian. Retrieved 2014-08-10.