Burning of Herbs

In the Frontier, people are known for defensive structures to keep both Beasts and Raiders at bay. They also take other measures, for example controlled burns to destroy any nearby hiding places and discourage Beasts from approaching. But they also follow various superstitions. Because some of these may very well be true and hold value, the Wayfarer Guild tries to study and document these superstitions.
One of these superstitions is the burning of herbs. While the finer details are different everywhere, they all have one thing in common: Burning specific herbs during Beast mating season because their smell is meant to work against them. In some cases the smell is supposed to hide one's own smell, meaning the Beast will believe there is no prey at hand. In other cases the smell is supposed to scare the Beast off, by either frustrating them or reminding them of their fear of fire.
Normally the ritual is performed when the first mating cry of nearby Beasts is overheard. Residents will either dig a small trench around their settlement to burn the herbs in, or burn them indoors in straw and wooden sheds. This way the scent will seep into their walls and stick around.
In some cases, the ritual is performed to bless a hunting party. The burning occurs indoors on a fire surrounded by the hunters. The scent will seep into their clothes and accompany them on the hunt. This will keep them safe from vicious Beasts, or let them sneak up on Beasts seen primarily as prey.
There are cases where Wayfarers have used the scent of some Beasts to not be hassled by others, or to remain unnoticed. As such it always was considered quite plausible that some of these herbs actually work. However, experimenting is risky and expensive, and as such not many experiments have been performed. With hundreds of possible herbs and different Beast species being affected, there simply are too many possibilities to all investigate.