Native American Tobacco

Pipes

By:
Shayan Mondegari
Derrick Vu

Peace Pipe

A peace pipe, also called a

calumet or medicine pipe, is a
ceremonial smoking pipe used by
many Native American tribes,
traditionally as a token of peace.
It was used as a major means of
communication with the spiritual
world. The pipe was actually used
in both of war and peace.
A leader of a war expedition
carried a pipe as a symbol of his
leadership and his responsibilities
for members of his party. During
ceremonies, the pipe was smoked
to ask for protection and success
and to seek guidance on the
expedition. Pipe ceremonies also
took place to establish alliances
between different tribal peoples
and in councils before important
deliberations were to take place.

Origin

Founded by Lakota from a mysterious lady who

says that they must smoke tobacco out of the pipe
before all ceremonies to bring peaceful thoughts
into their minds.
They must use it when they pray to the Strong
One above and to Mother Earth to ensure that
they receive their blessings.
Black Elk, a medicine man or "shaman," of the
Oglala Sioux Indians (Lakota), predicted that his
people would bring forth beneficial change to the
next generation. He predicted that the pipe, and
the respectful pipe holder, would be required to
establish a spiritual basis for this nation.

How the Pipe is Made

Several materials have been employed in making the pipe:

pipestone, bone, wood, and clay. The bowl of the pipe is cut
from one piece. In a procedure that takes about eight hours,
the pipe is gradually carved and ground from one piece of
pipestone, and then the bowl and stem hole are carefully
hollowed out, using a simple drill.
The pipestone is oiled with grease, which gives it its
distinctive bright red appearance. Sometimes clay is
gathered, molded into a pipe, dried, and then fired in a fire
pit. Bones, wood, and shell have been used, depending on
their availability. The stem of the pipe is wood or reed
decorated with feathers or porcupine quills, and tufts of
horsehair and animal fur. These were believed to
correspond to the essential parts of the Universe.

Different Types of Pipes

Clay - The clay pipe represents the clay body of

the human, within which is contained the burning
ember of life.
Red Pipestone - Catlinite is an iron-rich, reddish,
soft quartzite slate typically excavated from
below groundwater level. Red pipestone was used
by the Eastern Tribes, Western and Great Basin
Tribes, and the Plains Tribes.
Blue Pipestone - Also a form of catlinite, blue
pipestone was used almost predominantly by the
Plains Tribes for ceremonial pipes. Deposits of the
stone are also found in South Dakota.

Contd.

Bluestone - a hard, greenish-blue quartzite stone

from the southern Appalachian Mountains. This
stone was used by several Eastern Woodlands
tribes for pipemaking.
Salmon Alabaster - Salmon alabaster was
generally mined in central Colorado.
Green Pipestone - A white on green marbled
cupric pipestone found in Wyoming and South
Dakota and used by the Shoshone, Ute, and
Plains Tribes for personal and ceremonial pipes.

Contd.

Black Pipestone (South Dakota) - a soft,

brittle, white on black marbled pipestone used
by the Plains Tribes for ceremonial pipes.
Black Pipestone (Uinta) - an extremely hard
black quartzite slate found in the southeastern
drainage of the Uinta Mountains in Utah and
Colorado. This stone was used by the Great
Basin Tribes for war clubs and pipes that are
jet black with a high gloss when polished.

From top left: red pipestone, red

pipestone, green pipestone, salmon
alabaster, blue pipestone

Symbols embedded in the

smoking pipes

The stem of the pipe represents

the Male Principle as well as
straightness of speech, mind and
body. Animals or other creatures
carved on the stem stand for, and
thus pull into a ceremony, all of the
four-legged creatures of the earth.
Eagle feathers tied to the stem
stand for the winged creatures
above. Colored ribbons stand for
the four cardinal directions.
The bowl of the pipe represents the
Female Principle as well as the
Plant Kingdom. The bowl of the
pipe is of red stone; it is the Earth.
The whole of the pipe represents
Creation, and as soon as bowl and
stem are connected the ceremonial
pipe becomes sacred as a result.

Symbolism of Pipe Smoke to

Lakota

The use of the pipe was considered a sacred ritual. The

smoking mixture consisted of various herbs, often
tobacco mixed with willow bark, sumac leaves, certain
manzanita leaves, cedar shavings, or white sage.
Although some tribes at times smoked for relaxation
and/or a narcotic effect, most did not normally inhale the
smoke. Rather, they used the pipe as a major means of
communication with the spiritual world.
The pipe smoke is also related to incense smoke in
Catholicism. One reason for the pipe smoke is to
perfume the air with a special fragrance. The second
reason is because "incense produces smoke lighter than
air, and thus the smoke rises. These symbolize prayers
rising to heaven. This is to make invisible things
(prayers) visible (the smoke).

Why did the Lakota use

them?

As a means of prayer, pipes have been used to give thanks, to establish new
relations and seal agreements, to mark important passages of ceremonial life,
and to begin important expeditions.
Among the Sioux there are three different uses for pipes. The least important
kind is one that is used for social purposes. It is filled with regular tobacco and
smoked with friends. Anyone can smoke it.
A higher kind is the personal pipe that we use to make and continue
friendships, and it is the one that is filled and sent as an offering to a medicine
man when his services are needed.
The third and most important kind of pipe is one that is used by its owner for
ceremonial purposes, such as the sweatlodge rites, vision quests, and the Sun
Dance. It is also the one used by the holy men and medicine men for their
private rituals, for healing patients, and as they lead the various tribal
ceremonies.

One often-used method for opening meetings was to first light the calumet,
then offer the calumet (or blow smoke) to the Thunderbird (or Eagle) in the
east, and then make the same offering in a clockwise direction to the south,
west, and north, and then to Father Sky and Mother Earth.

Ceremonial Use of the Peace

Pipe

The pipe ceremony begins with

loading tobacco, a natural
substance, into a pipe
The pipe is held firmly by the bowl
in the palm of the hand with the
stem pointed outward. The last
step of the pipe offering is the
holding up of the pipe with its
stem pointed straight upward, out
into the center of the universe.
In the complete ritual of the pipe,
there are three phases: the
purification with the smoke of a
sacred herb; the "expansion" of
the pipe so that it includes the
entire universe; and finally, what
could be called the "identity",
which is the sacrifice of the whole
universe in the fire.

Lakota Use of the Calumet

Today

The pipe is still used today,

as Indian peoples are
"rediscovering" their
cultural roots.
Much of the sacred
ceremonial meanings have
been lost because, for the
past three generations,
tribal elders and medicine
men have been unable to
find enough tribal youth
who were willing (or able)
to receive the ancient
teachings.

Native American Indian Peace Pipe D

ance

Works cited
"American Indian Pipes (Calumet)." Native American Indian
Pipes. May

1997. 1 June 2008

<http://www.native-languages.org/pipes.htm>.

Brown, Joseph E. The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk's Account of the

Seven
Rites of the Oglala Sioux (Civilization of the
American Indian
Series). Oklahoma City:
University of Oklahoma P, 1989. 1-152.
"First Americans." Origin of the Peace Pipe. June 2008. 31 May
2008
<http://www.ic.arizona.edu/ic/kmartin/School/ghost.htm>.
Paper, Jordan. Offering Smoke: the Sacred Pipe and Native
American Religion. Oklahoma: University of Idaho P, 1988. 1181.
"Peace Pipe." Wikipedia. 8 May 2008. EncyclopDia Britannica
Eleventh Edition. 2 June 2008
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_pipe>.
Tree, James M. The Way of the Sacred Pipe. New York: Blue Sky,