Aceremonial pipe is a particular type ofsmoking pipe, used by a number of cultures of theindigenous peoples of the Americas in their sacred ceremonies. Traditionally they are used to offer prayers in a religious ceremony, to make a ceremonial commitment, or to seal acovenant ortreaty. The pipe ceremony may be a component of a larger ceremony, or held as a sacred ceremony in and of itself. Indigenous peoples of the Americas who use ceremonial pipes have names for them in each culture'sIndigenous language. Not all cultures have pipe traditions, and there is no single word for all ceremonial pipes across the hundreds of diverse Native American languages.
Although often called "peace pipes" by Europeans (and, specifically,calumet de la paix, by the French[1]), the smoking of a ceremonial pipe to seal a peace treaty is only one use of a ceremonial smoking pipe, by only some of the nations that utilize them.
Various types of ceremonial pipes have been used by differentNative American,First Nations andMétis cultures. The style of pipe, materials smoked, and ceremonies are unique to the specific and distinct religions of those nations. Similarly, the pipes are called by names in that tribe's language. The specific type of pipes smoked in Catholic conversion rituals first inIllinois and then inMi'kmaq territory were known as Calumets.[2] Historically, ceremonial pipes have been used to mark war and peace, as well as commerce and trade, and social and political decision-making.[3]
During his travels down theMississippi River in 1673, FatherJacques Marquette documented the universal respect that the ceremonial pipe was shown among all Native peoples he encountered, even those at war with each other. He claimed that presenting the pipe during battle would halt the fighting. TheIllinois people gave Marquette such a pipe as a gift to ensure his safe travel through the interior of the land.[3]
In ceremonial usage, the smoke is generally believed to carry prayers to the attention of theCreator or other powerful spirits.Lakota tradition tells thatWhite Buffalo Calf Woman brought theChanunpa (Lakota sacred pipe) to the people, and instructed them in its symbolism and ceremonies.[4] Many Native American cultures still practice these ceremonies.
According to oral traditions, and as demonstrated by pre-contact pipes held in museums and tribal and private holdings, some ceremonial pipes are adorned with feathers, fur, animal or human hair, beadwork, quills, carvings or other items having significance for the owner. Other pipes are very simple. Many are not kept by an individual, but are instead held collectively by a medicine society or similar indigenous ceremonial organization.
Indigenous peoples of the Americas who use ceremonial pipes have names for them in each culture's indigenous language. There is no single word for all ceremonial pipes across the hundreds of diverse Native cultures.
TheLakota sacred pipe is called achanupa, also spelledchanunpa orc'anupa.[4]
In some historical sources written by colonists, a ceremonial pipe is referred to as acalumet (kal-yə-ˌmet, -mət).Calumet is aNorman word (pronounced[kalyme]), first recorded in David Ferrand'sLa Muse normande around 1625–1655,[5] and used by Norman-French settlers to describe the ceremonial pipes they saw used among the native peoples of the region.[6] The settlers initially used the word to refer to the hollow decorated pipe shaft alone while the pipe bowl was a separate ritual object,[7] a "sort of reeds used to make pipes", with a suffix substitution forcalumel.[8] It corresponds to the French wordchalumeau, meaning 'reed' (Modern French also means 'straw', 'blowlamp').[9][10] The Calumets smoked in Catholic conversion rituals first inIllinois and then inMi'kmaq territory. They were elaborately carved and decorated.[2] The name of theCalumet Region in Illinois and Indiana may derive from the French term or may have an independent derivation fromPotawatomi.[3][11] Likewise, there is a currentUmatilla term,čalámat.[12]
Tobacco,Nicotiana rustica,[13] was originally used primarily by eastern tribes, but western tribes often mixed it with other herbs, barks, and plant matter, in a preparation commonly known askinnikinnick.[14]
One material used for ceremonial pipe bowls in theUpper Midwest is red pipestone orcatlinite,[15] a fine-grained easily worked stone of a rich red color of theCoteau des Prairies, west of theBig Stone Lake inSouth Dakota. Thepipestone quarries of what today is Minnesota, were neutral ground as people from multiple nations journeyed to the quarry to obtain the sacred pipestone.[16] TheSioux people use long-stemmed pipes in some of their ceremonies. Other peoples, such as theCatawba in the American Southeast, use ceremonial pipes formed as round, footed bowls. A tubular smoke tip projects from each of the four cardinal directions on the bowl.
Uncompahgre Ute Salmon alabaster ceremonial pipe. Ute pipe styles are similar to those of thePlains Indians, with notable differences. Ute pipes are thicker and use shorter pipestems than the plains style and more closely resemble the pipe styles of their Northern neighbors, theShoshone.
A number ofIndigenous North American cultures make and use ceremonial pipes. However, there are alsoNative American cultures that do not have a ceremonial smoking tradition, but make pipes for social smoking only. The types of materials used vary by community and locality. Some of the known types of pipe stone and pipe materials are:
Clay
TheCherokee andChickasaw both fashion pipes made from firedclay, however these are only used for social smoking. They use smallreed cane pipestems made from river cane. These pipes are made from aged river clay hardened in a hot fire.
Red pipestone
Mississippian and Eastern Woodlands style "acorn" pipe. These pipes have been found inMississippian culture earthwork mounds in the Eastern United States. This acorn pipe is made from South Dakota red pipestone.Catlinite is an iron-rich, reddish, softargillite orclaystone typically excavated from beds occurring between hardSioux Quartzite layers[17] below groundwater level, as the stone erodes rapidly when exposed to the weather and outside air. Red pipestone is used primarily by thePlains Tribes, and the Western andGreat Basin Tribes. The stone can be found in Minnesota (Pipestone), andUtah (Delta, Uinta). Sacred pipestone comes fromPipestone, Minnesota. The quarry is located just north of the town at thePipestone National Monument. Today only Native Americans are allowed to quarry the pipestone from this quarry. The pipestone from this quarry is considered the softest stone available.[citation needed]
Blue pipestone
is used predominantly by the Plains Tribes for certain types of ceremonial pipes. Deposits of the stone are found in South Dakota.
Bluestone
a hard, greenish-blue quartzite stone from the southernAppalachian Mountains. After being worked, it takes on a decidedly greenish cast. This stone has been used by several Eastern Woodlands tribes for pipemaking. Several ancient Mississippian culture bluestone pipes have been excavated.
A white on green marbledcupric pipestone found inWyoming and South Dakota is used by theShoshone, Ute, and Plains Tribes for personal and ceremonial pipes. This stone is also used to carve sacred effigies and religious items.
Black pipestone (South Dakota)
a soft, brittle, white on black marbled pipestone found in South Dakota and used by some of the Plains Tribes for certain types of ceremonial pipes.
Black pipestone (Uinta)
an extremely hard black quartzite slate which has undergonemetamorphic compression and is found in the southeastern drainage of theUinta Mountains in Utah and Colorado. This stone has been used by the Great Basin Tribes for warclubs and pipes that are jet black with a high gloss when polished. Stones which have tumbled down creeks and drainages are always selected, since these stones typically contained no cracks or defects.
High-grade red pipestone fromDelta, Utah, in both raw and cut-and-slabbed forms
One traditional method of manufacture is the use ofbow drills made with hard whitequartz points for drilling sacred objects from stone. One technique uses moistenedrawhide strips rolled in crushed white quartz and stretched with a bow handle to shape and rough the pipes. Pipe bowls may also be shaped with hardsandstones, then polished with water and sanded with progressively finer and finer abrasive grit and animal hide, finally being rubbed with fat or other oils to complete polishing.[18]
^Kalm, Pehr (1772).Travels into North America: containing its natural history, and a circumstantial account of its plantations and agriculture in general, with the civil, ecclesiastical and commercial state of the country, the manners of the inhabitants, and several curious and important remarks on various subjects. Translated by Johann Reinhold Forster. London: T. Lowndes. p. 344.ISBN9780665515002.OCLC1083889360.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^The word comes from Late Latincalamellus. The Northern Norman dialect retains the group /ca/, when it turns into /ʃa/ (cha-) in Common French and it retains the suffix-el, when it has turned into-eau in Common French. The fall of the final /l/ is specific for theCauchois dialect, which explains the later confusion with another suffix-et, pronounced the same way [e].
Brown, Ian W. "The calumet ceremony in the southeast and its archaeological manifestations."American Antiquity 54.2 (1989): 311-331.
Cessford, Craig. "The archaeology of the clay pipe and the study of smoking."Assemblage 6 (2001): 84-112.online
Cutler, Charles L.Tracks that speak: the legacy of Native American words in North American culture. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2002).
Haberman, Thomas W. "Evidence for aboriginal tobaccos in eastern North America."American Antiquity 49.2 (1984): 269-287.
Hall, Robert L. "Calumet Ceremonialism, Mourning Ritual, and Mechanisms of Inter-tribal Trade." inMirror and Metaphor: Material and Social Constructions of Reality (1987): 29-43.
Hays, Charles F. III, ed. Proceedings of the 1989 Smoking Pipe Conference: Selected Papers (Research Division of the Rochester Museum and Science Center, 1992).
Higgins, David A. "Clay tobacco pipes: a valuable commodity."International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 24.1 (1995): 47-52.online[permanent dead link]
Springer, James Warren. "An ethnohistoric study of the smoking complex in eastern North America."Ethnohistory (1981): 217-235.online
Winter, Joseph C., ed.Tobacco Use by Native North Americans: Sacred Smoke and Silent Killer (University of Oklahoma Press, 2000).
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Calumet".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
