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Native American Peace Pipe
The Native American peace pipe is also known as a calumet or a medicine pipe.
This ceremonial smoking pipe is common among the Native American tribes and
is a traditional token of peace. During this sacred ceremony, a prayer would
be addressed to each of the four directions as well as the earth and
the sky who were considered as mother and father, respectively. The pipe would
be filled with tobacco as the prayer was being said and then a little tobacco
would be sprinkled on the ground. The pipe is then smoked and passed around
in a circle. Most participants do not inhale the smoke and non-smokers just
hold the pipe awhile and then pass it.
The smoke from the pipe is said to represent truth including truthful
words, truthful actions, and a truthful spirit. As the peace pipe makes
its journey towards the end of the circle someone will be asked to smoke
out the remaining tobacco from the pipe and the ashes will be sprinkled
on the earth. This concludes the peace pipe ceremony. The Native American
peace pipe is then disassembled and stored in an animal hide pipe bag or
a cloth bag. If the peace pipe ceremony is held indoors then the ashes
are given to a woman since women are thought to be synonymous with Mother
Earth.
The most famous Native American peace pipe is perhaps the kind used by
the Sioux and other Plains Indian tribes. This pipe was made by attaching
a wooden stem to a bowl carved from catlinite, also known as “pipestone”.
A Native American peace pipe can also be made from a variety of other materials
including clay, bluestone, salmon alabaster, and pipestone in a variety
of colors such as red, blue, green and black. They may be embellished with
beads or leather fringes.
Joseph Paige © 2006
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