The Sacred Pipe

For a long time, Indians have used pipes in their ceremonies. The sacred pipe, in addition to representing the center of the cosmos, is one of the means by which they connect with the past. Remembering this object is like going back to the time when spirits came to the human world and offered them a transcendental gift. The smoke of the pipe carries the prayers of the ancestors.

The Lakotas believe that the sacred pipe came to them through a beautiful spiritual being known as the Thirsty Woman of the White Bison. Two hunters of this tribe saw it, and one of them desired it. A cloud covered it, but when it got up, it left to the surface a great deal of bones. The beautiful woman stood before the tribe and handed over the sacred red pipe, saying, "Observe this pipe!" Always take into account her sacred nature and treat her as such, as this will take you to the end. Don't forget that in me there are four eras. I'm leaving now, but at every moment I'll look back at your town and eventually come back. A member of the Looking Horse family, who resides in the Cheyenne River Reserve in South Dakota, the Bison bull pipe conservationist has been in charge since then.

Share the sacred pipe

One of the oldest and most common rites in the plains and other areas is smoking the sacred pipe. Sharing a pipe reaffirms the connection between family, tribe and the universe, and the pipe itself, often decorated with feathers and drawings, represents creation.

The origins of the sacred pipe of the Lakotas are explained in the following myth. It is believed that the pipe still exists, unlike the sacred stone, and very few people have seen it.

Many winters ago, a beautiful and mysterious woman, dressed in white front and with a burden on her back, approached two lame hunters. One of the men expressed his desire for her and immediately fell into ruins. The woman expressed her desire to talk to her leader. Go see him and ask him to make a big coat. The hunter obeyed the order.

On arriving at the tipi, the woman handed over the bag to the leader and expressed: "I am the woman White Buffalo". No unclean man should contemplate this, for it is sacred. In the coming winters, this action will allow you to transmit your voice to Wakan Tanka. He took a pipe and a small round stone out of the bag and put them on the floor. Then, raising the pipe with the cannon toward the sky, he expressed: “With this sacred pipe you will walk on the earth, for the earth is your grandmother and mother and is sacred.” The red stone on the pipe pot represents the earth. A young buffalo engraved on the stone represents all four-legged beings. Everything that grows is represented in the wooden cannon. The Moteed Eagle has twelve feathers that hang on the pipe and symbolize all beings in the air. The pipe will be used in the seven rites in which the seven circles of the stone are used.

After talking about the first rite, the woman White Buffalo announced her departure and said she would come back someday. Before the other rites were revealed, the woman announced her return. It turned into an adult black buffalo, then into a young red and brown buffer. He lifted up his head toward the whole cosmos and disappeared in the middle of the mountain.

The rituals of the Lakota pipe

In the round stone left by the woman White Buffalo, seven circles were engraved, representing the seven rites related to the pipe, according to the Lakota myth.

The first ritual, the maintenance and release of the soul, aims to "keep" the soul of a deceased for several years, until it is adequately released and ensures its return to the spirit world. The second rite is the sweat pavilion, which is a purification rite preceding all the others.

The third, the cry for the vision, traces the ritual model of the search for vision, when a person throws himself in solitary search for a sacred vision. The fourth is a community recreation ceremony known as the dance of the sun. The fifth is family formation, a ritual union of two friends with a sacred bond. The sixth is the female puberty ceremony and the last is “throwing the ball”