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The Sacred Pipe
Before describing the seven rites given to the Lakotas by the White Buffalo
Calf Woman, it is appropriate to discuss the sacred pipe inasmuch as it represents the symbol
of integration between all rituals. The pipe, under certain circumstances, also represents
the total Oglala universe.
After the original pipe was given to the people, copies were made. There
were two types, one called and L-shape, the other, used for ceremonial occasions, a T-shape,
both terms referring to the shape of the catlinite bowl. The native term for pipe is
cannunpa (from can, 'wood', and nunpa, 'two'). The precise derivation
of the term is conjectural; possibly it refers to the manufacture of some pipes in which
a piece of ash is split, the pith gouged out, and the two parts glued together. The bowl of
the pipe is called pahu, 'head bone', and the stem is called ihupa, from
i, 'mouth', and hupa, 'tent pole'. The mouthpiece is oyape, 'to take or
hold in the mouth', and the connection between the stem and bowl is oagle, 'to set,
place in'. The stem is sometimes referred to as sinte, 'tail'. The ideal pipe is
made from catlinite found only in the Pipestone Quarry near Pipestone, Minnesota. Its
red color is ascribed to its origin in the flesh and blood of persons killed in the great
flood.
 When not
in use, the pipe is carried or stored in a beaded and quilled pipe bag (cantojuha,
from cante, 'heart', and ojuha, 'bag'). The bowl and stem must be separated
when not in use, because the pipe is powerful. When joined, the pipe is analogous to a
loaded gun. Its average length is eighteen inches, and the width of the stem, flattened on
the top and bottom, is approximately two inches. The pipe is usually decorated with
plaited porcupine quillwork running for several inches from the mouthpiece toward the bowl.
The stem may also be decotated with the head of a mallard and hanging eagle feathers.
The bowl may be plain, but is often decorated with lead inlay or carved objects, particularly
buffalo. Often there are relief carvings on the stem depicting spiders, turtles,
or lizards.
A pipe may be smoked ceremonially or for pleasure, but the Oglalas make
a careful distinction. Smaller pipes are used for the latter. Some smoking pipes were also
made from the femur of a deer or buffalo. There are a variety of native tobaccos, but the
preferred is canšaša, 'red wood', which is made from the dried inner bark of the red
willow (Salix spp.). It is often mixed with scrapings of canli cahi, 'tobacco
mix' (snakeroot).
A pipe used for ceremonial purposes is called cannunpa wakan,
'sacred pipe', and the filled pipe is known as opagi (opagi also means "to
fill a pipe" and probably refers to the tamping down of tobacco). The pipe was filled
ceremonially before religious events and also before war journeys. In each case the tobacco
was placed in the bowl and the bowl was sealed with buffalo fat. If the war journey was
successful, the seal was broken and the pipe smoked.
There were two ways of offering the pipe. It may either be raised above
the head with both hands (ihupa wogluze, 'to hold onto the pipe'), or the stem of the
pipe may be pointed in the direction of the power invoked (oyaĥpeya. The latter is
analagous to casting out the pipe as a fisherman casts out his line. It is stated that war
parties offered common pipes to sacred men in order that they be consecrated and thus serve
as war medicine. Most of the mens's societies maintained custodians of the pipe whose duty it
wes to conduct the special ceremonies of the sodalities.
The consecration of the pipe was effected in the following way. A sacred
person joined the bowl and the stem, applying sputum to the oagle to seal it. Sprigs
of sage were held in the left hand, on which the bowl of the pipe rested. With the right
hand, the sacred person reached into the cantojuha, taking out a pinch of canšaša
between his thumb and index finger. The pinch of tabacco was placed in the bowl with a precise
gesture, the right hand being lifted quickly and slowly lowered until the tobacco touched the
mouth of the bowl. Each gesture was done seven times; and with each a prayer was offered
to the four directions, above and below, ant the Spotted Eagle, the latter being the messenger
of Wakantanka. When the seven pinches of tobacco had been placed in the bowl, the
sacred person tamped the pipe with a special stick (icašloka) and sealed the contents
with fat from the heart of a buffalo or a crumpled sprig of sage. In this manner, the total
powers of the universe were conceived to be inhered in the pipe, and it was rendered sacred.
When occasion came to smoke the pipe, the seal was removed and the tobaccl
lighted with an ember or a buffalo chip. The usual arrangement for the pipe ceremony was a
circle. The owner of the pipe or presiding sacred man held the pipe for the man on his
right to light. After drawing on it and taking four puffs, offering the mouthpiece to the
four directions, the owner passed it to the man on his left, who repeated the invocation,
passing it to the man on his left until all had smoked. At the completion of the ceremony
the owner of the pipe cleaned out the residue with a pipe cleaner (iglaye), separated
the bowl from the stem, and returned them to the pipe bag.
To smoke or even touch a pipe was regarded as a sacred act and only men
and women of integrity could do so. Bonds between groups, vows to Wakantanka, and
prophecies were validated by means of the pipe, and any transgressions against it would
cause the offender or his family to suffer misfortune or even death. Thus the pipe could
not be desecrated by word or deed, and it could be handled only by persons properly
trained in its protocol.It could not be touched by a menstruating woman, or even placed in
her presence. One must be careful never to step over a pipe, or store it improperly when
the camp was preparing to move. If a pipe were in any manner desecrated, it was required
that a sacred person take it into a sweat lodge, where its power could be renewed with the
proper ceremony. If the pipe continued to be inefficacious, it was buried and thus returned
to mother earth and the hunkake, the ancestors, from whose flesh and blood it had
emerged.
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