Ceremonial pipe

The specific type of pipes smoked in Catholic conversion rituals first in Illinois and then in Mi'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 the Mississippi River in 1673, Father Jacques Marquette documented the universal respect that the ceremonial pipe was shown among all Native peoples he encountered, even those at war with each other.

The Illinois 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 the Creator or other powerful spirits.

Calumet is a Norman word (pronounced [kalyme]), first recorded in David Ferrand's La 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.

[9][10] The Calumets smoked in Catholic conversion rituals first in Illinois and then in Mi'kmaq territory were elaborately carved and decorated.

One technique uses moistened rawhide strips rolled in crushed white quartz and stretched with a bow handle to shape and rough the pipes.

A pipestem from the upper Missouri River area, without the pipe bowl, from the collection of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology .
Catlinite bowl of a ceremonial pipe used by Black Hawk , on display at Black Hawk State Historic Site .
Catlinite Inlayed Pipe Bowl with Two Faces, early 19th century, Sisseton Sioux
Uncompahgre Ute Salmon alabaster ceremonial pipe. Ute pipe styles are similar to those of the Plains 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, the Shoshone .
Mississippian and Eastern Woodlands style "acorn" pipe. These pipes have been found in Mississippian culture earthwork mounds in the Eastern United States. This acorn pipe is made from South Dakota red pipestone.
High-grade red pipestone from Delta, Utah , in both raw and cut-and-slabbed forms