Calumet; United States, Great Plains, c. 1870.

Calumet; United States, Great Plains, c. 1870.
Polychrome wood, leather, catlinite and lead inlay.
Measurements: 61 x 3 x 3 cm; 15 x 9 x 3 x 3 cm.
Piece with the same characteristics in the Amsterdam Pipe Museum: APM 20.532.
The ceremonial calumet is a particular type of pipe used by various Native American cultures in sacred contexts. Traditionally, it is used to offer prayers, make ceremonial commitments or seal covenants or treaties. Its use may be part of a larger ceremony or constitute a sacred act in its own right. Not all indigenous cultures have traditions related to pipes, and there is no single word that encompasses all of these pipes in the many Native American languages.
Although European colonizers, especially the French, called them "peace pipes," this name reflects only one of their many uses. Sealing peace treaties through the use of the pipe was a specific practice of some nations, but does not represent the totality of its function.
Various indigenous cultures, including the original nations of North America and the Métis peoples, have used different types of ceremonial pipes. The design of the pipe, the substances smoked and the associated rituals vary according to each nation's own spirituality. In certain contexts of conversion to Catholicism, especially in Illinois and among the Mi'kmaq, pipes called calumets were used. Historically, these pipes have also been used to mark times of war, peace, commerce, social and political decision-making.
Ritually, smoke is considered a means of carrying prayers to the Creator or to powerful spirits. According to Lakota tradition, the White Buffalo Woman gave the sacred pipe (Chanunpa) to the people and instructed its ceremonial use.
Oral traditions, along with pre-European contact pipes preserved in museums and Indian collections, show that some pipes were decorated with feathers, fur, hair, beads, spikes, carvings or other symbolic elements. Others, on the contrary, were very simple. In many cases, they do not belong to individuals, but are kept by medicine societies or other traditional ceremonial organizations.