More than a Declaration of Peace: the Plains Indian Pipe andCalumet Ceremony
Kirsten Thompson
Jeffrey Blomster/ Candace Greene
Few objects possess the cultural significance of the Plains Indian pipe stem and bowl known as the calumet. Since prehistoric times, prior to European contact, the pipe has had numerous and varying roles in American Indian culture. The pipe has been utilized in social, political and economic interactions, while thebowl and its stem are the central symbols of multiple rituals including the calumet ceremony. Pipe trade, cultural contact and exchange, and the expansion of the calumet ceremony over much of Plains territory continue to be relevant archaeological topics still today. Throughout early European and colonial contact, the pipe and the calumet ceremony were believed to ensure peaceful interactions between both intertribal and Indian and white settler meetings. To comprehend the language of the pipe and the calumet ceremony was to successfully and peacefully pass through otherwise hostile territory. In short, early emphasis of the pipe as merely a “peace pipe” ignored the many other dimensions and roles of thesesymbolic objects and simplified their cultural significance.
Multiple states of anthropological theory are reflected in the way that pipes and rituals were interpreted through time. During the 19th century, ethnographic objects tended to be looked at from an evolutionary perspective. According to Morgan’s (1877) divisions of human culture into savagery, barbarism and civilization, American Indians could be seen as “noble savages.” The carving of pipes was discussed as a simple task which could be done with “perfect ease…and could scarcely have required a day to complete” (McGuire 1899:572-3). Less decorative pipes were also described as primitive, while the focus on the calumet pipe ritual frequently described an elaborately decorated calumet, with no attention given to the complex role of the pipe within the ceremony (McGuire 1899).
Later towards and throughout the 20th century, many adopted the Boasian notion of historical particularism by trying to understand material culture within its own context. Rather than generalizations of pipe activity, tribal differences in pipe design and pipe use in rituals were compared in a way that looked for influences possibly deriving from cultural diffusion. The new focus in the Plains was on the volume and direction of pipe trade (Murray 1983). Boas (1887) also advocated for ethnological objects to be understood in accordance with their ethnic groupings and tribal differences. The focus on tribal attribution continues to challenge those that work with American Indian material culture today, including pipe bowls and stems, Native garments and many other objects that were used and exchanged in daily life (McLaughlin 2003).
Early in the 20th century, Malinowski (1944) discussed the functional role of the material apparatus. Such objects or technologies were involved in meeting economic, social, educational and political needs. Though the calumet was originally associated solely with peace by Europeans and whites, in Plains culture the pipe was involved in many social, economic and political activities, and the pipe’s function changed according to each activity. The numerous roles of the pipe are now frequently discussed in ethnographic accounts of American Indian culture. Pipes and tobacco were used for medicinal purposes and smoking was used to counter hunger and thirst and to focus the smoker intellectually and spiritually (Rafferty and Mann 2004). Pipes were also utilized as objects of exchange, creating alliances for peace, trade and war(McLaughlin 2003, Hall 1997). Some pipes were occasionally used in the torture and execution of enemies, while others were utilized for personal cleansing and recreation (Rafferty and Mann 2004:145). Such a functional approach focused on the numerous roles of the pipe but disregarded the pipes larger ritual context.
Later in the 20th century and continuing today, pipes are discussed as religious and political symbols, with attention paid to how American Indians understand and interpret social roles and rituals involving the pipe (Noder 1999). For symbolic anthropology, the focus on religious and political symbolism requires the incorporation of native oral history and involves the interpretation of the symbolic meanings of cultural objects and those ceremonies that are focused around them(Geertz 1973). With pipes, tobacco smoke is regarded as being pleasing to supernatural powers and spirits (Murray 1983). Therefore, pipes played a prominent and often central role in numerous rituals. Tobacco smoke was used as “an offering to the spirits, a purifying agent, [and] a sacramental substance, capable of transcending boundaries to unify peoples and spiritual powers” (McLaughlin 2003:206). American Indians today compare the role and origin of the pipe in spiritual rituals to the role of the bible in Judeo-Christian religions, and insist that to misunderstand either is to misunderstand the belief system (St. Pierre and Long Soldier 1995). As a political symbol, the pipe worked as a mediator. Since supernatural help was needed in order to enact political treaties, smoking was also essential during this process, and all parties were required to participate fully (King 1977).
The most well-known role of the pipe was as a gift. Mauss’s (1990) concept of ritual gift exchange is reflected in the American Indian process of trading pipes. It is believed that ritual gift giving in American Indian cultures derived from indigenous diplomatic practices (McLaughlin 2003:33-4). Primarily, early ritual gift exchange secured tribal trade alliances. Besides smoking and trading pipes, sedentary and nomadic people of the Plains exchanged produce for meat and skins, which in turn, linked the economies of the Plains, Great Basin and Plateau cultural areas (Brown 1989:313). The role of the pipe at this time was to preserve peace for the period of trade. Pipes did not make friends out of enemies, but the smoking and exchange of pipes allowed trading allies to be safe while doing business (Blakeslee1981, Murray 1983, Brown 1989). During European contact it was the presentation of wampum belts, not calumets, that were traded for food, tobacco and cloth to signify a peaceful relationship (Brown 1989). It was not until later, during the colonial era, that pipes became the essential gift in diplomatic gift exchange between American Indians and whites (Ewers 1986, King 1977). However, in all cases, for the American Indian it was the smoking process that consecrated new relationships (Druke 1977), and this event, according to Mauss (1990), should have been a prestation, creating obligations for all participants. Between whites and American Indians these obligations were also signified by the signing of treaties, though neither of these agreements was frequently upheld by the parties involved.
When attempting to study the archaeological elements of the American Indian pipe the only surviving evidence of early pipe usage and rituals is the stone carved pipe bowl (Blakeslee 1981). The stems, which are the more sacred, symbolic and individualizing element of the pipe, are fragile and do not survive long. Therefore, in the Plains the stone pipe bowl, most often fashioned out of catlinite, must be used to reflect the movements of people, trade contacts and ritual exchanges that took place (Brown 1989:316). Catlinite, a stone material named after George Catlin and mined out of Minnesota varying in color from red to pink and grey, was the most commonly used stone for making calumet bowls in the Plains region (Ewers 1979). Still, every catlinite pipe found does not signify a calumet or the presence of calumet ceremonies for a particular region. This isespecially truefor bowls found originating in the 19th century since pipe exchange between American Indians and whites had become increasingly secularized (Brown 1989). The shape of pipe bowls must also be considered when archaeologically making a connection between a bowl and a calumet stem. For the Plains regions, elbow pipes were the most commonly used calumet bowls (King 1977, Murray 1983, Ewers 1986). Frequently, elbow pipe bowls were found in graves as burial goods. For many reasons, however, the value and significance of pipes found in graves cannot be known (Brown 1989). Once the pipe bowl is removed from its original ritual context and its associated calumet stem the function and meaning of the bowl changes. Therefore, all that can be stated with certainty is that the “presence of a catlinite pipe bowl on a site suggests that some sort of ceremonial activity had once occurred” (Brown 1989:317).
Pipes and pipe practices are often discussed in a processual manner. There is frequently a cultural evolutionism approach, suggesting that American Indian cultures change in patterned, predictable ways. As Ewers (1979) points out, all pipe forms typologically derived from tubular pipes. Also, Plains pipe bowls are often described as being part of five distinct categories: tubular, Micmac, elbow, prowed pipes with flaring bowls and calumets (Ewers 1986). Pipes that do not fit into these five categories are explained as “occasional creations of ingenious and gifted carvers of different tribes over a long period of years” (Ewers 1986:51). Comments such as these would suggest that pipes have progressed in a cross-culturally predictable manner, allowing for universal laws (see Binford 1989) to be applied. Throughout pipe literature there is also a focus on cultural changes occurring due to outside contact, and as Trigger (1989) discusses this is common with a processual focus. Cultural changes are emphasized in terms of contact with other American Indian groups through exchange of materials and techniques, and most commonly, change is discussed in terms of contact with Europeans and colonizers. Frequently, the introduction of metal tools is discussed as the catalyst for larger, more elaborate bowls (Murray 1983). In addition, the widespread availability of metal after colonial contact is also discussed as playing a major role in metal inlay pipe decoration (Blakeslee 1981), even though metal inlay has been found on pipes made in the early 17th century, prior to French contact (McLaughlin 2003). Finally, some archaeologists argue that the French played a large role in the rapid spread of the calumet ceremony, which they believe spread as a nativistic movement, utilized by American Indians to regain a feeling of balance during the colonial expansion (Turnbaugh 1979, Brown 1989).
In the past few decades, ethnohistory has also been incorporated into the archaeological study of the calumet stem (Blakeslee 1981, Brown 1989). Ethnohistory, as defined by Fowler (1985), is the interpretation of historical and ethnographic documents from an anthropological perspective. Ethnohistory attempts to recognize the biases of history and those that recorded it. By using ethnohistory in combination with archaeology, Blakeslee (1981) and Brown (1989) attempt to explain the cultural distribution of the calumet stem and the calumet ceremony. However, using nearly the same data and information, the two men arise at different conclusions. Blakeslee (1981) focuses on the role of the stem in cementing alliances for trade and warfare, while Brown (1989) believes the widespread territory that once practiced the calumet ceremony represented a rapid nativistic movement of the pipe ritual. It is this focus on the cultural movement of the pipe and the accompanied rituals that points to the problematic issues of trade and cultural exchange which ultimately prevent the possibility of definitive interpretations and pipe attribution. The “predominance of regional rather than tribal styles, the pervasiveness of trade and exchange, and the scarcity of comparative materials” make tribal identification of early 19th century Plains pipes nearly impossible (McLaughlin 2003:212). Furthermore, the nature of their use dictated that pipes were frequently transferred inter-tribally and cross-culturally (McLaughlin 2003). Ultimately, the incorporation of historical accounts of exchange and ceremony may help to explain and expand on these issues which are otherwise unsolvable when using a strict processual approach.
Another issue which is rarely, if ever, discussed in archaeological accounts of the calumet is the role of women in both the making of pipes and their participation in ceremonies. The focus is instead primarily on the carving of the bowl and stem. However, the decoration and detail given to the stem, though always discussed as sacred and symbolic, and even classified as more important than the bowl (King 1977, Ewers 1986), is never discussed as being women’s work. Still, it is known that Plains communities valued the industry and skills of women in their abilities of porcupine quillwork and bead decoration (Penney 2004). In fact, “the creation of finely decorated items, particularly those intended for ritual use, represented the highest status of feminine achievement” (119). The more traditional, processual accounts of pipes are useful; however, the denial of the female role in relation to the symbolic pipe distorts history and removes women from the many ceremonies and social interactions pipes are involved in. An implied ranking of activities places the role of decoration, which today is a primary reason for displaying objects such as pipes in museums, as less important than the carving and shaping of bowls and stems. Such a ranking scheme misrepresents the cultural reality of women’s achievements (Spector 1991). While pipe making is always pointed to as a specialized craft (Ewers 1986), women’s roles are rarely discussed. Due to the fact that much research still uses original contact accounts in the descriptions of pipes and ceremonies, it is believed that the majority of the attention is directed towards the male uses of pipes and the male roles in ceremonies because little was originally recorded about women’s roles (St. Pierre and Long Soldier 1995). Furthermore, the role of Christianity and early anthropological patriarchy can be viewed as reducing the religious importance of American Indian women, while also disregarding their spiritual role and social status (Paper 1988, St. Pierre and Long Soldier 1995). As the pipe was a symbolic and central object in Plains culture, a more gendered archaeological approach that focuses equally on women’s roles in relation to the calumet stem and ceremony could help to uncover the historical and cultural significance of American Indian women.
As discussed previously, American Indians exchanged goods and services as their main form of communication when meeting with both whites and other tribes (McLaughlin 2003). When pipes were traded or given to Europeans after a calumet ceremony, the pipe worked as a passport throughout territories (Penney 1992). In a political context, smoking the pipe solemnized diplomatic proceedings and enacted obligations on both sides (McLaughlin 2003). In the 19th century, Plains pipes more literally became linguistic symbols when carvers began using the medium as an expression of social commentary, carving pipe bowls to express attitudes towards whites, women and other social circumstances such as beliefs towards the liquor trade (Ewers 1986). There were many levels of communication that the pipe established, including “person to person, group to group, and from the group or individual to the supernatural or spiritual world” (Rafferty and Mann 2004:145). Linguistically, the role of pipes as sign systems and the calumet ceremony as a performative ritual can be examined.
Using semiotics, pipes can be seen as signs and as a system of objects defined in relation to one another by both what they are and what they are not (Culler 1986). Besides their uses in rituals and ceremonies, pipes were often sent intertribally for forming alliances, declaring war and enacting obligations. Consequently, pipes could be returned to symbolize broken bonds or dissatisfaction with current relationships (McLaughlin 2003). Different colors of paint could be added to a pipe stem to indicate different intentions of pipe exchange. For example, blue was emblematic of peace while red signified an alliance for war (Ewers 1979). After the pipe was accepted the paint would be removed from the pipe and the stem could again be used for other purposes. In order to understand the meaning and value of the pipe exchange, the cultural context had to be understood as well (Culler 1986). Contrary to the European belief, pipes were not merely a “flag of truce,” protecting the owner under all circumstances (McGuire 1899:508). As de Saussure pointed out, social practices, such as the exchange of pipes, are highly codified and it is the relationships of the semiotic systems that determine meaning (Culler 1986:117). The social and cultural dimensions of pipe exchanges became a type of pidgin language between Europeans and American Indians (McLaughlin 2003). Europeans had to learn the ritual language of the pipe, and the understanding of this cultural knowledge was indispensable for diplomatic and social meetings between Europeans and American Indians. Also, if language can be looked at as a system of signs then symbolic rituals can be studied in the same manner (Culler 1986:105). The actions prior to pipe rituals and exchange, therefore, were equally important to the semiotic system. Europeans and opposing tribes were obligated, when arriving in rival territory, to make an offering of tobacco, which could be seen as an indication of a peaceful relationship. This action could ease tension and express gratitude (McLaughlin 2003). Without such a peaceful offering travelers could be met with open hostility and such an impression would remove the possibility of the pipe exchange and the calumet ceremony (Blakeslee 1981).