calumet de paix

[Koontz John E]

On Fri, 27 Feb 2004, Jimm GoodTracks wrote:
> The term "peace pipe" is of non-Native origin.  For Native communities and
> in the language,  there were no other pipes in use, other than the Sacred
> Pipes.  While the people may speak of using a/ the Pipe, the context was
> that it is to be used in a sacred manner, on appropriate occassions.

Actually, that's a good point.  If the Iroquois pipe ceremonies had
anything in common with the Siouan ones, the French may have rather
misunderstood the whole "peace pipe" thing.  The pipe wasn't so much a
safeconduct as an implement used in adopting someone, and through that,
establishing friendly relations between your clan and theirs.  I suppose
that these friendly relations might have been transitive to some degree,
and that a pipe or set of pipes might have been emblematic of the
situation, sort of like adoption papers with official stamps and ribbons.
Or perhaps presenting a pipe was simply an offer to perform an adoption.
I'm actually pretty vague on the details in the Omaha historical context.
(The "pipes" used in this context among the Omaha are actually just
ornamented pipe-like objects, not proper pipes, but practices elsewhere
might differ considerably in detail.)

I think that some archaeologists view ceremonies of this nature as the
likely underpinnings of phenomena like the Hopewellian Exchange Network.
So perhaps European exploring was perceived as joining or setting up an
exchange network.