{"id":130,"date":"2015-09-16T20:49:48","date_gmt":"2015-09-16T20:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"\/site\/?page_id=130"},"modified":"2024-06-27T13:51:25","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T13:51:25","slug":"native-american-pipebag-gallery","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.crazycrow.com\/site\/photo-galleries\/craft-galleries\/native-american-pipebag-gallery\/","title":{"rendered":"Native American Pipebag Gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pipe<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
SHOP NOW<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Native American Pipebag Gallery<\/h1>\n

American Indian Crafts :: Photos of Pipebag<\/h2>\n

Credit Above Photo: Daderot<\/a>, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons<\/h3>\n<\/div>

Native American Pipebag Gallery<\/h1>\n

American Indian Crafts :: Photos of Pipebag<\/h2>\n

Credit Above Photo: Daderot<\/a>, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons<\/h3>\n<\/div>
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\"Blackfoot<\/a><\/div><\/div>
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\"Tobacco<\/a><\/div><\/div>
\"Pipe<\/a><\/div><\/div>
\"Sioux<\/a><\/div><\/div>
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\"Assiniboine<\/a><\/div><\/div>
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Early Tobacco Use in North America<\/h2>\n

North American Indians used at least nine species of tobacco, most of which were cultivated. Nicotiana tabacum, the species to which practically all the modem commercial tobaccos belong, was grown throughout Mexico, the West Indies, and in northern and eastern South America. It was unknown north of Mexico until its introduction into Virginia by the English colonists. Nicotiana rustica, a much hardier species with a yellow flower, was grown by the Indians of the eastern United States and Canada as far west as the great plains and as far north as agriculture was possible. It was the first tobacco grown in Virginia for the European trade, but was soon supplanted there by N. tabacum. N. attenuata was used over a larger area than any other species. It is found in its natural state in the southwestern United States and southern plains, and as a cultivated plant extends northward into western Canada and British Columbia. It was also cultivated on the lower Colorado, but the typical Pueblo tribes do not seem to have raised it. N. multivalvis was grown in Washington and Oregon, as well as by the Crow, who lived on the western edge of the plains. A related species (N. quadrivalvis) was grown by the settled tribes along the Missouri River. Still another species (N. biglovii) was used by the California tribes, and is known to have been cultivated by the Hupa. The three last-named species are rather closely related; it seems probable that N. multivalvis and N. quadrivalvis were brought into the plains area from the west, displacing N. attenuata. [1]<\/p>\n

The custom of smoking is also characteristic of America. It was thoroughly established throughout eastern North and South America at the time of the early European explorers who spoke of it as a strange and novel practice which they often found hard to describe. It played an important part in many religious ceremonies, and the beliefs and observances connected with them. Hundreds of pipes have been found in the pre-Columbian mounds and village sites of the eastern United States. In the southwestern United States the Basket Makers, an ancient people whose remains are found below those of the prehistoric Cliff Dwellers, were smoking pipes at a time which could not have been much later than the beginning of our era.[2]<\/p>\n

Plains Indian Pipes<\/h2>\n

Pipes have remained an enduring symbol for native peoples.<\/h3>\n<\/div>
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“Many ages after the red men were made, when all the different tribes were at war, the Great Spirit sent runners and called them all together at the ‘Red Pipe.’ He stood on the top of the rocks, and the red people were assembled in infinite numbers on the plains below. He took out of the rock a piece of the red stone, and made a large pipe; he smoked it over them all; told them that it was part of their flesh; that though they were at war, they must meet at this place as friends.”-George Catlin, Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians, 1844.[4]\n<\/div>

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Used both for secular and ceremonial purposes, pipes were usually brought out at group functions such as war rallies, trading, ritual dances, healing ceremonies, marriage negotiations, and dispute settlements. Tobacco was considered to be a gift from the supernatural powers to man, although leaves, roots, grasses, various barks and herbs also were used. The smoke produced by the pipe helped carry prayers to their destination.[5]<\/p>\n

Plains Indian Pipes: Catlinite (Pipestone)<\/h3>\n

While pipe ‘bowls’ are and were made of a variety of stone, the best known were made of a red stone called pipestone or catlinite. Its sources in the United States are Barron County, Wisconsin, and, more commonly, Pipestone, Minnesota. The stone was so valued that the Dakota Sioux gained control of the Minnesota mine in the 1700s. Subsequently, the stone could only be acquired through permission of the Sioux. Catlinite is named after George Catlin, one of the most prominent 19th century artists to depict the Plains Indian peoples and their way of life. Catlin visited the pipestone mines in 1836, making notes about the quarry site and the native method of pipe construction.[6]<\/p>\n<\/div>

Pipe & Tobacco Bags<\/h2>\n

Throughout the 19th century, Native American female artists across North America created and decorated the bags used by men to carry tobacco and pipes. The decorated pipe bag was an essential part of each man’s wardrobe. How essential? Witness the photograph by John Hillers taken of a Cheyenne warrior in 1875. The pipe bag is his only accoutrement other than the pipe itself. In photos of various settings from Washington, D.C. “delegation photographs”, as well as in images like Hillers, the pipebag is a nearly indispensable feature.[7]<\/p>\n

Pipe bags were objects of prestige, fashioned with pride for the loved one. Interestingly, the basic form of the bag, with slight variations, was the same throughout the Plains and Plateau regions. In the Central Plains, there are frequently quilled slats beneath the main body of the bag with fringe always attached to those quilled slats. Other times there are no quilled slats, only fringe. Pipe bags typically have a hide body with a beaded decoration at the bottom, with many also featuring a beaded design going up the side.<\/p>\n

On the Plains, there was a general style of striped pony-beaded design that was found regionally among different tribal groups during this period. Following the introduction of the smaller and more colorful “seed” beads around 1845, different tribal beadwork styles (patterns) developed. When the reservation period began in the West, there was an increase in production for the marketplace that corresponded with an increase in art supplies. By the turn of the 20th century began, traditional ways had evolved and the standard pipebag was much wider than before and with more beadwork, generally on a white background.[8]<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Photograph by John Hillers: Cheyenne warrior 1875<\/h3>\n

Credit Above Photo: Getty Center<\/a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<\/h3>\n

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Some believe that Native American beadwork reached an artistic height in color, design and production in a period that extended from the 1860s to the 1890s. During this time, Native Americans experienced an upheaval in their traditional lives, as well an abundance of new, plentiful, and varied materials (beads, cloth, dyes, etc.). This confluence of events, along with a developing marketplace for these handcrafted goods, led to an output not previously seen of these items. [9]<\/p>\n

For the Plains Indian, the pipebag was second only to the moccasin in terms of what the marketplace desired. The height of pipebag design is from the time of the Indian Wars until the onset of the 20th century. The earlier bags generally were slimmer and longer than the than those post-1900. Design is generally less complex in form, bold ornamentation, and contrasting elements than the later bags that often have extended design elements on a white background.[10]<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Resources<\/h2>\n<\/div>