A pipe bag or tobacco bag is a common item used by some
Native American ceremonial people. A pipe bag may be used to carry a
sacred pipe, such as a
Chanunpa.
Styles
Although styles and sizes vary between Nations, geographical locations, and medicine societies, many have certain elements in common: a long neck of cloth or leather, a rim which is often
beaded or
quilled, a lower panel, or pouch, also beaded or quilled, and a fringe at the bottom. Some bags are left unadorned.
Many of the more recent bags have a quilled "slat panel" between the pouch and the fringe, while many of the older ones do not.
Examples and symbolism
The Sioux Quilled Pipe Bag at left is decorated with quillwork forming flora and fauna, buffalo and caterpillars. The "cocoon" design symbolizes spiritual and physical transformation,
[ and the Sioux spirit Yumni, the whirlwind, responsible for the four directions of the world.][Walker, James R. (1917) "The Sun Dance and Other Ceremonies of the Oglala Division of the Teton Dakota" Anthropological Paper, Vol. 16, 2. ]American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...
Both the moth, which breaks free of its confining cocoon, and the untamable wind, are viewed as spirits impossible to contain.
Clark Wissler described in his 1907 field notes the "whirlwind bug", a creature with spiral grooves that creates small dust clouds along the ground. By this action, the cloud was thought to confuse the enemy and make him lose his senses.[Wissler, Clark (1902) "Field Notes on the Dakota Indians Collected on Museum Expedition." Ms. 1911 of the American Museum of Natural History, New York] The cocoon above what appears to be the head of the bear may represent the whirlwind phenomena.[ Mallery, Garrick
1893 "Picture Writing of the American Indians." Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology. Washington, D.C.]
See also
*Ceremonial pipe
A ceremonial pipe is a particular type of smoking pipe (tobacco), smoking pipe, used by a number of cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Americas in their sacred ceremonies. Traditionally they are used to offer prayers in a religious ceremo ...
* Chanunpa
*Quillwork
Quillwork is a form of textile embellishment traditionally practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of North America that employs the Spine (zoology), quills of porcupines as an aesthetic element. Quills from bird feathe ...
Notes
References
* Painter, John W. (2003) "A Window on the Past". Cincinnati: Cincinnati Art Museum. p. 38
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pipe Bag
Indigenous textile art of the Americas
Indigenous culture of the Great Plains
Pipe smoking
Bags
Tobacciana