Tobacco pouch

Tobacco, smoking, ritual, pipes, tobacco bags Tobacco was a stimulant used by the indigenous people in large parts of North, Central and South America as a sedative, medicine against fatigue, emetic etc. Columbus discovered the herb in 1492 in The Caribbean. The word "tobacco" is derived from the word for cigar in the language of the Arabs of Cuba and Hispaniola. The use of tobacco spread quickly in Europe. Tobacco was first introduced to the Netherlands in the second half of the sixteenth century.™ The native tobacco grown in North America was predominantly Nicotiana rustica, found from Chile to Canada, but spread as a cultivated crop from Ecuador and Peru. The wild species Nicotinia attenuata was found in the Great Basin, the Southwest and adjacent parts of the Plains. Other wild and cultivated species have limited ranges. The species Nicotinia tabacum from the Caribbean and originally distributed from the borderlands of Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina, became commercially most popular and later planted extensively by English settlers in Virginia.Uses: social and ritual Tobacco was often considered a sacred plant and tribal myths about its origin were told. Sometimes a distinction was made between tobacco used for social and that used for religious purposes. In the latter case, cultivation of the plant was often reserved for a special group of men, especially elderly or specially consecrated men.‖ Tobacco was originally rarely smoked alone, but was often combined by Indians with other plants to enhance the flavor, such as leaves of the velvet tree and the inner bark of the dogwood. The Algonkin word for tobacco is "kinnikkinnik" which means "mixed". Sometimes tobacco was used as chewing tobacco, usually mixed with shell lime as on the Northwest coast and in the Southeast. Sometimes tobacco was ground up and sniffed (Karok-California; Nootka-Northwest Coast). Tobacco was smoked in pipes in the Southwest and wrapped in corn leaves to make cigarettes. The social use of tobacco emphasized the calming effect of smoking.‖ On the subject of smoking, Ten Kate observed among the Cheyennes (1885:359-360): \"They smoke the peace pipe, which is not only smoked at special ceremonies or meetings, as is often imagined, but as other tribes smoke cigarettes. This last habit is not used by the Cheyennes, which already betrays their northern origin... In the wih (teepee) of Bullbear I smoked the calumet for the first time. The head (hioêgk) consisted of red catlinite ... The tobacco they smoke, they nowadays buy from the Americans, but they mix it with finely chopped sumac leaves (Rhus sp.; Chey. Maénoánje), which gives a mild taste to the smoke. The pipe went from mouth to mouth, and finally, after having passed around the six or eight people present in the tent, it came back to Bullbear, whose wife smoked along with the men... Before the old chief made the first draw, he pointed the stem (hiess) of the pipe to the four winds, while muttering a few words that I could not understand. Although on this occasion it concerned a form of social smoking, religious elements were still visible, since also with social use it concerned a herb that was considered as a carrier of spiritual power, while the smoke was considered as a vehicle for the thoughts of the smoker. \Tobacco smoking also had a function of conferring special status on important occasions. The smoking was then done in a solemn way such as during celebrations in relation to the life cycle, at meetings of chiefs, the making of peace between former enemies, the closing of political alliances, etc. It meant a ritual sealing of the agreement. The ritual aspects of smoking were then even more pronounced.‖ Tobacco was often used in a ritual context. The herb was used as incense and burned, the smoke being regarded as expelling evil, as cleansing. The Creeks of the Southeast used it as one of the ingredients of their "black drink," an emetic used in rituals to cleanse participants. Shamans used tobacco and smoke to drive away sickly spirits and thus bring about healing. On the Plains, a pipe, pipe stem and tobacco were often part of the medicine bundle that symbolized the unity of the tribe. In that case, smoking the Sacred Pipe was a special occasion in which only certain individuals could participate, under the direction of the "pipe bearer." The pipe and tobacco were first offered to the sky (Sun), the earth (Mother Earth) and the four cardinal directions before those present were allowed to smoke (e.g. Arapahos, Gros Ventres, Lakota Sioux, Omahas). Sometimes a ceremonial pipe was the symbol of a clan or society, and its management and use was also an exclusive privilege. The right to light the pipe was also often a special privilege. Smoke was also smoked in ceremonies to beg for rain, the smoke symbolizing the clouds. The smoke was also considered as a carrier of prayers to the gods in heaven. Tobacco was also offered in ceremonies as a litter.‖ In the corn ceremony held twice a year among the Mandans and Hidatsas, the pipe with the carved goose head was used during the ritual aimed at begging fertility in the spring and gratitude for the harvest in the fall. Blackfeet and Gros Ventres used a sacred pipe in the ritual to prevent storm and lightning, natural elements that could become life threatening on the Plains. It happened repeatedly that the grassy plains caught fire and Indian encampments were destroyed, accompanied by loss of life, horses, housing and personal belongings. Drowning people were administered tobacco smoke rectally, which led to coughing up water from the lungs (eastern Canada; also in Europe)._______________________________Pipes and pipe stems The oldest stone pipes come from archaeological excavations in the eastern United States. Known are the small pipes of stone and pottery, often shaped like animals, with the body having an opening that serves as a pipe bowl. These are characteristic for the prehistoric Hopewell period (200 BC - 400 AD). There are many varieties of pipe bowls. The preferred stone type because of its softness and therefore good machinability, as well as its almost blood red colour, was an aluminium silicate coloured by iron oxide that was mined in a quarry in southwest Minnesota. Because the American painter George Catlin first reported about this, this stone is often called "catlinite". People also speak of "pipestone" and the town where the quarry is located is called Pipestone. Raw pipestone was traded over a large area. The importance of the quarry was recognized by the U.S. government in 19 by declaring it a protected Pipestone National Monument, and under the management of the Santee Sioux.An Indian pipe is often called "calumet", an old Norman-French word for "stem/tube", by which French settlers referred to their Indian neighbors' means of smoking. Native American pipes generally consisted of two parts: a stone pipe bowl and a wooden stem, often decorated.‖ Pipe bowls were carved from a variety of soft stones. The pipes are often a combination of wood- and stone-sculpure: the wooden stem, often with carved and otherwise applied decorations, the stone bowls, also often decorated in various techniques. The fact that the making and decoration of pipes took such a high flight, is due to the ceremonial and recreational importance of smoking in Plains communities. Stone pipes exist in different shapes: a T-shape, an L-shape and a completely straight pipe, the I-shape. The pipe bowl and the stone stem are sometimes decorated with one or more sculptured figures: a human head or whole human figure, an animal head or whole animal. Some pipe bowls are inlaid with lead, which causes different geometrical patterns. In the rarest cases both forms of decoration are found on one pipe. The stone pipe bowls were later equipped with a wooden stem made of a hard wood: ash, willow. Sometimes these were decorated with carvings, geometric patterns or animal figures. There are also wooden stems that have been carved into spirals. In most cases the stems were embellished with bird feathers, porcupine quills and later also coloured fabric and copper nails*. Pipe stems painted blue and green refer to a dualism in the world view, to heaven and earth. These colours are also related to other dualisms such as between man and woman, war and peace, sun and moon, etc. Wooden tobacco stub handles were sometimes decorated with animal sculptures. When the decision was made to go to war, a red stem was used, decorated with feathers of a male eagle. Warriors danced around the pipe before it was smoked. The stem of the pipe that sealed the peace was blue and had feathers of a female eagle as decoration. This was also carried when visiting neighbouring tribes or trading with them. It was a declaration of good will. Sometimes only the decorated pipe stems were used on special occasions, as with the Pawnees who danced with them and imitated the flight of eagles before peace was made.‖ Tobacco bags became popular on the Plains especially in the second half of the nineteenth century. Prior to this time, they were often made from the scrotum (scrotum) of an elk or bison. From 1850 onward, however, the thin and supple deerskin was used for this purpose, and sometimes elk leather as well.‖ Tobacco bags were provided with colorful decoration. Before the arrival of the whites, this was done by sewing on dyed porcupine quills. However, this technique was quickly supplanted after the introduction of colored glass beads by white traders. The men determined the decoration applied by the women. Both geometric patterns and naturalistic images are found on tobacco pouches.‖ The basic pattern of the tobacco pouch is predominantly uniform. The top half of the long narrow bag is usually largely unadorned, except for thin borders of beads covering the seams and finishing the top edge. The top of the lower half usually consisted of a colorful panel of motifs executed in porcupine quills or beads. Often both sides of the bag were decorated, but the panels were rarely identical and differed in color and motifs (asymmetrical decoration). The bottom of the bag was often formed by long leather fringe, sometimes wrapped with porcupine quills. Some bags have two or more triangular leather tabs at the bottom, usually decorated. They often indicated the special status of the owners.‖ Virtually all men on the Plains owned a tobacco bag. This attests to the important social and religious significance of smoking. Many women also owned a small tobacco pouch, particularly for social use. The men usually carried the tobacco pouch on their belt, but on festive occasions over their left forearm. In the latter case the tobacco pouch was also tied to the pipe, which was worn as a showpiece. Also flint and a piece of iron to make fire were part of the contents.\ (PH, 2000)