Ceremony of the Cannunpa Wakan

"When a Lakota smokes a Sacred Pipe, his or her voice is sent to Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit. The smoke from the Pipe is the visible breath of The Creator."– Lakota Elder

The pipe ceremony is a sacred ritual for connecting physical and spiritual worlds. "The pipe is a link between the earth and the sky," explains White Deer of Autumn. "Nothing is more sacred. The pipe is our prayers in physical form. Smoke becomes our words; it goes out, touches everything, and becomes a part of all there is. The fire in the pipe is the same fire in the sun, which is the source of life." The reason why tobacco is used to connect the worlds is that the plant’s roots go deep into the earth, and its smoke rises high into the heavens.

There are different kinds of pipes and different uses for them. There are personal pipes and family pipes as well as pipes for large ceremonies. The particular stone used depends upon the tribe’s location, and various symbols are added to attract certain spiritual energies. The bowl is of the same red clay The Creator used to make the red man, and is from the Earth. Just as a woman bears the children and brings forth life, the bowl bears the sacred tobacco and brings forth smoke. The stem is Man. Rigid and strong the stem is from the plant kingdom and like a man it supports the bowl just as a man supports his family. Just as a man and a woman remain separate until joined in marriage so too are the bowl and stem separate. Never to be joined unless the pipe is used.

The smoke is the breath of The Creator. When you draw the smoke into your body, you will be cleansed and made whole. When the smoke leaves your mouth, it will rise to The Creator. Your prayers, your dreams, your hopes and desires will be taken to Him in the smoke. Also the truth in your soul will be shown to Him when you smoke the pipe.

Can=wood nunpa=two Wakan=sacred

It is unimaginable for an Indian to break his word after smoking the pipe. In the past, the signing of treaties was always accompanied by pipe ceremonies because Indians believed that smoking the pipe would secure the arrangement. No one would be foolish enough to lie or go back on their word once the pipe was smoked, because the pipe was the vehicle for carrying their word up to the Creator. And in return, a blessing would descend from the Creator to the individuals smoking it.

"Now those that carry the C'anunpa and have fork tongue and fire tongue, put water on your tongues, so it might cool it off. And if you carry a C'anunpa you cannot, you cannot be having fork tongue and fire tongues because the C'anunpa is wakan [sacred], the red C'anunpa. C'anunpa is a C'anunpa. It's not a pipe. "Pipe" is a English word for many things. But C'anunpa is One. That is a sacred object, the red stone, the blood of our People. When you carry this C'anunpa, you cannot hate, you cannot lie, you cannot kill, cannot have jealousy, ornryness. However, when you carry this C'anunpa, you should have compassion, forgiveness, reverence. These C'anunpa has some laws that we have to abide by when we carry it. And if you don't abide by it, and if you have the fire tongue and the split tongue, then it is the innocent of your relatives who is gonna pay for this until you learn how to walk with this C'anunpa.

So before we fight over these things and tell who's what, let's learn. Learn about it, all the way. And if we do that we just might see a glimpse of what spirituality is. Otherwise, my relatives, my friends, before you come into the H'ocoka, and before you talk about it, and before you touch the C'anunpa, or the eagle feather, take a good, deep look within yourself and clean that out, and then come on in. You cannot carry this C'anunpa and do these things and be smoking' marijuana on one side and having alcohol, beer on the other side, or have a hatred there. You cannot have this while you carry this C'anunpa. That is why it says the C'anunpa is very hard to carry.

My grandfather said one time, "you are a very pitiful man, but you gonna carry a C'anunpa." So today I walk in humble and be in peace within myself, among people. I never hate nobody. I never will. I hear from above the message that come down. And all things that fly, and all four-leggeds, the grass, everything that's made by Tunkashila, God, we're all wotakuye [we're all relatives]. In the eyes of the Creator, there is no color. But there is spirit. We should all come together, and truly from the heart, we opagi this C'anunpa. Then, we could all say Mitakuye Oyasin. Aho."

Statement from David Swallow Jr., Teton Lakota Spiritual Leader, Sundance Chief of the Medicine Wheel Sundance, and one of the Headmen of the Lakota Nation Band of Wana Way Gu

(Other excerpts from the book Native American Healing with some quotes by Blue Thunder)