Peace pipe

OUR SACRED PIPE IS often misunderstood by other cultures. Many refer it to it as a "peace pipe". That is a shallow interpretation. Our sacred pipe is a way to carry our prayers to the Creator. Below is a colorized photo of our Sacred Calf Pipe Keeper, Elk Head. He is the son of the Elk Head that was the Calf Pipe Keeper at our Sundance in 1876. When the name Elk Head was passed it remained as it was when the father had it...the same way our sacred name of Crazy Horse is passed.

We believe that the Creator is everywhere. Not just in one place. And so when we smoke the pipe, the smoke carries our prayers everywhere...which is where the Creator is...everywhere. The bundle wrapped in a buffalo hide to Elk Head's right is our Sacred Bundle. Inside the Sacred Bundle is our Sacred Calf Pipe. The buffalo hide that protects it is replaced every seven years at our annual Sundance in Green Grass on the Cheyenne River Rez. Elk Head is also holding a personal pipe in the photo. When a personal pipe has an extension beyond the bowl it means that the owner has a family. When there is no extension it means the owner is single. Our family and Crazy Horse believed in the sacred pipe and protected it. Those stories are in our book "Crazy Horse the Warrior's Life and Legacy". You can get this book and the story of how our family came to tell our oral history through this author, William Matson.