Pipes are among the most sacred of ceremonial objects. Lakota legend says the pipe was given to the people by the White Buffalo Woman as a medium of prayer to Wakan Tanka, the Great Mystery. As ornamentation invested a piece with Medicine, or spiritual power, elaborate pipes such as this were used only in ceremonies of the most hallowed nature. The sacred smoke petitioned for healing of the sick and blessings to peace agreements. So entwined was the power of the pipe with supplications for protection and success in battle, the leader of a war party was known as the pipeholder. One Sioux said: "The pipe is us. The stem is our backbone, the bowl our head. The st is our blood, red as our skin.

This Eagle Claw Pipe is made with a fir stem, blue Italian glass trade beads, wool, goose spike feathers, rabbit fluffs, horse hair, rawhide, and an eagle claw bowl from the Pipestone Indian Shrine in Minnesota.

Approximately 31" long and drops 22" at the feathers.

Made by Native and non-Native Americans.

This item cannot be shipped outside the USA.