Under the tall prairie grass in far southwestern Minnesota lies a precious seam of dark red pipestone that, for thousands of years, Native Americans have quarried and carved into pipes essential to prayer and communication with the Creator
Mark Pederson"Swift Horse," a member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota Nation and a fourth generation quarrier, saws through a piece of pipestone while demonstrating his craft at the Pipestone National Monument Museum on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in Pipestone, Minn. Native Americans carve the soft and sacred pipestone into pipes, which are used to smoke tobacco during prayer, ritual and civil ceremonies. It is thought that those prayers are carried to the Great Spirit on smoke.
But some places have a special relevance, because of events that occurred there, a sense of stronger spiritual power, or their importance in origin stories, she added. From her elders in the Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, Drapeau grew up hearing one of many origin stories for the pipestone: In time immemorial, a great flood killed most people in the area, their blood seeping into the stone and turning it red. But the Creator came, pronounced it a place of peace, and smoked a pipe, adding this is how people could reach him.
The pipe itself is thought to become sacred when the pipestone bowl and the wooden stem are joined. The smoke, from tobacco or prairie plants, then carries the prayer from a person’s heart to the Creator. Growing up in the 1960s, Erickson recalled making pipes as a family affair where the day often ended with a festive grilling. He taught his children, but laments that few younger people want to take up the arduous job.
Teaching the techniques of quarrying and carving is crucially important, and so is helping youth develop a relationship with the pipestone and its place in the Native worldview. Some areas of the park are open only for ceremonial use; the 75,000 yearly visitors are asked not to interfere with the quarriers.
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