All of the Native American peoples or tribes have a great wealth of deeply meaningful myths, stories, and legends. In some cases, a lot has been lost. Some of this rich material has died with old people – in some instances, I suspect, “taking it to their graves” as they join their ancestors….rather than leave it with those who no longer value or respect such a rich legacy. About half a century ago, when my elderly Chippewa/Ojibwa friend made me an old-fashioned, traditional strawberry basket and told me the story/belief that it represented….I received it like a treasure to keep and preserve. I have not seen another basket like it ever since….and I have never seen the story itself in print, though it could be somewhere.
The Ho-Chunk Creation story in my last posting on this blog I acquired a similar length of time ago. I have never seen it anywhere since it came to me in the 1950’s, though it could be somewhere. I spent time with Ho-Chunk/Winnebago people back then in the ’50’s and early ’60’s in the Wisconsin Dells area, and danced powwows with some of them.
Anyway, hoping this interests you, dear reader, there is a Ho-Chunk prayer that came to me that I traced back at least as far as the mid-1920’s; and it makes a nice accompaniment to the Creation Story, referring to details of that story. I admit that I don’t remember the entire prayer – which was a bit lengthy, even for a “Rev. Dr.” like me – but it went something like this:
“Hearken, O Earthmaker, our Father, as I offer tobacco to you. My ancestor focused his mind on you, and you blessed him (probably Weshgishega). I ask for a small amount of the life you granted him, and for four times the blessings you gave to him. May I never meet with trouble in life.
O Grandfather, chief of the Thunderbirds, here is a handful of tobacco. Provide me with the deer with which you blessed my ancestor. May I never meet with trouble in life.
O Grandfathers, you spirits of the night, walkers in darkness, to you also I offer tobacco, and ask for the fireplaces given to my ancestor. Smoke this tobacco and grant that I never become a weakling.
To you Spirits who live in the South, you who look like a man, you who deal out life from one side of your bodies and death from the other – you whom we call Disease Givers – I offer tobacco. In the light of day you blessed my ancestor with food, that you would stay away from his home, and that you would put animals in front of him so that he would have no trouble obtaining them. Accept my tobacco, that you may smoke it, and that I may not be troubled in life.”
As you can see, interested reader, native tobacco that was dried and smoked was an important substance to the Old People – not only the Ho-Chunk, but for many of the tribes. The smoking of it was a form of offering (rather like the smoke of incense for many Christian groups, wafting up to God and carrying prayers with its fumes). Smoking tobacco in the famous Native American pipes (“peace pipes” is something of a white folks misnomer, since to signify and seal a peace arrangement/treaty was only one of many spiritual uses of the pipes and the smoking of tobacco) was a very meaningful and sacred act. Consequently, the scattered pipestone (a reddish argillaceous stone) quarries were especially treasured by many of the tribes….and give the name to Pipestone, Minnesota in the southwestern corner of the state.
An interesting aside, I’ve always thought, is that with the “peace pipe” emphasis attributed by us white people to the tobacco-smoking rituals….a very popular item made by the French and English for trade with Native Americans in the 1600’s & 1700’s was the “pipe hawk” – an almost paradoxical combination of the favored “tomahawk” weapon so prized by Native Americans and frontiersmen for hand-to-hand combat, and the ceremonial pipe for tobacco smoking and offerings. The stem of the pipe was also the handle of the tomahawk; and the top of the tomahawk head was the bowl for the tobacco to be tamped and burned, while the bottom of the head was the deadly, curved blade for hacking. I’ve never really read anything explaining the significance of the pipe hawk, although it occurs to me that it could well symbolize how in a dangerous time it could be important to be ready for peace or for war at any moment. Strictly from a standpoint of interest and history, I like the full-sized pipe hawk I bought years ago.
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The Rev. Dr.'s Musings on Nature, Life & Belief 