User:Oceanflynn/sandbox/Aboriginal Pipe Carriers

Aboriginal Pipe Carriers are individuals in indigenous communities who follow the traditional way of life and have been chosen to serve as traditional healers and to pass on cultural traditions. They are "active as teachers and healers in their community."

Background
Pipe Carriers are "individuals who have been acknowledged by one or more individuals from the community as healers with spiritual gifts." By offering a pipe to these individuals they are acknowledged as a Pipe Carrier. By accepting the Pipe, the individual accepts its "inherent responsibilities".

Members of different peoples, acknowledge certain individuals as Pipe Carriers, "represent the link to spirituality". The community recognizes these individuals by offering them a pipe. If the individual accepts the pipe and its inherent responsibilities, then he or she is a Pipe Carrier.

The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk's Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux, the seminal work of American scholar, Joseph Epes Brown, (1920 – 2000) is an account of Brown's discussions with the holy man, Black Elk, about Lakota religious rites. In 1947, Brown lived with Black Elk (1863 – 1950) for a year and recorded Black Elk's account of the "seven rites of the Oglala Sioux". "Black Elk had requested that the book, The Sacred Pipe, be created so that the beliefs of his people could be preserved and become more fully understood by both Native Americans and the world at large."

The pipe
The pipe is "used with tobacco and can be used to pray for individuals or as a part of Sweat Lodge ceremonies."