WEBVTT - Short Stuff: "Peace" Pipes

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh, and

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<v Speaker 1>there's Chuck and Jerry's here for Dave. So it's a

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<v Speaker 1>short stuff, and we're talking about what you might know

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<v Speaker 1>is peace pipes, but as it turns out, that's not

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<v Speaker 1>the right word for it at all. So although we'll

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<v Speaker 1>probably accidentally call it peace pipes a bunch of times,

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<v Speaker 1>they're really called sacred or ceremonial pipes.

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<v Speaker 2>That's right. That whole notion of passing the peace pipe

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<v Speaker 2>something that American settlers and soldiers saw and they thought like, hey,

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<v Speaker 2>they're smoking that thing during a treaty signing, so that

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<v Speaker 2>must be a peace pipe. And while it's true that

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<v Speaker 2>they might have smoked those during treaty signings, it turns

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<v Speaker 2>out they smoke them a lot, so it's a bit

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<v Speaker 2>of a misnomer.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah. They come up in all sorts of different parts

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<v Speaker 1>of Native American culture. Something I thought was really interesting

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<v Speaker 1>is that I could not find a mention of any

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<v Speaker 1>North American tribe that doesn't use ceremonial pipes. Yeah, and

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<v Speaker 1>so like they found old ones from Florida up to

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<v Speaker 1>the Midwest. I think they found it in the Hopewell

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<v Speaker 1>culture in Ohio from the southwest up to the Pacific northwest,

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<v Speaker 1>like all over they use peace pipes, which tells you like,

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<v Speaker 1>this is a really old tradition and it predates some

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<v Speaker 1>of the tribes that eventually kind of grew out of

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<v Speaker 1>other tribes that were older.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, for sure. And again they just call them pipes.

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<v Speaker 2>I think there's a broader term that you can use,

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<v Speaker 2>if you want to get more specific, called a calumet.

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<v Speaker 2>And apparently that's from the French word. Would that be

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<v Speaker 2>shadow may like Timothy, Yeah, all right, and that means

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<v Speaker 2>read or flute, and Timothy shallo may. He's like a

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<v Speaker 2>little flutie read himself, he really is.

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<v Speaker 1>I wonder if that's the stage name.

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<v Speaker 2>Now maybe, And you know, depending on the tribe and

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<v Speaker 2>the culture, they each have their own name for it,

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<v Speaker 2>perhaps in their own language, and generally they take them

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<v Speaker 2>out during some kind of ceremony, maybe a prayer, maybe

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<v Speaker 2>a treaty signing thing, maybe just a party or maybe

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<v Speaker 2>a monarchy situation.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, I forgot about that.

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<v Speaker 2>But it is a sort of a physical representation of

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<v Speaker 2>a connection to God or maybe the smoke flowing out

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<v Speaker 2>in all directions to nature and connecting in that way.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I also saw what it means specifically definitely depends

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<v Speaker 1>on the tribe. They have different meanings for it, even

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<v Speaker 1>though it's generally used for some sort of prayer solemn occasion,

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<v Speaker 1>like you were saying. One explanation I saw is that

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<v Speaker 1>the plants that are smoked in there, it's not always tobacco,

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<v Speaker 1>it's never marijuana, but and it can be a combination

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<v Speaker 1>of a bunch of different plants. Those plants have roots

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<v Speaker 1>in the earth, but their smoke travels up to the heavens,

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<v Speaker 1>to the spirit world, and they carry the person's prayer

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<v Speaker 1>with them. So it's very they're very sacred and solemn

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<v Speaker 1>occasion when they're smoking a ceremonial pipe, even though exactly

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<v Speaker 1>what they believe about it is it varies.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, for sure. And where they come from berries, I

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<v Speaker 2>think the Lakota, you know, the ideas that they were

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<v Speaker 2>given it by the white buffalo calf woman and it

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<v Speaker 2>was used for prayer in their culture generally, and that's

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<v Speaker 2>why the white buffalo calf is very much a sacred

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<v Speaker 2>thing to the Lakota.

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<v Speaker 1>Still, yeah, the Lakota call there's the chinoonpa, which is

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<v Speaker 1>a cool word to say, Yeah, And one other thing

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<v Speaker 1>about any ceremonial pipe is there's like different parts represent

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<v Speaker 1>different things, but they come in pieces. They're not actually

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<v Speaker 1>just one single piece. Especially with the Dakota and the Lakota,

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<v Speaker 1>both sue they are meant to stay apart, and when

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<v Speaker 1>they're put together, that indicates a ceremony or a prayer

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<v Speaker 1>session is beginning. You don't keep like if you're storing it,

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<v Speaker 1>or say, if you're a museum who gets your hands

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<v Speaker 1>on one of these and you're displaying it, you do

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<v Speaker 1>not show them put together. They're just kind of like

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<v Speaker 1>exploded on display, separated the different parts.

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<v Speaker 2>They should call them pieces pipes.

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<v Speaker 1>Very nice? Should we take a pipe? Very nice? Yeah?

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<v Speaker 1>I gotta let that gel with me from all right.

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<v Speaker 2>We'll be right back after that bad pun, right after this.

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<v Speaker 1>So one of the other things that a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>ceremonial pipes have in common in North America is that

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<v Speaker 1>they are made from a spe zip kind of rock.

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<v Speaker 1>And there's different variations on this kind of rock, but

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<v Speaker 1>they're all generally called pipestone.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you know, we've talked about the pieces. There's that

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<v Speaker 2>wooden stem and then you've got your bowl. It's like

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<v Speaker 2>an L shape bowl or a T shaped bowl, and

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<v Speaker 2>that is that pipestone. There are different colors of pipestone,

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<v Speaker 2>so they're often very pretty pipes and pretty bowls. But

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<v Speaker 2>there's one apparently that's a little more revered, and that's

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<v Speaker 2>the red pipestone from Pipestone National Monument, which is southwest Minnesota,

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<v Speaker 2>and apparently it's that particular pipestone is considered sacred by

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<v Speaker 2>a lot of indigenous tribes.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, like they'll come from all over North America to

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<v Speaker 1>get the red pipestone is a kind of catlanite, which

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<v Speaker 1>is a stone made from clay, and it's actually fairly

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<v Speaker 1>easy to work with. But to get to it at

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<v Speaker 1>Pipestone National Monument, number one, you have to get a permit.

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<v Speaker 1>Number two, you can't get a permit unless you're enrolled

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<v Speaker 1>in a North American tribe. And then number three, it's

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<v Speaker 1>going to take you a while to get there because

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<v Speaker 1>the red pipestone at that park only exists underneath a

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<v Speaker 1>thick quartz layer and you're only allowed to use hand

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<v Speaker 1>tools like pick axes, chisels, sledgehammers to get to it,

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<v Speaker 1>and the park rangers recommend expecting to do at least

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<v Speaker 1>a weekend's worth of work with multiple other people, but

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<v Speaker 1>that some people end up having to get an annual

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<v Speaker 1>pass because they have to just keep coming back and

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<v Speaker 1>coming back and to finally get to it. And can

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<v Speaker 1>you imagine if you dedicated months to this and you

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<v Speaker 1>came back for that last time, you're like, this is

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<v Speaker 1>the one, and to find somebody else had just used

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<v Speaker 1>the rest of your work, dug through it and got

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<v Speaker 1>to the red pipestone you had to start over.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I thought you were going to say you finally

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<v Speaker 2>make that beautiful bowl out of the pipestone, and then

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<v Speaker 2>your friend Gary knocks it off the kitchen counter.

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<v Speaker 1>Either way, either way, it was probably Gary who used

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<v Speaker 1>your hole in the first place too, So either way

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<v Speaker 1>Gary's to blame.

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<v Speaker 2>Gary notorious hole user. So it's not always up pipestone.

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<v Speaker 2>Sometimes it's limestone. Sometimes it's bone or pottery or shale,

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<v Speaker 2>but that pipestone is which are really after The stems

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<v Speaker 2>are generally wood, maybe alder or ash, and they're usually decorative,

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<v Speaker 2>not always, because like we said, there are all different

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<v Speaker 2>kinds of pipes, some for different ceremonies, some just personal pipes.

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<v Speaker 2>A lot of times I'll have feathers and beadwork. Some

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<v Speaker 2>are just plain though, and like you mentioned, they smoke

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<v Speaker 2>of a variety of things, not always tobacco. Sometimes it's

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<v Speaker 2>dried bark of maybe a red oyster dog wood. Maybe

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<v Speaker 2>it's a ground shrub if you're out on the prairie,

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<v Speaker 2>And like you mentioned, it's never marijuana. That is just

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<v Speaker 2>some dumb joke made by white people at some point,

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<v Speaker 2>probably in a cartoon strip or something.

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<v Speaker 1>So that, yeah, in our crumb strip. Yeah, maybe Fritz

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<v Speaker 1>the cat. So that that ground shrub from the prairie

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<v Speaker 1>you mentioned is called kinnikinnick and it's spelled like it sounds.

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<v Speaker 1>It's also called bearberry, but actually both of them are

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<v Speaker 1>really fun to say as well. That's a sacred plant,

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<v Speaker 1>and then the tobacco that they'll smoke is also considered sacred.

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<v Speaker 1>But it's not that standard Virginia tobacco strain. It's an

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<v Speaker 1>older indigenous strain to the United States that's much more potent,

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<v Speaker 1>just stronger tobacco. So I'm sure in a pinch you

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<v Speaker 1>could use the Virginia kind, but there's apparently a preferred kind.

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<v Speaker 2>That's not that aka the good stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah exactly. So I also said that you're not supposed

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<v Speaker 1>to keep the pipe stored put together. In addition to

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<v Speaker 1>the stem and the bowl, there are there's also often

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<v Speaker 1>a mouthpiece too, So these three separate parts are brought

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<v Speaker 1>together to begin a ceremony. It might be in a

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<v Speaker 1>sweat lodge like you said, it might be as part

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<v Speaker 1>of a wedding. There's all sorts of different times to

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<v Speaker 1>use it. But in some Native American cultures they were

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<v Speaker 1>used to basically seal a peace treaty between warring nations.

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<v Speaker 1>And there was a process for doing this, and there

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<v Speaker 1>would be a medicine man involved, and then you would

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<v Speaker 1>bring together the chiefs of the two warring tribes. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>and the cool thing about it is the medicine man

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<v Speaker 1>and each of the warring chiefs brings a piece of

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<v Speaker 1>the pipe, the medicine man puts it together, and then

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<v Speaker 1>it's kind of like, all right, we're all connected again.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's great. I love what it symbolizes. And it's

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<v Speaker 2>something that's not you know, something still happening. And I mean,

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<v Speaker 2>I think this is from HowStuffWorks dot Com. They interviewed

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<v Speaker 2>I think a woman from the Lakota maybe, and she's like,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, this stuff is not past tense, like we

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<v Speaker 2>still have our culture and we still do these things.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Her name's Gabriel Drapeau and she's with the yank

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<v Speaker 1>tan Sioux tribe of South Dakota.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh okay, Well, she just makes a point like this

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<v Speaker 2>stuff is not in the past tense, like we still

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<v Speaker 2>I think a lot of people look at it that

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<v Speaker 2>way as like, oh, they used to smoke these ceremonial pipes.

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<v Speaker 2>And she's like, no, we still do this. We still

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<v Speaker 2>have our culture and it's still sacred to us.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Pretty cool man. I love it. Well, I guess

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<v Speaker 1>short stuff is out everybody.

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