The Chanupa pipe might not sound too familiar but its shape has created the mold that most of today’s smoking pipes take after. The Chanupa pipe is a very sacred utensil to the cultures that use it. It’s most common use is for conveying prayers to the “creator”. The pipe itself isn’t just one piece, its multiple pieces added on to each other. Each of these pieces hold a different symbolic meaning, finding these symbolic details would be very hard to members not included in a specific culture because the meanings are held close to tribe members and not shared with others outside. So although to tribes may have similar symbols on the pipe, the symbols could mean two entirely different things. On the website (http://essencialdreams.com/Chanupa.htm) it gives a brief overview of the Lakota story of how the tribe obtained the sacred pipe. It says how the spirit Wohpea brought the pipe specifically to the people of the tribe, rather than the medicine folks or the tribe leaders. Obtaining one of these pipes is more than just a gift to people who know of the pipes actual power. It is said that the pipe can either bless seven generations, or condemned seven generations. Holding onto one of these pipes takes a great amount of commitment; you have to be careful of what you wish for, be even more careful about how you wish for it, and be extra caution about your intent of you wish. As it is state by the Lakota people “The spirits say they like to help, they also say don’t make a fool of us.” What is the importance of being gifted a pipe? Being gifted a pipe is nothing to take lightly; obtaining a pipe of your own is a very special honor to have. One is the gifted the pipe for numerous deeds, accomplishments, and other aspects that have a positive impact on the tribe as a whole, or to just a certain tribe member. The smoking of the pipe was used on the intent to carry away the lies of the group of which the pipe was being smoked. If an individual smoked the pipe, that person was accepting that what the other people were saying was the truth and in return for accepting the truth, he or she would return the honor with nothing but the most honest truth. According to many tribes (including the Sioux and the Lakota) the pipe was said to be an entire cosmos itself. With the power to alter the consciousness of the user, this brought the user and the spirits closer to one another. This connected the real world and the spiritual world on a very close basis and the native user held the pipes very close to them. So since the pipe itself, held almost a portal to the spirits the pipe was a very special object in the eyes of the Indians, and anyone gifted the pipe held great pride in accepting the gift and pursuing all that the pipe means.