The "Peace Pipe" was the very heart of Native American religion, and political lives as well as intertribal conferences and treaty negotiations. Medicine Men used it in ceremonies to heal sickness and to ward off danger and trouble. The pipe styles also varied from tribe to tribe and individuals. The Indians fashioned them from bone, wood, clay and a variety of stone materials. But in one respect all were the same; all were sacramental and were believed to be of divine inspiration. The bowl was the alter and in it was burned the sacred offering, Tobacco.
