Crow Pipe Ceremony by Howard Terpning

Crow Pipe Ceremony by Howard Terpning.

 

"I painted this as a gift for my wife, Marlies. The original will not be offered for sale. It occupies a very prominent and important place in our home." Howard Terpning.

 

"Ceremonial pipes and the use of tobacco had a sacred significance among the Crow People of eastern Montana and northern Wyoming. The smoking and passing of the pipe was a pattern of prayer, a religious ritual tightly woven into the fabric of Crow custom and culture. Each warrior in turn saluted the Earth, the sky and the four cardinal directions. Then he smoked, made his petitions to the spirits, and passed the pipe along to his left until all had smoked and the circle was complete. The pipe smoke hung in the prairie haze and drifted skyward, an ethereal entreaty from the spirits of men to their maker." (Don Hedpeth - Spirit of the Plains People).

 

Canvas released 1997.