Many of us have probably heard the expression "peace pipe". The meaning of the phrase is clear to many, however, hardly everyone knows where it came from. It should also be noted that the phraseologism "peace pipe" has several interpretations. Everything related to him will be discussed in this essay.
The appearance of expression
The peace pipe is one of the main symbols in the culture of the Indians of North America. For the tribes that previously inhabited and now live on this continent, pipe smoking had and still has a sacred character. The phrase "light the pipe of peace" means "negotiate peace." It is associated with an ancient sacred rite that took place after the warring tribes of the Indians made peace. The leaders with their entourage sat in one circle and passed a smoking pipe in a circle. At the end of this ritual, the enmity ceased.
For the Indians, the pipe was a sacred attribute in absolutely all tribes. It was believed that smoking it creates a connection with the spirits of the ancestors. That is, at the end of pipe smoking, a trucewas in the physical world and in the world of spirits.
Smoking pipe
A commonly used name for the Peace Pipe itself among the Indians is Calumet. The smoking tip of the calumet was made by one master, and a shaman casting spells was always present during the whole process. The material was a pipe stone - catlinite, which was sacred. It was mined from quarries in eastern South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota. These places among all the tribes were neutral, and any hostile actions in this territory were prohibited.
The eastern tribes of the Indians used mostly plain tobacco for smoking, but the tribes that inhabited the western part of the continent made a smoking mixture called kinikinik. Some historians believe that the mixture included herbs that intoxicated the Indians, but this does not find significant evidence.
It should be said that the Indians have a pipe of peace, or rather, lighting it up at the conclusion of a truce - this is just one of the rituals. The fact is that they had pipes, as they say, for all occasions. Namely, there were pipes for wars, trade and, strange as it sounds, for making political decisions. In other words, after the conclusion of any treaty, the decision on war or peace, a certain pipe was lit. Calumets differed in shape and style, and the mixtures used were different.
Other meaning
Kimberlite pipe "Mir" is the namediamond deposit, which is located in Yakutia. It was discovered in 1954 in the USSR by Soviet geologists. They began to develop the deposit with a simple open method, however, as the miners deepened the quarry, the development began to be carried out underground.
The Mir kimberlite pipe is the largest open pit diamond mine in terms of volume. Initially, the quarry itself was developed, and then the city of Mirny appeared around it, in which about 40 thousand people live today.
This deposit is currently 525 meters deep and reaches a diameter of 1.2 kilometers. Kimberlite rock appears as a result of volcanic eruptions that have occurred in these places for millions of years ago. During the eruption, kimberlite is ejected from the bowels of the earth, which contains diamonds.
Diamond mining
The Mir pipe located in Yakutia is not only impressive in size, but also brings impressive income. Thus, over the entire period of development of this deposit, diamonds were mined for more than 17 billion US dollars. The quarry has stretched so far that the spiral road that leads to the depth where the rock is mined has a length of as much as eight kilometers. According to geological exploration, it will still be possible to mine diamonds at this deposit for 35 years.
An interesting fact is that helicopters are strictly forbidden to fly over the Mir kimberlite pipe. This is due to the fact that the giant funnel formed as a result of rock mining simply draws in helicopters flying over it due to the most powerful vortex flows formed.
The "Mir" pipe looks very impressive, it's amazing what a person is capable of when he sets himself a task and solves it. For the entire time the quarry has been operating, billions of cubic meters of rock have been removed from here, and all in order to find small diamonds, which are measured in carats, which seems very ironic.
