What is the Lakota term for the sacred ceremonial pipe?

The Lakota term for the sacred ceremonial pipe is Chanunpa.

Chanunpa, also spelled chanupa or canupa, refers both to the sacred pipe and to the ceremony in which it is used. In Lakota tradition, the pipe is a means of offering prayers, with its smoke symbolically carrying those prayers to Wakan Tanka, often translated as the Great Mystery.

Lakota tradition connects the pipe with White Buffalo Calf Woman, who brought it to the people as part of the Seven Sacred Rites. The pipe is commonly made with a wooden stem and a catlinite bowl; catlinite is the red pipestone quarried near present-day Pipestone, Minnesota. Its parts and handling carry religious meanings, some of which are traditionally kept within the community.

A common mix-up is treating “peace pipe” or “calumet” as the universal name. Those are broad English or colonial-era labels, while Chanunpa is specifically Lakota. Different Indigenous nations have their own words, designs, and ceremonial traditions for sacred pipes.