sacred
Examples of objects considered sacred in other cultures do not fully
support Eliade’s definition of the sacred. Among Native American Indians
cultures, the pipe bundle is considered sacred by many tribes, such as the
Blackfoot. A typical Blackfoot bundle contains numerous objects: a
sacred pipe, skins of certain animals and birds, tobacco placed in bird
skins, a rattle wrapped in the skin of a prairie dog. Many of these items
are painted red. The bundle owes its existence to two sources: vision
experiences of the original owner and similar experiences of successive
owners. Opening the pipe bundle involves a ritual procedure and process
of purification for the owner.
Among the Native American Crow, bundles are mostly associated with
warfare and are believed to bring their owners success in battle and good
fortune in life. Another sacred object among the Crow is their shields,
which owe their origin to dreams or waking visions. These shields are
considered powerful but are not taken into battle because they are too
bulky and heavy. A part of the shield, such as a feather, or a miniature
reproduction of the shield, tied to the hair or suspended around the neck
of a warrior, can be taken into battle. Elements constituting the shield
symbolically signify certain aspects of life, such as: a green border asso-
ciated with summer; dark drown lines on the shield representing bullets
or projectiles bouncing off of it; or feathers from the owl and eagle – two
powerful birds – signifying the power of vision because the owl is
believed to be able to see the future and an eagle is believed to fly the
highest and thus able to view the entire earth. The entire shield represents
the buffalo.
Among the Native American Sioux Indians, there is nothing more
sacred than the sacred pipe, which is used on ceremonial occasions and
handled with great care and respect. The bowl of the pipe symbolizes the
earth, the carved buffalo calf represents all animals, while its feathers
hanging from the stem signified the eagle and all winged creatures.
Finally, the seven circles symbolically represent the seven rites of the
Sioux. Thus, the sacred pipe embodies in a single object some of the
fundamental values of the people.
In contrast to Native American Indians, classical Hindus uses a few
terms that are generally equated with the sacred, such as pavitra (pure,
clean), divya (holy), śuddha (clean, pure), although there is no precise
equivalent of the English term. Hindus do not believe that anyone
possesses ownership of the sacred, which is understood as ubiquitous and
amorphous. Because it is so ill-defined, the sacred is best grasped within
certain contexts in which it is encountered. Unlike Durkheim and Eliade’s
definition of the sacred, the Hindu conception does not include the dis-
tinctive separation of the sacred from the profane. Hindus conceive of the