Trying to be a good doobie.

I'm helping a friend out with a hand up. I met her on a Cowboys Prayer, an EZBoard/YUKU site I've been on since forever...I'm the resident Pagan and there's an Atheist too...but we all have fun, get along and try and help each other out.

Her husband died in May of last year. And since I allegedly sell on Etsy, she asked if I could try and sell some of her husband's chokers. I said sure. I only have 20 cents to lose.

My Gods. John did beautiful work.

I got a bit of information about him so that I could better understand him and his work. He was 1/4 Choctaw Indian. His grandmother was 1/2. But all the papers were lost in a fire. Dang. Way back when interbreeding was frowned upon. But still!

He was a Swabbie. He was sent off to the lovely jungle playground called Viet Nam where he got to play with that wonderfully carcinogenic delight Agent Orange. He died from diabetes probably caught from that silly chemical...pfft.
He managed 3 years over there without getting his ass shot off. Hoorah!

Came home and became a smoke eater at Fort Hood. When he retired, the family moved to Macon Georgia. I did a bit of snooping to get some of this information. I had his first name, last name from FB, and address from his wife's package. But I wanted a bit more...so I did a google search. And I came across this...

http://marinemajorone.blogspot.com/2010/05/john-julius-irwin-iii-us-navy-veteran.html

By the end of it I was bawling. I am proud of all of our fighting men and women.

These are his goodies that I want to share with folks:

All of them:

Turquoise and Bone Hair Pipes with Silver

Unakite Chips with Bone Hair Pipes

Faceted Garnet, Black Jasper and Tea Dyed Bone Hair Pipe

Rose Quartz, Silver, Black Buffalo Hair Pipe

Carnelian, Brass Beads, Black Buffalo Hair Pipe

Turquoise, Silver, Black Buffalo Hair Pipe
Carnelian, Brass, Dyed Blue Bone Hair Pipe

Turquoise, Carnelian, Bone Hair Pipe and Black Buffalo Hair Pipe
My fave. Lapis Lazuli and Silver:
According to Tradition, the amount of strands the choker each had meaning also:
1=One God
2=Affirmation
3=Completeness
4=Earthly Situations/Seasons/The Four Directions.
5=God On Top
6=Human Accomplishment
7=Spiritual Perfection
8=New Beginning

George Catlin, the Painter famous for his Native American portraits did one of a chief way back in the 1840's who was wearing a 4 strand hair pipe choker.

Hair pipes were supposedly originally made from bird bones because they're hollow. Ewww. I know some tribes used to make flutes out of bird leg bones so what can I say...

Hair pipe beads can be found in coastal shell middens. And were made of bone or shell, now you can find them in the crafts stores made of plastic, or resin.

Chokers were supposed to protect the warrior's throat from knives and arrows and also if worn during a meeting, it was to show that the person would speak truly...

These days they're made from lots of different materials and styles like these by a couple of my Tsunali: Sweet Grass Valley, Dream Weaver Spirit, Lakota Witko, and Sirocco.

Lakota Witko
Lakota Witko
Sweet Grass Valley
Sirocco
Dream Weaver Spirit
Sweet Grass Valley Dream Weaver Spirit
Sirocco
If you do an Etsy Search for HairPipe Choker you come up with 3 pages...

Enjoy your looking.