What was the calumet ceremony.

Native Americans used the calumet ceremony throughout the Plains to trade between different tribes, or between different bands of the same tribe, for food and other needed items. The ceremony evolved in the thirteenth century, possibly among the Wichitas.

In its fullest form, the calumet was a long and complex ceremony, but even the more common shorter version involved several days of ritual feasting, gift giving, singing, and dancing. The ceremony climaxed with the presentation of the calumet pipe, which made unrelated peoples one "family" through the working of a fictional kinship. Leaders of different bands adopted each other as father or son. Exchanges of gifts then went on for several days, in the later stages accompanied by exchanges between the men and women of each band, who acquired the same fictive father-son relationship to the other band as that established by their leaders. A leader's calumet relationships were considered permanent, and leaders were expected to maintain a number of calumet relationships with other tribes, bands, and villages. The calumet ceremonies also allowed men and women from different bands to meet and court each other, and often trade bonds between bands were supplemented by matrimonial bonds.