| We Lakota people have a prophecy about the white buffalo calf.
How that prophecy originated was that we have a sacred bundle,
a sacred peace pipe, that was brought to us about 2,000 years
ago by what we know as the White Buffalo Calf Woman.
The story goes that she appeared to two warriors at that time.
These two warriors were out hunting buffalo, hunting for food
in the sacred Black Hills of South Dakota, and they saw a big
body coming toward them. And they saw that it was a white buffalo
calf. As it came closer to them, it turned into a beautiful
young Indian girl. That time one of the warriors thought bad in his mind, and
so the young girl told him to step forward. And when he did
step forward, a black cloud came over his body, and when the
black cloud disappeared, the warrior who had bad thoughts was
left with no flesh or blood on his bones. The other warrior
kneeled and began to pray. And when he prayed, the white buffalo
calf who was now an Indian girl told him to go back to his
people and warn them that in four days she was going to bring
a sacred bundle. So the warrior did as he was told. He went back to his people
and he gathered all the elders and all the leaders and all
the people in a circle and told them what she had instructed
him to do. And sure enough, just as she said she would, on
the fourth day she came. They say a cloud came down from the sky, and off of the cloud
stepped the white buffalo calf. As it rolled onto the earth,
the calf stood up and became this beautiful young woman who
was carrying the sacred bundle in her hand. As she entered into the circle of the nation, she sang a sacred
song and took the sacred bundle to the people who were there
to take of her. She spent four days among our people and taught
them about the sacred bundle, the meaning of it. She taught
them seven sacred ceremonies. One of them was the sweat lodge, or the purification ceremony.
One of them was the naming ceremony, child naming. The third
was the healing ceremony. The fourth one was the making of
relatives or the adoption ceremony. The fifth one was the marriage
ceremony. The sixth was the vision quest. And the seventh was
the sundance ceremony, the people's ceremony for all of the
nation. She brought us these seven sacred ceremonies and taught our
people the songs and the traditional ways. And she instructed
our people that as long as we performed these ceremonies we
would always remain caretakers and guardians of sacred land.
She told us that as long as we took care of it and respected
it that our people would never die and would always live. When she was done teaching all our people, she left the way
she came. She went out of the circle, and as she was leaving
she turned and told our people that she would return one day
for the sacred bundle. And she left the sacred bundle, which
we still have to this very day. The sacred bundle is known as the White Buffalo Calf Pipe
because it was brought by the White Buffalo Calf Woman. It
is kept in a sacred place (Green Grass) on the Cheyenne River
Indian reservation in South Dakota. it's kept by a man who
is known as the keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe, Arvol
Looking Horse. When White Buffalo Calf Woman promised to return again, she
made some prophecies at that time One of those prophesies was
that the birth of a white buffalo calf would be a sign that
it would be near the time when she would return again to purify
the world. What she meant by that was that she would bring
back harmony again and balance, spiritually. No matter what happens to Miracle in the coming months and
years, Joseph Chasing Horse says the birth is a sign from the
Great Spirit and the ensuing age of harmony and balance it
represents cannot be revoked. That doesn't mean, of course,
that the severe trials Native Americans have endured since
the arrival of Europeans on these shores are over. Indeed, the Lakota nation mounted the longest court case in
U.S. history in an unsuccessful effort to regain control of
the Black Hills, the sacred land on which the White Buffalo
Calf Woman appeared 2,000 years ago. Still, despite their ongoing struggles, Native Americans are
heartened by the appearance of a white buffalo in Janesville,
and have hope for a harmonious and prosperous future. "Mention that we are praying, many of the medicine people,
the spiritual leaders, the elders, are praying for the world," says
Joseph Chasing Horse. "We are praying that mankind does
wake up and think about the future, for we haven't just inherited
this earth from our ancestors, but we are borrowing it from
our unborn children." Traditional Story copyright Joseph Chasing Horse, 1995. |
