A rare white buffalo calf arrives in Yellowstone with a message
Legend has it that the Earth is at a crossroads with the arrival of a white buffalo calf.
For the Lakota people, the calf’s birth earlier this month fulfills a prophecy and is a sacred symbol, but it is also a warning “that a spiritual awakening must occur,” said Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the spiritual leader of the Lakota people. Lakota, Dakota and the Nakota Oyate of South Dakota, who led a ceremony and celebration Wednesday in honor of the calf’s birth in Yellowstone.
The name of the calf unveiled during the celebration is Wakan Gli, which means “Come Holy/Return Holy.”
According to Lakota legend, the White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared to two scouts sitting on a hill more than 3,000 years ago, Chief Looking Horse said. Carrying a buffalo robe in her arms, she used supernatural powers to turn into bones one of the scouts, who was having unclean thoughts. The other scout, who she said was “of good spirit,” was told to return to his people and tell them she was bringing a sacred gift, Chief Looking Horse said.
The next day, the woman was seen walking toward the center of the camp with a bundle containing a sacred pipe, Chief Looking Horse said. The sacred woman taught the people how to pray, and she said that in time they would “know more about this sacred pipe.”
As she left, she walked west up a hill and stopped, before turning and standing up, having changed into a young black buffalo. She rolled over a second time, becoming a red young buffalo; and a third time, changing into a yellow one. Then she rolled over a fourth time and stopped near the top of the hill as a white buffalo calf with black eyes, black hooves, and a black nose, so the legend goes.
Chief Looking Horse, who is also the 19th custodian of the artifact known as the sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman Pipe and Bundle, said the woman told the people, “the next time I stand on the earth as a white buffalo calf , nothing will be good anymore.” He explained that the prophecy warns that when the white buffalo calf returns to the earth, many white animals will be born around the world, “because Mother Earth is sick and has a fever, and she will speak to these white animals for peace and harmony.”
“That is the message, this pipe, the sacred pipe, represents peace and harmony,” he said.
Chief Looking Horse talked about his fear after the birth of a white buffalo calf in 1994 in Janesville, Wisconsin, noting that it came as the world became aware of global warming. In 1993, indigenous spiritual leaders gathered at the United Nations to warn about climate change Cry of the Earth Conference.
And so it is with the birth of the white buffalo calf in Yellowstone that we are at a crossroads, Chief Looking Horse said, adding that his grandmother said on her deathbed that he would be the last sacred bundle keeper “if the people don’t do it. I’m not going to stand up.”
Either we face global disasters, diseases and false leaders, he said, “or we can unite globally.”
The American bison or buffalo, as they have been called by indigenous peoples for hundreds of yearsis a very important and sacred animal to many Native Americans. Tens of millions of buffalo once roamed North America, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Servicebut their mass slaughter in the 19th century had reduced their numbers to just a few hundred by 1889.
The indiscriminate and systematic killing of bison was rooted in racist ideology and carelessness towards nature. According to the Buffalo Field campaign a group dedicated to “stopping the harassment and slaughter of America’s last wild buffalo“European settlers saw “the survival of the bison as a way to preserve the Native American way of life; they saw the bison as incompatible with their dream of a cattle culture on the Great Plains.”
The near-total destruction of the bison proved devastating to Native Americans, who for thousands of years had relied on the animal for everything from clothing and food to shelter, tools and in ceremonies.
Jim Matheson, executive director of the National Bison Association, said the calf, with its dark eyes, black hooves and black nose, appears to be a rare white buffalo, without the pink hues of an albino animal.
“This is certainly the first time I’ve heard of a white buffalo being born in Yellowstone,” Mr. Matheson said in an interview, calling its birth “very exciting” because it comes from a “closed herd.” . That means the herd breeds only among itself and does not mix with livestock, which can introduce genetic mutations that increase the chance of a white calf being born.
Chief Looking Horse said the calf’s birth into the wild herd in Yellowstone brought tears to his eyes.
“This is all so overwhelming,” he said, adding that he believes the prophecy shows that this is the moment when people around the world must unite and become better stewards of the planet.
“We live in a time where everything revolves around money,” says Chief Looking Horse.
“You have to think about your own children,” he said. “Mother Earth is a source of life, not a resource.”
