The 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 Dr. Arvol
Looking Horse, a 19th generation Lakota Indian who is known as the keeper of the
White Buffalo Calf Pipe.
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.
Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the Original Sacred White
Buffalo Calf Pipe of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Great Sioux Nation, sends
these words on learning of the recent birth of the 9th White Buffalo Calf:
“White Buffalo Calf Woman's spirit makes her presence known, a sign of great
changes signifying the Crossroads. I never dreamed I would live to witness this
momentous time. Eight other white buffalo have since stood upon Mother Earth.
White Buffalo Calf Woman's spirit has announced her message of support in this
time of great danger, and she continues to announce the message in the birth of
each White Buffalo--each one of them a Sign, each one a fulfillment of ancient
Prophecy as well as a new Prophecy for our times.”
From: White Buffalo Teachings by Chief Arvol Looking Horse
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."
Many believe that the buffalo calf, Miracle, born August 20, 1994 symbolizes the
coming together of humanity into a oneness of heart, mind, and spirit.