The Lakota people have a prophecy about the white buffalo calf. That
prophecy originated when a sacred peace pipe was brought to them about 2,000
years ago by the one known 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; they saw a white buffalo calf. As it came
closer to them, it turned into a beautiful young Indian girl.
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 that was now an Indian girl
told him to go back to his people and tell 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. And, 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, she sang a sacred song and took the
sacred bundle to the people who were there to take care of her. She spent
four days among the 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.
She instructed the people that as long as they performed these ceremonies
they would always remain caretakers and guardians of the land.
When she was done teaching the people, she left the way she came. She
went out of the circle, and as she was leaving she turned and told the
people that she would return one day for the sacred bundle. And she left the
sacred bundle, which they still have, to this very day.
The sacred bundle is known as the White Buffalo Calf Pipe because the
White Buffalo Calf Woman brought it. It is kept in a sacred place on the
Cheyenne River Indian reservation in South Dakota. 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, balance, spiritually, and all the races of man would live in peace.
