The
Lakota Sioux are a nation of Native Americans who roamed the northern plains in
and around the Black Hills of South Dakota. They have a prophecy known as the
White Buffalo Calf Woman.
According
to the prophecy, two warriors were out hunting buffalo, approximately 2,000
years ago, when they spotted a white buffalo calf. As they approached the calf,
it turned into a beautiful young Indian girl.
One
of the warriors had bad thoughts in his mind. The Indian girl told him to step
forward whereupon a black cloud came over his body. When the black cloud
disappeared, the warrior with bad thought had no more flesh or blood on his
bones.
The
other warrior kneeled and prayed. The Indian girl told him to tell his people
that she would bring them a sacred bundle in four days. So the warrior went
back to his people and told the elders. Then all the Lakota people gathered in
a circle and the warrior told them what the Indian girl had instructed him to
say.
On
the fourth day, a cloud came down from the sky and off stepped a white buffalo
calf. As it reached the earth, it stood up and became a beautiful young woman,
carrying a sacred bundle. The woman spent four days among the Lakota people,
teaching them the seven sacred ceremonies.
1)
The purification ceremony of the sweat lodge
2)
The child naming ceremony
3)
The healing ceremony
4)
The making of relatives or adoption ceremony
5)
The marriage ceremony
6)
The vision quest
7)
The sun dance ceremony
As
long as the Lakota people performed these ceremonies, they would remain
caretakers of the land. Then the beautiful woman left, the same way as she
arrived, vowing to someday return for the sacred bundle. The sacred bundle,
known as the White Buffalo Calf Pipe, has been passed down from generation to
generation of Lakota and is kept in a sacred place on an Indian reservation in South Dakota.
The
White Buffalo Calf Woman also made several prophecies upon her departure. One
of these prophecies was that the birth of a white buffalo would be a sign that
it would be near the time of her return. And upon her return, she would purify
the world, bringing harmony, balance and spirituality back to the earth, and
all the races of man would live in peace.
A
white buffalo calf is projected to be a one in 10 million occurrence. These are
about the same odds as finding the lost Ark of the Covenant in a dumpster in
Black Duck, Minnesota.
In
August of 1994, a white buffalo was born in Janesville, Wisconsin.
Although this event excited many Native American at the time, this particular
buffalo was actually born red and later turned white.
On
May 22, 2004, a white buffalo calf came into this world at the Spirit Mountain
Ranch near Flagstaff, Arizona.
On
May 31, 2008, a white buffalo calf was born in Jamestown, North Dakota.
On
July 4, 2012, a white buffalo was born in Minnesota, but perished a few days
later.
On
Saturday, July 28, 2012, hundreds of Native Americans gathered at a farm in
Goshen, Connecticut, where the birth of another white buffalo recently took
place, and held a sacred ceremony.
Perhaps,
Peace on Earth is finally on the horizon.
However,
Peace on Earth is a hard nut to crack these days. Too many people are
determined to force their way of life onto others, through coercion and
violence. Ultimately, those who live by the sword, die by the sword.
Unfortunately, it creates a bloody mess for the rest of us caught in the
middle.
You
can’t change the world -- you can only change yourself. Peace on earth starts
with patience and grace, and treating others the way you want to be treated.
For
the Lakota people, peace on earth starts with a white buffalo.
Mitaku
oyasin -- We are all related (Lakota proverb).
___________
Quote
for the Day -- “There can never be peace between nations until there is first
known that true peace which is within the souls of men." Black Elk (Holy
Man of the Oglala Lakota Sioux, 1863-1950)
___________
Bret
Burquest is the author of 9 books, including THE REALITY OF THE ILLUSION OF
REALITY and 11:11 EARTH TIME. He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a dog named
Buddy Lee and occasionally talks to trees.
___________
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