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 thoughts
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 behind the convenience store in Toad
Suck, Arkansas.
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. This
ranch has successfully bred three generations of white buffalo, As of the
spring of 2008 their herd consists of 11 white buffalo.
On May 31, 2008, a white buffalo calf
was born in Jamestown, North Dakota. Plus, several other white buffalo have
come into existence over the last decade.
Peace on earth seems like a hard nut to
crack these days. Too many people are determined to force their way of life on
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.
Mi taku oyasin -- We are all related
(Lakota proverb).
___________
Quote for the Day – “It is not
necessary for eagles to be crows.” Sitting Bull
___________
Bret Burquest is the author of 12 books. He lives in the Ozark
Mountains with a few dogs and where peace is a state of mind.
___________
-
-
