According to Native American Indian lore, the brown buffalo represents the "male spiritual entity", and the white buffalo represents the "female spiritual entity". Similar to the reverence given to Mother Earth, which provides and sustains all life on this planet, so the white buffalo is seen as a symbol of the "mothering" caring entity that watches over us. (So I have been told by my Native American Indian friend in CO)
News of the birth of a rare white buffalo is spreading among American
Indians, inspiring pilgrimages to what many tribes believe is a sacred,
apocalyptic animal.
"This is like the second coming of Christ on this island of North
America," said Floyd Hand, a Sioux medicine man from Pine Ridge, SD, "The legend is she would return and unify the nations of the four colors -- the black, red, yellow and white."
The white calf named "Miracle" was born August 20 at the Wisconsin
farm where Dave Heider raises a herd of 14 buffalo and other animals. He
plans to have it tested to see if it will retain its white coat, the cow is definitely not albino.
The white buffalo is sacred to the Cheyenne, Sioux, and other tribes
of the Plains that once relied on the buffalo for sustenance according to Mattheu Snipp, a University of Wisconsin sociology and Indian studies
professor. The white buffalo's spiritual significance stems from its rarity. In the 1800s, when up to 80 million of the buffalo roamed the plains, the odds against having an albino calf were estimated at one in 10 million, according to the National Buffalo Association. Relentless hunting reduced the buffalo population to about 500 in the late 1800s; there are about 130,000 today.
"The impact and enormity of this to the Red Nation is immense," said
Harry Brown Bear of the Oneida tribe in Wisconsin, "the teachings of our
people and elders say there would be a time the Anglo nation and the American Indian would come together in goodness."
As of September 10, about 100 people from the Oneida, Cherokee, Sioux,
and a half dozen other tribes had visited the calf. Heider said, "One woman flew in from Arizona, paid her respects, and then she was gone."
On Monday, September 12, Arvol Looking Horse, who holds the pipe given
to the Sioux by the legendary White Buffalo Calf Woman, and Floyd Hand came to the Heider farm. They came to perform a sacred pipe ceremony and spread a message of cultural revitalization and peace. The birth of the first white buffalo in more than 50 years is an omen of renewed interest in American Indian heritage, Looking Horse said.
As the 19th keeper of the Sacred Calf Pipe, Looking Horse said the
buffalo's return signifies that "a healing would begin and dreams and visions would return."
Hand, who led a group of Lakota Sioux from Pine Ridge, SD, said the
calf's coming also affects non Indians, "It's an omen that's bringing a change and a new world. The 21st century that is coming is going to unify all of us. We are here to encourage people to pray for peace. We're gonna heal together now."
Heider said the family felt honored by the ceremony and gifts, "It's
not something you feel in your head; it's something you feel in your heart," he said. More than 1500 people from around the country have visited the animal.
