To the Native North Americans the birth of a white buffalo calf is iconic and is meant to bring the Aboriginal nations together and purify the spirit, mind and body. The story of the white buffalo has been told many ways and here I will attempt to paraphrase what I have read.

“It begins a summer long, long ago as the Lakota Sioux came together with their seven sacred council fires and camped. The people were starving and had sent out a small hunting party into the Black Hills of South Dakota. These two hunters soon came upon a young beautiful woman dressed all in white.

She says, “Go back to camp, for I will meet you there”. The holy woman teaches the Lakota people about the sacred pipe and everything around them is connected. She also teaches the mysteries of the Earth, how to pray and the proper path their tribes need to follow. Once it was time for the woman to leave she rolled on the ground four times while changing color each roll. She then turns into a white buffalo calf and was gone.

With the great trampling of hooves a great herd of buffalo surrounded the camp. From then on the buffalo were plentiful and the Lakota honored their pipe (1).”

For the Lakota people the story of the White Buffalo Calf Woman is extremely important. A story such as this contains within it a philosophy of the Lakota culture and only by learning the Lakota ways may someone perhaps gain a truer understanding of this sacred story.

References

(1) The Legend & Importance of the White Buffalo. (n.d.). The Legend & Importance of the White Buffalo. Retrieved November 10, 2013, from http://www.lightningmedicinecloud.com/legend.html

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