The Legend of the White Buffalo Calf Woman: Inspiration and Teacher.

The White Buffalo Calf Woman is an inspiration, teacher and healer for the Lakota Indians.  She is a powerful female figure whose legend was born 2,000 years ago.  The interpretation of the legend is based on Chief Joseph Chasing Horse’s words who is the traditional leader of the Lakota Nation.

The legend says that White Buffalo Calf Woman is a holy woman who taught the Lakota people the seven sacred ceremonies to ensure that they would always protect the land and animals; and she gave them the Chanunpa, or the Sacred Ceremonial Pipe which represents the endless circle -a sacred road of life, and the living breath of the Great-Grandfather of Mystery.  She taught them how to pray using special words and gestures, which would help them be more easily heard by the gods; the vision quest, where one´s intended life and spiritual direction would be found; the sweat lodge for self purification; and the sun dance, a ritual for self-renewal through personal sacrifice and vows, taken in order to reaffirm their beliefs in the universe, the supernatural, and their connection to the divine.

One of White Buffalo Calf Woman’s teachings was the suggestion that all children be taught to hold baby animals with love and care, so that as they grow they will learn to love all the other babies of the world.

She taught them that the buffalo was an animal that represented the entire universe. The white buffalo is an American Bison and it is a sacred animal in Native American beliefs, and it represents the survival of the Native American culture. The white buffalo is associated with world harmony and rebirth.  It is believed that the white buffalo is the most sacred living thing that a person would ever come across.

The story says that when she had finished her teachings, and upon leaving the tribe, the White Buffalo Calf Woman rolled over four times, each time turning into a buffalo of a different color: first she was black, then brown, then red and finally she transformed into a white buffalo.

She told the Lakota tribe that as long as they performed the sacred ceremonies and took care of the sacred land and respected Mother Earth, the tribes would never die.  White Buffalo Calf Woman promised to return one day in the form of a white buffalo.  Her return would be a call to purify our earth, and a sign that harmony, balance and spirituality are needed in all nations.

The prophecy holds that when white animals are born, it is a warning sign to humanity, but it can also be seen as revitalization and an opportunity to change the path of destruction to all life that we are on. 

‘Lakota,’ ‘Dakota’ and ‘Nakota’ mean allies, friends, and this is the name the people we call Sioux, have given themselves. They are the indigenous peoples of the North American Plains and the Canadian Prairies.  For centuries they were a nomadic horse culture that followed herds of buffalo.  There are seven sub-tribes of Lakota people and they speak the Lakota language.

The Standing Rock Sioux of North Dakota, and other Native Americans, have  opposed the Keystone oil pipeline which would have bulldozed sacred landscape in the Black Hills, and poisoned the Missouri River, a primary source of water to the Standing Rock Reservation. The Lakota believe that permanent occupancy of the Black Hills was set aside for the birds and the animals, not for humans. To them, the landscape is sacred, it is also home to the burial grounds of their ancestors.  The Black Hills is one of the most unusual landscapes in the entire United States for its thousands of archaeological sites from over 12,000 years.  The Black Hills is the location of the Lakota ceremonies, and it is considered to be the womb of Mother Earth.

The resistance to the Keystone Pipeline was historic because of the huge encampment that the tribes set up on the land where the pipeline was to be built. The attempted construction and displacement of the Native American tribes on the part of the government, represents a pattern of deep injustice and oppression for the Standing Rock Sioux:  The government invaded the sacred Black Hills of South Dakota in search for gold in the mid to late 1800’s, and attempted to  confine the Sioux tribes to reservations. Ignoring the treaties that were in place, the government drove away a large number of buffalo and game in order to impede the survival of the Sioux.

Under the command of Chief Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, the Sioux set up a camp of 10,000 Native Americans along the Little Bighorn River in defiance of the U.S. War Department.  The Native Americans overwhelmed Custer´s batallion and the U.S. Army and General Custer were defetead at the Battle of the Little Bighorn and Custer´s Last Stand.  They won a huge land rights victory for Native Americans.

The violation of indigenous land rights is an old story, something that Native Americans have been fighting for the last 150 years.  And although there is currently a reprieve, more pipelines are being proposed.

Hopefully we will soon see the return of the White Buffalo Calf Woman and she will help the Native Americans take back the land they have lost.

Check out this interesting video about the Legend of White Buffalo Calf Woman and the Lakota tribe 

Related articles across the web

• The battle over Keystone XL and the future of food on one farm
• Canada’s oil industry is doomed if prices keep falling
• Protectionist policies could trip up Canada in NAFTA talks, report warns
• Cities and states across the US are abandoning Columbus Day – here’s the list
• North Dakota Native American student graduation rate lagging
• Easter Island Ancient DNA Shoots Down One Rapanui Theory