A rare white buffalo calf was reportedly born in Yellowstone National Park – fulfilling an American Indian prophecy that is synonymous to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
The calf was identified by a visiting family who spotted ‘something really white’ in a herd of bison by the Lamar River on June 4.
‘I look and it’s this white bison calf,’ said Erin Braaten, who snapped a photo. ‘And I was just totally, totally floored.’
Chief Arvol Looking Horse, who is spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and the Nakota Oyate, said the white buffalo’s birth is like the Second Coming for his people.
According to Lakota legend, White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared around 2,000 years ago when food was running out and bison were vanishing. The woman gave a bowl and pipe to a member of the tribe and explained how to pray and use the pipe to draw buffalo in for food. She then turned into a white buffalo calf.
Looking Horse detailed the legend: ‘And some day when the times are hard again, I shall return and stand upon the earth as a white buffalo calf, black nose, black eyes, black hooves.’
He added that ‘the birth of this calf is both a blessing and warning’.
‘We must do more’ to protect the earth and animals, said the 19th keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Woman Pipe and Bundle.
Based on Braaten’s photos, the calf is truly a white buffalo with a black nose, black hooves and dark eyes, because an albino buffalo would have pink eyes, said InterTribal Buffalo Council executive director Tory Heinert.
The Lakota have already held a naming ceremony for the white calf, which Looking Horse declined to reveal. A ceremony celebrating its birth is scheduled for June 26 at the Buffalo Field Campaign headquarters.
It is not the first white buffalo calf seen by humans – one like it was born in 1994 in Wisconsin and was named Miracle, Looking Horse said.
‘Many tribes have their own story of why the white buffalo is so important,’ said Heinert. ‘All stories go back to them being very sacred.’
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