The Great
White Buffalo
The appearance of the White Buffalo signals,
in many traditions,
the coming of the most sacred of all blessings.The symbolic
appearance of the buffalo, a major source of sustenance for the Plains
Indians, meant many things to the different tribes. In their ancient White
Buffalo Dance, the Fox Indians of Wisconsin shadow the vision of a
legendary hunter, who could turn himself into a white buffalo at will,
after
it appeared to him in a dream giving the hunter special power over his
enemies.
In the Lakota
tradition three hunters encountered a white buffalo calf. The white buffalo
turned into a
woman who instucted
the hunters to return to their village and prepare for her arrival. When
she
came four days
later, she carried a sacred pipe which was the Great Spirit's promise of
abundance
and plenty.
In 1994, a white
buffalo calf named Miracle was born on Dave and Valerie Heider's farm on
the
banks of the
Rock River in southern Wisconsin. Of the thousands of visitors to the farm
every
weekend, many
speak of a hope of a return to a way of life that honors the Great Spirit
in all of
nature. Buffalo
Medicine, or power, is a reminder to many that one achieves nothing without
the aid
of the Great
Spirit, and one must be humble enough to ask for that assistance and then
grateful for
what is received.
Sioux
Yet the sun must have the help of the earth.
If the sun alone were to act
upon animals and plants, the heat would be so great that they would die,
but there are clouds that bring rain, and the action of the sun and the
earth together supply the moisture that is needed for life. The roots of
a plant go down, and the deeper they go the more moisture
they find. This is according to the laws of nature
and is one of the
evidences of the wisdom of Wakan tanka. Plants
are sent by Wakan tanka and
come from the ground at his command, the
part to be affected by ,the sun
and rain appearing above the ground and the roots
pressing downward to find
the moisture which is supplied for them.
Animals and plants are taught by
Wakan tanka what they are to do. Wakan
tanka teaches the birds to make
nests, yet the nests of all birds are not
alike. Wakan tanka gives them merely
the outline. Some make better
nests than others. In the same way some
animals are satisfied with very rough
dwellings, while others make attractive
places in which to live. Some animals also
take better care of their young than
others. The forest is the home of many
birds and other animals, and the water
is the home of fish and reptiles. All birds,
even those of the same species, are
not alike, and it is the same with animals
and with human beings. The reason
Wakan tanka does not make two birds, or
animals, or human beings exactly
alike is because each is placed
here by Wakan tanka to be an independent
individuality and to rely on itself.
