Wnear Yellowstone, Mont. (AP) — Dancing, drumming, singing and recounting how a mysterious woman brought a message of safety during troubled times played out at Native American religious ceremonies Wednesday that commemorated a recent rare event in Yellowstone National Park.
Earlier this month, a white buffalo calf he was born in the park’s vast, lush Lamar Valley, where huge, lumbering bison graze by the hundreds in scenes reminiscent of the old American West.
For the various tribes who revere the American bison — they call them “buffaloes” — the appearance of the calf was both the fulfillment of a sacred prophecy and a message to take better care of the Earth.
“It’s up to each of you to make this happen for our children’s future. We must come together and bring back that good energy,” Chief Arvol Looking Horse said at ceremonies just a few miles west of Yellowstone in far southern Montana.
Looking Horse is the spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Oyate in South Dakota and the 19th guardian of the sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman Pipe and Bundle. He describes the appearance of the white buffalo calf as a blessing and a warning about the natural environment.
The calf will be known as Wakan Gli, or “Sacred Return” in Lakota, he announced.
About 500 people — including representatives from the Colville tribes in Washington, Lakota and Sioux in the Dakotas, Northern Arapaho in Wyoming and Shoshone-Bannock in Idaho — attended ceremonies at the Buffalo Field Campaign headquarters between Hebgen Lake and the southern reaches of the mountain range. Madison. The conservation group works with tribes to protect and honor wild buffalo.
At most, only a handful of people saw the calf shortly after its birth on June 4. Fewer still managed to get photos to prove their existence. The calf has not been seen since.
Each week that passes without being seen increases suspicions that the calf has fallen victim to predators, river currents, disease or a series of dangers for young buffaloes. Regardless, it was an auspicious sign with deep roots in Lakota legend and spiritual belief.
About 2,000 years ago – when nothing was good, food was running out, and bison were disappearing – White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared and presented a pipe and package to a tribesman and said that the pipe could be used to bring buffaloes to the area for food.
As she left, she transformed into a white buffalo calf. She promised to return one day, when times get tough again, like a white buffalo calf with a black nose, black eyes, and black hooves.
“This is a very important moment in our history when this white buffalo calf with a black nose, black eyes and black hooves is born,” Looking Horse said.
White calves are uncommon but not unheard of on buffalo farms, the result of crossbreeding between buffalo and cattle. White bison in the wild are another level of rarity, and none are known to exist in Yellowstone – the continent’s largest wildlife preserve – in recent memory, if ever.
This calf came later a harsh winter in 2023 drove thousands of buffalo from Yellowstone to lower elevations. More than 1,500 were killed, sent to slaughter or transferred to tribes seeking to regain control of an animal from their ancestors. lived next door for millennia.
Jordan Creech, who guides in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, was one of the few people who captured images of the white buffalo calf.
Creech was leading a photography tour when he spotted a buffalo cow about to give birth near the Lamar River. The buffalo disappeared over a hill and the group continued to a spot where grizzly bears were spotted, Creech said.
They returned later and saw the cow with her calf, Creech said. It was clear the calf had just been born, he said, calling the moment incredible.
“And I noticed to my guests that it was strangely white, but I didn’t announce that it was a white bison, because, you know, why would I assume that I had just witnessed the first birth of a white bison in recorded history at Pedra Amarela? he said.
Yellowstone park officials have no record of a white bison being born in the park previously. Park authorities were unable to confirm this month’s birth.
Erin Braaten, who also captured images of the white calf, searched for it days after its birth but was unable to find it.
“The thing is, we all know he was born and it’s like a miracle for us,” Looking Horse said.
___
Gruver reported from Cheyenne, Wyoming.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
