HELENA, Mont. — Ceremonies and celebrations are planned for Wednesday near the west entrance of Yellowstone National Park to mark the recent birth of a white buffalo calf in the park, a spiritually significant event for many Native American tribes.
A white buffalo calf with a dark nose and eyes was born on June 4 in the park’s Lamar Valley, according to witnesses, fulfilling a prophecy For the Lakota people, this portends better times, but it also signals that more needs to be done to protect the Earth and its animals.
“The birth of this calf is both a blessing and a warning. We must do more,” said Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Oyate in South Dakota, and the 19th keeper of the sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman Pipe and Packet.
Looking Horse held a naming ceremony for the calf and will announce its name during Wednesday’s meeting in West Yellowstone at the headquarters of the Buffalo Field Campaign, an organization that works to protect the park’s wild bison herds.
The birth of the calf captured the imagination of park visitors who I hoped to catch a glimpse of this among the thousands of burly adult bison and their calves that summer in the Lamar Valley and nearby areas.
For the Lakota, the birth of a white buffalo calf with a dark nose, eyes and hooves is similar to the second coming of Jesus Christ, Looking Horse said.
“It’s a very sacred moment,” he said.
Lakota legend says that about 2,000 years ago – when all was well, food was running low, and bison were disappearing – the White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared, presented a pipe and a package to a tribesman, and said that the pipe could be used to bring buffalo to the area for food. As she left, she transformed into a white buffalo calf.
“And someday, when times are hard again,” said Looking Horse in recounting the legend, “I will return and stand on the earth like a white buffalo calf, black nose, black eyes, black hooves.”
The birth of the sacred calf comes after a harsh winter in 2023 that drove thousands of Yellowstone buffalo, also known as American bison, 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. They lived side by side for millennia.
Members of several Native American tribes are expected to explain the spiritual and cultural significance of the birth of the white buffalo under their traditions during Wednesday’s meeting.
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 on June 4.
Creech was leading a photography tour when he spotted a buffalo cow as she was about to give birth in the Lamar Valley, but then she disappeared over a hill. The group continued to a location where grizzly bears were spotted, Creech said.
They returned to the spot along the Lamar River where the buffalo were grazing and the cow came up the hill just as they stopped the vehicle, 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 born in the park previously, and park officials were unable to confirm this month’s birth.
There were no reports of the calf being seen again. 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.
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