Native Americans celebrate the birth of a “prophetic” white buffalo

Native Americans celebrated the birth of a “prophetic” white buffalo, but also warned about the message it carries.

The rare white buffalo has religious and spiritual significance in Lakota prophecy, where it is foretold as something akin to the second coming of Jesus Christ.

The little white buffalo was spotted by a family in the Lamar Valley as they passed through Yellowstone National Park.

Erin Braaten was driving by with three of her children when, stuck in traffic caused by the slow-moving herd, she noticed a young calf on the other side of a river.

After realizing it wasn’t a coyote as initially thought, she was stunned by the sight.

“There were so many different thoughts and emotions,” Ms Braaten told the BBC.

“It was so amazing. I thought I would have a better chance of capturing Bigfoot than a young white bison.

Sacred event

The birth of a white buffalo is a sacred event for the Lakota people and other Native Americans. Lakota legend has it that about 2,000 years ago – when nothing was going well, food was running out and bison were disappearing – a white buffalo woman appeared.

She presented a pipe and a bundle to a tribesman, taught them to pray, and said the pipe could be used to bring buffalo to the area for food. As she left, she transformed into a little white buffalo.

The calf’s recent birth follows a harsh winter in 2023 that pushed thousands of Yellowstone buffalo, also known as bison, to lower elevations. More than 1,500 people were killed, sent to slaughter or transferred to tribes seeking to regain management.

But according to Native American tribe members, it’s also a signal that more needs to be done to protect the land and its animals.

“The birth of this calf is both a blessing and a warning. We need to do more,” said Chief Arvol Looking Horse, spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Oyate in South Dakota.

For the Lakota, the birth of a white buffalo with black nose, eyes and hooves is akin to the second coming of Jesus Christ, Looking Horse said.

“And one day, 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-nosed, black-eyed, black-hoofed .”

A similar baby white buffalo was born in Wisconsin in 1994 and was named Miracle, he said.