White buffalo's birth an omen

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News of the birth of a rare white buffalo is spreading among American Indians, inspiring pilgrimages to what many tribes believe is a sacred, apocalyptic animal.

"This is like the second coming of Christ on this island of North America," said Floyd Hand, a Sioux medicine man from Pine Ridge, S.D. "The legend is she would return and unify the nations of the four colors - the black, red, yellow and white."

The white calf was named Miracle was born Aug. 20 at the Wisconsin farm where Dave Heider raises a herd of 14 buffalo and other animals. He plans to have it tested to see if it is a true albino.

The white buffalo is particularly sacred to the Cheyenne, Sioux and other nomadic tribes of the Northern Plains that once relied on the buffalo for subsistence, said Matthew Snipp, a University of Wisconsin sociology and Indian studies professor.

The white buffalo's spiritual significance stems from its rarity. In the 1800s, when up to 80 million of the huge animals roamed the Plains, the odds against having an albino calf were estimated at one in 10 million, according to the National Buffalo Association. Relentless hunting reduced the buffalo population to about 500 in the late 1800s; there are about 130,000 today.

"The impact of this enormity of it to the Red Nation is immense," said Harry Brown of Wisconsin's Oneida Tribe. "This was meant to be because the teachings of our people and Elders say there would be a time the Anglo nation and American Indian would come together in goodness."

Soon after the calf's birth, about 100 people from the Oneida, Cherokee, Sioux and a half-dozen other tribes had visited the calf, Heider said.

"One woman flew in from Arizona, paid her respects, and then she was gone," he said.

Arvol Looking Horse, who holds the pipe given to the Sioux by the legendary White Buffalo Calf Women and Floyd Hand, came to the Heider farm. He came to perform a sacred-pipe ceremony and spread a message of cultural revitalization and peace.

The birth of the first white buffalo in more than 50 years is an omen of renewed interest in American Indian heritage, Looking Horse said.

As the 19th keeper of the sacred calf pipe, Looking Horse said the buffalo's return signifies that "a healing would begin," and dreams and visions would return.

Hand, who led a convoy of Lakota Sioux from Pine Ridge, S.D., said the calf's coming also affects non-Indians.

"It's an omen that's bringing a new change to a new world," he said. "The 21st century that's coming around is going to unify all of us. We are here to encourage people to pray for peace. We're gonna heal together now."

"It's not something you feel in your head; it's something you feel in your heart," he said.

More than 1,500 people from around the country have visited the animal farm.

Sue Wittig, an Ojibway from Milwaukee, has set up a trust fund at a Janesville bank for donations to help Heider care for the calf.

That address is Bank One, 100 W. Milwaukee, Janesville, Wisconsin, 53545.

(Reprinted with permission from News From Indian Country)