I'm not Lakota, but my godparents are Dakota from Devils lake, ND and my bloodsister Alone in the Wind is too. I did my Masters thesis on teaching science using American Indian Legends and this legend fascinates me. I put up a few links for you.
White Buffalo Calf Woman Legend
I love the ending:
The sacred woman then took leave of the people, saying: "Toksha ake wacinyanktin ktelo, I shall see you again."
The people saw her walking off in the same direction from which she had come, outlined againest the red ball of the setting sun. As she went, she stopped and rolled over four times. The first time, she turned into a black buffalo; the second into a brown one; the third into a red one; and finally, the fouth time she rolled over, she turned into a white female buffalo calf. A white buffalo is the most sacred living thing you could ever encounter.
The White Buffalo Woman disappeared over the Horizon. Sometime she might come back. As soon as she had vanished, buffalo in great herds appeared, allowing themselves to be killed so tha the people might survive. And from that day on, our relations, the buffalo, furnished the people with everthing they needed, meat for their food, skins for their clothes and tipis, bones for their many tools.
In 1994, Miracle the white buffalo was born. If you go to
Miracle's color changes
Amazingly even though born white, Miracle turned black, red, and yellow before dying of an age of ten in 2004. In 2006, Miracle's secind chance was born. No realtion to Miracle but born on the same farm. Three months later he was killed along with four other buffalo when struck by lightning.
Wikipedia lists under "White Buffalo" that:
Mahpiya Ska ("White Cloud") (Cherokee:ᎤᏁᎬ ᎤᎶᎩᎸ) is an albino White Buffalo born July 10, 1996. She has resided since 1997 at the National Buffalo Museum and Cultural Center in Jamestown, North Dakota. Mahpiya Ska has been certified by the National Bison Association as an albino white bison; she is deaf and has impaired vision. She has had four brown calves. On August 31, 2007, she gave birth to a white calf. The calf has yet to be tested, but it is believed to be albino.
Even though the Lenni-Lenape (Delaware)traditions do not have spiritual importance or beliefs that the white buffalo is a sacred sign, I nevertheless have always been interested in albinism especially in animals and people of color. I went to high school with a boy who was black with albinism, I worked with a teacher who was white with albinism and I had a library school student who was chinese with albinism intern with me. The teacher I worked with who had albinism started off as a special day aid and went on to become a teacher. She did not let her vision issues hold her back and the kids really liked her. My school did not hire her on and I lost track of her. I have since then been reading more about albinism in popular culture and looking for famous people with albinism. Among American Indian tribes, both the Hopi of Arizona and the Kuna in Panama have very high rates of albinism in their population. The children's picture book rattlesnake dance mentions a Hopi with albinism as one of the dancers in a snake dance cermony.
Though sacred in many Native cultures, its sad that today's media portrays people who have albinism as freaks and villians especially in movies. I hope that one day that will change. Even one of my favorite authors Susan Grant portrayed some members of an alien race with albinism as evil in her novel Contact, but then made up for it by having one emerge at the end as a heroine.
3 comments:
Thanks BMW. Fascinating. I have read a few American Indian tales, but somehow coming from you makes it seem more real. Maybe you should make a blog on these stories alone including your feeling on albanism. Yes I know you don't have time, but you have a lot of knowledge, first hand and literary. Also you put it in such a mystical and respectful way.
I am not laughing at all. Maybe the at the earlier time you weren't ready to be a writer. You didn't know exactly what you had to offer. And maybe those around were not ready to accept what you had to offer. Maybe you had to come to the table a different person and to develop your knowledge base and skills. We all change as we get older. We are not the same person we were at 16 or 20. Thank goodness. You said you thought you were supposed to be a bridge between worlds, but didn't know what worlds. Maybe you are right. A real writer writes even if it is not published. With blogging you have a forum for self publishing. Even if few people read it. Its out there for the world to see and understand someday. Van Gogh was a failure to some until he died. But he left great works for all of use to see.
First time I see this white calf and surprized hardly to see this image. actually in asea buffalo are normally dark blackish color. Actually I was in search of the differecne between the real human albinism and vitiligo and by chance reached at this post which give me some pleasures.
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