If you feel like the world's going downhill and we're one step away from the apocalypse, maybe this will give you a bit of hope. It turns out that rare white bison calf we previously covered fulfilled an ancient Native American prophecy. Far from one of those bad prophecies of doom and gloom, this was actually a prophecy of prosperity. Yay!
According to the New York Post, tribal leaders confirmed the bison prophecy. Montana-based photographer Erin Braaten first captured a photo of the bison aft it was born on June 4. He took a picture of the animal at Yellowstone taking its first steps, separate from the rest of its kin.
"I look and it's this white bison calf. And I was just totally, totally floored," Braaten said. Meanwhile, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Oyate tribes in South Dakota, attributed the sign as something major. The chief said it signaled the return of a spirit of prosperity.
Bison Fulfills Prophecy
According to the chief, the tribe has a 2,000-year-old prophecy around the "White Buffalo Calf Woman." She appeared to the Lakota once before when bison began to disappear and food was running low. This spirit gave the tribe a bowl pipe and promised them that it would lead the animals to them. She then transformed into a white buffalo. She said next time that times were hard she "shall return and stand upon the earth as a white buffalo calf, black nose, black eyes, black hooves."
Horse serves as the keeper of the pipe and bundle. The duty has been passed down through the generations with members of the tribe sworn to protect it. Troy Heinert, the executive director of the InterTribal Buffalo Council, said the animal differs from an albino buffalo. It sports black eyes instead of pink eyes.
"From the pictures I've seen, that calf seems to have those traits," Heinert said. Other Native American tribes also hold the white buffalo as sacred. As such tribes in the region plan to hold a celebration of the calf's birth on June 26. However, before you start looking for signs from above, it's not the first white calf to be born. In 1994, a farmer had a white calf in Wisconsin that he named Miracle.
