Native American ceremony will celebrate birth of white buffalo calf in Yellowstone park
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Amy Beth Hanson, Associated Press
HELENA, Montana (AP) — Ceremonies and celebrations are planned 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 the park’s Lamar Valley, according to witnesses, fulfilling a prophecy for the Lakota people that portends better times but also signals that more must be done to protect the earth and its animals.
“The birth of this calf is both a blessing and warning. We must do more,” said Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and the Nakota Oyate in South Dakota, and the 19th keeper of the sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman Pipe and Bundle.
Looking Horse has performed a naming ceremony for the calf and will announce its name during Wednesday’s gathering in West Yellowstone at the headquarters of Buffalo Field Campaign, an organization that works to protect the park’s wild bison herds.
The calf’s birth captured the imaginations of park visitors who hoped to catch a glimpse of it among the thousands of burly adult bison and their calves that spend the summer in the Lamar Valley and nearby areas.