WHITE BUFFALO CALF WOMAN

WHITE BUFFALO CALF WOMAN is a central figure in Lakota Indian history and contemporary life. Known in the Lakota language as Pte-san win-yan, she brought the Sacred Buffalo Calf Pipe and the Seven Sacred Rites to the Lakota people. The Lakota consider her extremely holy. Some regard her as the reappearance of Woȟpe (Falling Star or Beautiful Woman) who, like Pte-san win-yan, embodies the ideals of Lakota womanhood. White Buffalo Calf Woman is one of many female sacred powers in Native American myth and ritual, including Corn Woman (Cherokee), Changing Woman (Navajo), White Painted Woman (Apache), Our Grandmother (Shawnee), and Thought Woman (Keres).

Some tribal histories indicate that Pte-san win-yan arrived among the Lakota in the late 1700s during their difficult transition from the Great Lakes to the Great Plains. Buffalo were integral to Lakota life on the plains, providing everything the people needed for survival. According to written accounts of Lakota oral tradition, White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared to the Lakota long ago when the people were very hungry. Two men who were scouting for food one day noticed a beautiful woman approaching them from a distance. She wore a dress of fine white buckskin and carried a bundle on her back. As she drew closer, one of the hunters felt desire for her, but the other scout cautioned him, recognizing that she was sacred or wakan. As the desirous scout reached for her, he and the woman were enveloped in a swirling cloud which lifted to reveal a pile of bones beside the sacred woman. She then directed the remaining scout to return to the camp and instruct the people to prepare a large tipi for her arrival. The sacred woman appeared the following day, singing as she entered the camp and then the tipi:

With visible breath I am walking.
A voice I am sending as I walk.
In a sacred manner I am walking.
With visible tracks I am walking.
In a sacred manner I am walking.
(DeMallie, p. 284)

Sent from the buffalo, she gave the Lakota the White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle and taught them how to pray with the Sacred Pipe, Ptehincala hu cannunpa. Through the Sacred Pipe, humans became related to and at one with the entire cosmos. She instructed the people on how to live in good relation with one another, and she taught them the Seven Sacred Rites that accompany the Pipe. Finally, she pledged to return to the Lakota in the future. As she left the camp, she stopped, lay down, and rolled over, becoming a black buffalo. Stopping a second time, she changed into a red buffalo. The third time she was transformed into a yellow buckskin buffalo; and finally, the fourth time, before walking out of sight, she became a white buffalo. The Sacred Pipe is now in the possession of Arvol Looking Horse, Nineteenth-Generation Keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle.

As Lakota mythology suggests, White Buffalo Calf Woman plays an important role in Lakota ritual. The Seven Sacred Rites, which she either brought to the people or modified through the addition of the Sacred Pipe, include ceremonies for purifying the body and spirit (inika(tm)e ), commonly known as the sweat lodge; dancing looking at the sun, or the Sun Dance (wiwanyag wachipi ); crying for a vision, or the vision quest (hanbleceyapi ); making of relatives (hunkapi ); throwing of the ball (tapa wanka yap ); preparing a girl for womanhood (i(nati awichalowan ); and keeping of the spirit (wana(tm)i gluhapi ). The Sacred Pipe is integral to each of these rites and to the annual ceremonial cycle as a whole, which begins in early spring when the sun enters the Lakota constellation that implies the Pipe, thereby igniting the celestial Sacred Pipe and renewing life on earth. White Buffalo Calf Woman is particularly crucial to the Sun Dance and girls' puberty ceremonies, wherein a woman is the embodiment of Pte-san win-yan, bringing the Sacred Pipe to the Sun Dance arena in one rite and instructing the girl on Lakota women's codes of conduct in the other.

Many events seemingly threatened the interrelatedness of the Lakota and the buffalo: the outlawing of Lakota ceremonies in the nineteenth century, the imposition of Christianity, the prohibition against traditional buffalo hunting, the decimation of the buffalo herds by non-Indians, and acts of genocide against the Lakota people. However, White Buffalo Calf Woman and the buffalo in general remain the center of Lakota cultural survival. In fact, the birth of several rare white buffalos in the 1990s signaled to some Lakotas the return of Pte-san win-yan. Lakotas are working to protect and restore buffalo herds and their natural habitats and to revitalize and strengthen Lakota ceremonies. The White Buffalo Calf Woman Society has been established to support women victimized by domestic violence. In addition, Arvol Looking Horse has emerged as a highly visible religious leader among the Lakota. He and others have led many Big Foot Memorial Rides to help heal the wounds of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre and to foster leadership among Lakota youth.

See Also

Gender and Religion, article on Gender and Native American Religious Tradition; Lakota Religious Traditions; North American Indians, article on Indians of the Plains.

Bibliography

Brown, Joseph Epes, recorder and editor. The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk's Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux (1953). Baltimore, Md., 1971.

DeMallie, Raymond J., ed. The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk's Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt. Lincoln, Nebr., 1984.

DeMallie, Raymond J., and Douglas R. Parks, eds. Sioux Indian Religion: Tradition and Innovation. Norman, Okla., 1987.

Goodman, Ronald. Lakota Star Knowledge: Studies in Lakota Stellar Theology. 2d ed. Rosebud, S.Dak., 1992.

Lame Deer, John (Fire), and Richard Erdoes. Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions. New York, 1972.

St. Pierre, Mark, and Tilda Long Soldier. Walking in the Sacred Manner: Healers, Dreamers, and Pipe Carriers: Medicine Women of the Plains Indians. New York, 1995.

Walker, James R. Lakota Belief and Ritual. Edited by Raymond J. DeMallie and Elaine A. Jahner. Lincoln, Nebr., 1980.

Mary C. Churchill (2005)