White buffalo named as thousands marvel

GREENVILLE, Texas – Thousands of people came from miles around Wednesday to see and honor a legend in the flesh – the white buffalo born in a thunderstorm on a northeast Texas ranch.

The rare white buffalo calf, regarded as sacred by the Lakota Sioux, was honored with Native American prayers, religious songs and the solemn smoking of a pipe in a special naming and dedication ceremony at the Lakota Ranch in Greenville, about 50 miles northeast of Dallas.

The calf was named Lightning Medicine Cloud – a reference to the thunderstorm that marked the arrival of his birth as well as a tribute to a white buffalo born in 1933 named Big Medicine.

According to Lakota Sioux tradition, Whope, the goddess of peace, once appeared in the form of a white buffalo calf. Some say the goddess will return once four such calves are born.

“He’s the hope of all nations,” said Arby Little Soldier, upon whose land the calf was born on May 12. “The red man, black man, white man and yellow man – we’ve all got to come together as one.”

Unity and peace were major themes, as was respect for the environment.

The white buffalo – which is not an albino – is an omen that signifies the arrival of hard times unless people learn to change their ways and live in a manner that benefits everyone, including Mother Earth, according to literature distributed at the entrance gate.

“It’s the beginning of a new age, new times,” said Samuel Joseph Lone Wolf, a Native American elder who played an important role in Wednesday’s ceremony. “The birth of the white buffalo calf, it tells us we need to get right, not just with Mother Nature but with all nations and with the Creator, which is God.”