The legend of the White Buffalo Woman is the most important of the Lakota Sioux (Teton) sacred legends. White Buffalo Woman brought the Sacred Calf Pipe to the Lakota people and taught them how to use it so that they could pray to the Great Spirit, Wakan Tanka. The Sacred Calf Pipe is central to the Lakota’s religious ceremonies and is often called a peace pipe.
According to the story, one day many years ago during a time of famine and hardship, the seven divisions of the Great Sioux Nation, known as the Oceti Sakowin, or Seven Council Fires, came together in the sacred Black Hills of South Dakota and camped. Although it was summer, food was scarce and the people were hungry, so the elders sent out two young hunters to search for buffalo herds.
The hunters climbed a hill for a better vantage point. When they crested the hill, they saw a white buffalo walking toward them. But as it got closer, it changed into a beautiful woman dressed in white buckskin clothing. The holy woman carried a large bundle strapped to her back. Some versions of the legend say that she floated, and that is how the hunters knew she was a holy woman.
One of the hunters found the woman desirable, so he reached out and put his arms around her. But because the mysterious woman was holy his actions were irreverent. The wind rose and clouds concealed the hunter and the woman. Thunder rumbled and a bolt of lightning struck the man dead. The clouds cleared, leaving only a pile of charred bones where he had been standing.
The second hunter became afraid for his life, but the woman calmed his fears and told him that he would not be harmed. She commanded him to return to camp and tell the Oceti Sakowin to assemble all the people at a council tipi in four days to await her arrival. The second hunter rushed back to camp and told the elders what had happened. The Lakota did as the holy woman required and made the council tipi ready for her visit. On the appointed morning, the people dressed in their finest clothing and awaited the arrival of the mysterious stranger.
At dawn, the holy woman arrived at camp as promised. She entered the council tipi and circled it before stopping in front of the chief. Then she unwrapped her bundle, revealing a large pipe made from red stone and wood, and decorated with buffalo fur, feathers, and ribbons.
This pipe was the sacred Buffalo Calf Pipe. Its bowl, representing the earth, was made from a red stone called catlinite, which came from a quarry in Minnesota. On one side the bowl was carved with depictions of buffalo, and on the other side were seven circles that represented seven sacred ceremonies. The wooden stem of the pipe represented trees and plants, and the black, white, red, and yellow ribbons represented the four winds.
The White Buffalo Woman presented the pipe to the chief and instructed him in how to use the pipe to pray to the Great Spirit. She spent four days among the people teaching them the meaning of the pipe and instructing them in the ways of the earth. She also taught the Lakota the first of the Seven Sacred Rites, the Keeping of the Soul, and told them that six other rituals would be revealed in time.
White Buffalo Woman also taught the Lakota their songs and traditions, and admonished the people to care for the pipe and honor their ceremonies. At the end of the fourth day among the people, White Buffalo Woman left the tipi and walked away from camp in the direction she had arrived. She promised to return in a time of need, saying that her return would be heralded by the birth of a white buffalo calf.
Out on the plain, the woman lay down on the ground and rolled, turning into a black buffalo. She got up and walked a little farther, then lay down and rolled again. This time she turned into a brown buffalo. She did this two more times, turning into a red buffalo and finally a white buffalo. The colors of the buffalo represented the four races of humanity. As soon as White Buffalo Woman was out of sight, a vast herd of buffalo appeared just outside of camp.
For Native Americans the buffalo represents abundance, but they consider the birth of a white buffalo of even greater significance—it is a sacred omen. White Buffalo Woman prophesied that the birth of a white buffalo would signify the time of her return, a time when she would restore balance to the world.
Karen S. Garvin
See also Badger and the Bear; Black Elk; Cetan; Culture Heroes of the Native Americans; Great Spirit; Iktomi; Women in Folklore
Further Reading
Brown, Joseph Epes. 1989. The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk’s Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.
Gibbon, Guy. 2003. The Sioux: The Dakota and Lakota Nations. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Goble, Paul. 1998. The Legend of the White Buffalo Woman. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society.
Walker, James R. 2006. Lakota Myth. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.