White Buffalo Calf Woman

The story of White Buffalo Calf Woman

"This holy woman brought the sacred buffalo calf pipe to the Sioux. There could be no Indians without it. Before she came, people didn't know how to live. They knew nothing".(Chasing Horse)


Long ago the seven sacred council fires of the Lakota Nation came together and camped. There was no game and the people were starving and every day they sent out scouts and every day they came back with nothing.
One day a chief sent out two hunters to find some game. They climbed up a high hill to try to see far, off in the distance they saw something coming near them. As the figure came closer it seemed to be floating toward them and covered in beautiful white robes.
Soon they saw the figure was a beautiful young woman in white buckskin carrying a bundle.
Both men watched in awe as she approached them, one young man was filled with desire and had impure thoughts about her; he suddenly was covered in a cloud and turned to dust. The other man knew she was very sacred and respected her and she said to him; "good things I am bringing to your people, go back and tell them to prepare for me and I will return in four days"
The man returned to the people telling of the sacred woman and how they needed to prepare for her return and so they did.
Four days later she came to the camp with a bundle, which carried a sacred pipe. She instructed them on the teachings of the pipe and how to use it for it would take care of the people. With the chanupa wakan (sacred pipe) also come seven sacred ceremonies to  keep the sacred hoop united and the buffalo nation would feed the people.
She instructed the people on many teachings of how to pray and how to live in a good way.
As she got up to leave she told the people that she would return again and as she got further in the distance she rolled on the ground and came up a black buffalo, she then rolled again and came up a brown buffalo, next a red buffalo and finally the fourth time she turned into a white buffalo calf.
As soon as she disappeared into the distance herds of buffalo appeared to offer themselves to the people so they would live, and from that day forward the great buffalo gave the people everything they needed to survive.