White bison calf born June 4, 2024, in Yellowstone National Park (photo courtesy of Jordan Creech via National Park Service)
A Miracle in Yellowstone
You may have heard that a white bison calf was born last month in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park. It has been characterized as a genetic rarity. The National
Park Service statement about the calf explains, “The birth of a white bison calf in the wild is believed to occur in 1 in 1 million births or even less frequently.”
For American Indians of the region, the white calf marks an auspicious spiritual event. It is, in short, both a miracle and a warning about caring for the earth.
White
Buffalo Calf Woman
For generations, Native American people of the plains have told and retold the story of White Buffalo Calf Woman. In a 2021 essay, Lakota writer Mato Canali Winyan tells how her people received the "ca.nu.pa," or Sacred Pipe, from White Buffalo Calf Woman. She instructed the
people, “Following the way of this sacred ca.nu.pa, you will walk in a sacred way upon the Earth, for the Earth is your grandmother and your mother and she is sacred.” White Buffalo Calf Woman taught them to pray with the pipe: "Sing your songs and pray for life, peace, harmony and happiness.”
The birth of the white calf in Yellowstone represents a miraculous return of their spiritual messenger. National Public Radio reported that “the calf's appearance was both the fulfillment of sacred prophecy and a message to take better care of the Earth.”
This miracle brought the Lakota spiritual leader, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, to the park. He conducted a naming ceremony for the white
calf just outside of the park boundary. With hundreds of participants and onlookers, he revealed the calf’s name: “Wakan Gli,” or "Return Sacred."
A Sacred Return
Several people saw and photographed the calf shortly after its birth, but it has not been seen since. Bison calves often do not survive in the wild, and this one may have fallen victim to one of the natural
hazards newborns face, including predators, disease, or drowning while crossing rivers.
For Chief Looking Horse, however, the very fact of its birth is miraculous. If Wakan Gli has since left this world, its brief appearance corresponds to the original coming of White Buffalo Calf Woman. After delivering the sacred bundle with the pipe and leaving instructions for the people, she returned to where the sun
sets.
Maybe those searching for the calf should look toward the setting sun to see it trotting away toward the land of spirits.
On Medium
I have not been a fan of social media, but recently I've been posting stories on Medium. I appreciate its emphasis on good writing. Also, there’s no advertising. Most stories are for
members only, but you do not have to pay to read my stories if you use the links on this newsletter or on the Sacred Wonderland website.
Langston Hughes Slept Here: Springfield, Illinois, is a Lincoln-haunted town, and much of the old downtown has a Lincoln association of some sort or another. But more than Lincoln has
happened there.
Featured Photo
Yellowstone bison (Photo by T.S. Bremer, 2021)
I have had plenty of encounters with large animals in the wild. I'm always careful to give them more room than they need. Some might call me cowardly, but I think of it as respect. This one, though, took an interest in me that
made me uncomfortable. Not quite frightened, but definitely concerned. Apparently, I disturbed her afternoon nap, so she stood and started straight for me. I took cover in a small clump of trees, though I knew they would be no help if she were intent on causing me harm. Finally, she decided I was not a threat, and she sauntered away. I took a deep breath and headed off in the opposite direction.
News, Commentary, and other items of interest
Bison sculpture in New York: "By the year 1895, across North America, bison herds had been systematically eradicated from numbers in the tens of millions to a mere 1500—this was genocide. The public
artwork Attrition is an effort to transform industrial processes and materials into a symbol of these buried histories re-emerging in the 21st century.”Cannupa Hanska Luger: Attrition - Public Art Fund
Returning land to the commons: "Private ownership brutally upends land, water and wildlife, and strips away relationships, replacing them with domination and violence." The theft of the commons - High Country News (hcn.org)
Photography to fight injustice and
erasure: Frazier has said that she feels called “to stand in the gap between the working and creative classes,” to use photo-making as a means of resisting “historical erasure and historical amnesia." What is LaToya Ruby Frazier trying to show us? | Grist
by Lauret Savoy Geologist, cultural and environmental historian, Lauret Savoy weaves history, geology, and personal memoir in profound tales that peel back layers of a place called America. Savoy goes deep, more like excavations than tracings. She brings new light to underexposed depths. This elegantly written book unveils clues to occluded pasts as it traces the etchings of earth and history across the continent. You can read my full review on
Medium.
A Line of Bison Crossing
I'm not sure where I picked up the poetry collection May Out West by May Swenson. Probably in a used bookstore somewhere. Perhaps it was the cover photo of the Windows arch in Arches National Park that compelled me to buy it. In any case, it was a happy discovery. Swenson was well-known and respected in her time. She deserves a wider readership today. Her poem about bison in the Black Hills of South Dakota goes well with the theme of this month’s newsletter.
Bison Crossing Near Mt. Rushmore
There is our herd of cars stopped,
staring respectfully at the line of bison crossing.
One big-fronted bull nudges his cow into a run.
She and her calf are first to cross.
In swift dignity the dark-coated caravan sweeps through
the gap our cars leave in the two-way
stall
on the road to the Presidents.
The polygamous bulls guarding their families from the rear,
the honey-brown calves trotting head-to-hip
by their mothers—who are lean and muscled as bulls,
with chin tassels and
curved horns—
all leap the road like a river, and run.
The strong and somber remnant of western freedom
disappears into the rough grass of the draw,
around the point of the mountain.
The bison, orderly, disciplined by the prophet-faced,
heavy-headed fathers, threading the pass
of our awestruck stationwagons, Airstreams and trailers,
if in dread of us give no sign,
go where their leaders twine them, over the prairie.
And we keep to our line,
staring, stirring, revving idle motors, moving
each behind the other, herdlike, where the highway leads.
– May
Swenson
[Source: May Out West (published posthumously in 1996).]
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