The Origin of the Prairie Rose

Long, long ago, when the world was young and people had not come out yet,
no flowers bloomed on the prairie. Only grasses and dull, greenish gray shrubs
grew there. Earth felt very sad because her robe lacked brightness and beauty.

"I have many beautiful flowers in my heart," Earth said to herself. "I wish
they were on my robe. Blue flowers like the clear sky in fair weather, white
flowers like the snow of winter, brilliant yellow ones like the sun at
midday, pink ones like the dawn of a spring day--all these are in my heart.
I am sad when I look on my dull robe, all gray and brown."

A sweet little pink flower heard Earth's sad talking. "Do not be sad, Mother
Earth. I will go upon your robe and beautify it."

So the little pink flower came up from the heart of the Earth Mother to
beautify the prairies. But when the Wind Demon saw her, he growled, "I will
not have that pretty flower on my playground."

He rushed at her, shouting and roaring, and blew out her life. But her
spirit returned to the heart of Mother Earth.

When other flowers gained courage to go forth, one after another, Wind Demon
killed them also. And their spirits returned to the heart of Mother Earth.

At last Prairie Rose offered to go. "Yes, sweet child," said Earth Mother,
"I will let you go. You are so lovely and your breath so fragrant that
surely the Wind Demon will be charmed by you. Surely he will let you
stay on the prairie."

So Prairie Rose made the long journey up through the dark ground and came
out on the drab prairie. As she went, Mother Earth said in her heart, "Oh, I
do hope that Wind Demon will let her live."

When Wind Demon saw her, he rushed toward her, shouting: "She is pretty,
but I will not allow her on my playground. I will blow out her life."

So he rushed on, roaring and drawing his breath in strong gusts. As he came
closer, he caught the fragrance of Prairie Rose.

"Oh--how sweet!" he said to himself. "I do not have it in my heart to blow
out the life of such a beautiful maiden with so sweet a breath. She must stay
here with me. I must make my voice gentle, and I must sing sweet songs. I
must not frighten her away with my awful noise."

So Wind Demon changed. He became quiet. He sent gentle breezes over the
prairie grasses. He whispered and hummed little songs of gladness. He was no
longer a demon.

Then other flowers came up from the heart of the Earth Mother, up through
the dark ground. They made her robe, the prairie, bright and joyous. Even
Wind came to love the blossoms growing among the grasses of the prairie. And
so the robe of Mother Earth became beautiful because of the loveliness, the
sweetness, and the courage of the Prairie Rose.

Sometimes Wind forgets his gentle songs and becomes loud and noise. But his
loudness does not last long. And he does not harm a person whose robe is the
color of Prairie Rose.

From the Archives of Glenn Welker

White Buffalo Calf Woman

Brings The First Pipe

As told by: Joseph Chasing Horse

We Lakota people have a prophecy about the white buffalo calf. How
that prophecy originated was that we have a sacred bundle, a sacred peace
pipe, that was brought to us about 2,000 years ago by what we know as the
White Buffalo Calf Woman.

The story goes that she appeared to two warriors at that time. These
two warriors were out hunting buffalo, hunting for food in the sacred Black
Hills of South Dakota, and they saw a big body coming toward them. And they
saw that it was a white buffalo calf. As it came closer to them, it turned
into a beautiful young Indian girl.

That time one of the warriors thought bad in his mind, and so the
young girl told him to step forward. And when he did step forward, a black
cloud came over his body, and when the black cloud disappeared, the warrior
who had bad thoughts was left with no flesh or blood on his bones. The other
warrior kneeled and began to pray.

And when he prayed, the white buffalo calf who was now an Indian girl
told him to go back to his people and warn them that in four days she was
going to bring a sacred bundle.

So the warrior did as he was told. He went back to his people and he
gathered all the elders and all the leaders and all the people in a circle
and told them what she had instructed him to do. And sure enough, just as
she said she would, on the fourth day she came.

They say a cloud came down from the sky, and off of the cloud stepped
the white buffalo calf. As it rolled onto the earth, the calf stood up and
became this beautiful young woman who was carrying the sacred bundle in her
hand.

As she entered into the circle of the nation, she sang a sacred song
and took the sacred bundle to the people who were there to take of her. She
spent four days among our people and taught them about the sacred bundle,
the meaning of it.

She taught them seven sacred ceremonies.

One of them was the sweat lodge, or the purification ceremony. One of
them was the naming ceremony, child naming. The third was the healing
ceremony. The fourth one was the making of relatives or the adoption
ceremony. The fifth one was the marriage ceremony. The sixth was the vision
quest. And the seventh was the sundance ceremony, the people's ceremony for
all of the nation.

She brought us these seven sacred ceremonies and taught our people the
songs and the traditional ways. And she instructed our people that as long
as we performed these ceremonies we would always remain caretakers and
guardians of sacred land. She told us that as long as we took care of it and
respected it that our people would never die and would always live.

When she was done teaching all our people, she left the way she came.
She went out of the circle, and as she was leaving she turned and told our
people that she would return one day for the sacred bundle. And she left the
sacred bundle, which we still have to this very day.

The sacred bundle is known as the White Buffalo Calf Pipe because it
was brought by the White Buffalo Calf Woman. It is kept in a sacred place
(Green Grass) on the Cheyenne River Indian reservation in South Dakota. it's
kept by a man who is known as the keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe,
Arvol Looking Horse.

When White Buffalo Calf Woman promised to return again, she made some
prophecies at that time

One of those prophesies was that the birth of a white buffalo calf
would be a sign that it would be near the time when she would return again
to purify the world. What she meant by that was that she would bring back
harmony again and balance, spiritually.

No matter what happens to Miracle in the coming months and years,
Joseph Chasing Horse says the birth is a sign from the Great Spirit and the
ensuing age of harmony and balance it represents cannot be revoked. That
doesn't mean, of course, that the severe trials Native Americans have
endured since the arrival of Europeans on these shores are over. Indeed, the
Lakota nation mounted the longest court case in U.S. history in an
unsuccessful effort to regain control of the Black Hills, the sacred land on
which the White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared 2,000 years ago.

Still, despite their ongoing struggles, Native Americans are heartened
by the appearance of a white buffalo in Janesville, and have hope for a
harmonious and prosperous future.

"Mention that we are praying, many of the medicine people, the
spiritual leaders, the elders, are praying for the world," says Joseph
Chasing Horse. "We are praying that mankind does wake up and think about the
future, for we haven't just inherited this earth from our ancestors, but we
are borrowing it from our unborn children."

From the Archives of Blue Panther

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