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Earlier this month on June 4, a photographer named Erin Braaten was traveling through Yellowstone National Park with her family when she captured photos of a white bison calf, typically commonly known to be born in ranch herds. Initially, Braaten mistook the animal for a coyote, but it turned out to be a rarity connected to a Native American prophecy.
“There were bison crossing the river and the road, so we were stuck in traffic for a few minutes so I decided to look at the ‘coyote’ through my camera and discovered that it wasn’t a coyote but a white bison calf,” Braaten shared with Fox News.
Braaten was thrilled to be able to capture the occasion to share with her family, depicting a moment so rare, yet so special.
The Associated Press reports that according to a Lakota prophecy, the white bison symbolizes good times ahead. Not only does it symbolize what’s to come, but it also symbolizes the prayers of the tribes that are being heard. Legend has it that the White Buffalo Calf woman appeared during a famine, gifting the Lakota tribe and teaching them seven sacred ways to pray. When she disappeared, she transformed into a white buffalo and the famine was no more.
“And some day when the times are hard again, I shall return and stand upon the earth as a white buffalo calf, black nose, black eyes, black hooves,” Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and the Nakota Oyate, told the Associated Press.
There have been no other sitings since the rare siting of the white buffalo at the National Park. Some assume an untimely demise of the calf during its travels.
“The thing is, we all know that it was born and it’s like a miracle to us,” Looking Horse said.
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Rare White Bison Calf Spotted In Yellowstone Fulfills Lakota Prophecy was originally published on elev8.com
