If there is one image linked primarily with Native Americans, it is the buffalo. The Indians used every piece of the buffalo they hunted and were devestated by the useless killing displayed by white men.
This painting, "Grandfather's Vision" by David Craig, depicts an elderly man thinking of times when buffalo and men lived together in harmony.
Buffalo hides were sometimes used as pictorial records of a person or a tribe's life. Every winter the tribal elders gathered to discuss the important events of the year which would then be recorded on the hide.
"Story Robe"
"Dreams of Buffalo"
One summer a long time ago, the seven sacred council fires of the Lakota Sioux came together and camped. The sun was strong and the people were starving for there was no game.
Two young men went out to hunt. Along the way, the two men met a beautiful young woman dressed in white who floated as she walked. One man had bad desires for the woman and tried to touch her, but was consumed by a cloud and turned into a pile of bones. The woman spoke to the second young man and said, "Return to your people and tell them I am coming."
This holy woman brought a wrapped bundle to the people. She unwrapped the bundle, giving to the people a sacred pipe and teaching them how to use it to pray. "With this holy pipe, you will walk like a living prayer," she said.
The holy woman told the Sioux about the value of the buffalo, the women and the children. "You are from Mother Earth," she told the women. "What you are doing is as great as the warriors do."
Before she left, she told the people she would return. As she walked away, she rolled over four times, turning into a white female buffalo calf. It is said after that day the Lakota honored their pipe, and buffalo were plentiful. From John Lame Deer's telling in 1967
Many believed that the buffalo calf, Miracle, born August 20, 1994, near Janesville, Wisconsin, and which drew world-wide attention, symbolized the coming together of humanity into a oneness of heart, mind, and spirit.
