Johnsinclair.us - The official John Sinclair website. http://localhost/backup/poetry/64.html Tue, 16 Feb 2021 10:41:33 +0000 Joomla! 1.5 - Open Source Content Management en-gb http://localhost/backup/poetry/64-white-buffalo-prayer/848-white-buffalo-day.html http://localhost/backup/poetry/64-white-buffalo-prayer/848-white-buffalo-day.html IV

White Buffalo Day

A Gathering of the Tribes
for Unity, Peace & Healing


On August 27th, 1995
in the City of New Orleans
on the site of the old battleground
by Claiborne & Poydras
& on the sacred ground
of Congo Square

WHITE BUFFALO CALF WOMAN

was honored
by the prayer of Leonard Peltier
and the pipe
of the elders
of the Thunder Clan

On that day & in those times
the mouth of the Mississippi
opened up & called out
to the 5,000 Nations of Tribes:

to the Eagles of the North,
to the Condors of the South,
to the Phoenix of the East,
& the Falcons of the West,
She called & sang out 

UNITY for the Family,
PEACE for the Tribes,
& HEALING
for the wounds
of the Nations

Since 1995
the City of New Orleans
has recognized

WHITE BUFFALO DAY

as a day on which all races
& religions
come together
to pray for harmony.

On that day
the people paraded
from the Superdome at sunset
down Poydras & down Rampart
to Congo Square
in Louis Armstrong Park
where the birth of the

WHITE BUFFALO CALF

& the coming together
of the Mardi Gras Indian Nation
with the Nations of First Peoples
was honored
by the prayer of Dave Chief

& celebrated
in song & dance
by those who hold close
to the teachings
of the

WHITE BUFFALO CALF WOMAN

Join us in New Orleans
every August 27th
for White Buffalo Day

Join us
NOW
and get ready
for
ALL OUT PEACE


To All Our Relations



]]> johnsinclair001@hotmail.com (John) White Buffalo Prayer Thu, 09 Feb 2006 11:15:39 +0000 http://localhost/backup/poetry/64-white-buffalo-prayer/847-white-buffalo-prophecy.html http://localhost/backup/poetry/64-white-buffalo-prayer/847-white-buffalo-prophecy.html II

The White Buffalo Prophecy


In the words of Chief Arvol Looking Horse:

"So
we carry
these messages
up to this day

& the belief 
[Lakota words]
that some day
there's going to be some signs.

And so the elderly people
have been praying
for the return
of the white

buffalo calf.
And but so 
these signs
that we see,

they said there's gonna be like
four
white buffalo calves
to be born

during this time,
& today
there's three of them
that were born.

[& now,
in the spring of 1998,
the fourth white buffalo calf
was born in Michigan]


2

Back in 1890 
a way of life 
they say
the sacred hoop was broken

at Wounded Knee
&
for a hundred years
we could not practice this way.

And once again,
in 1990,
the seventh generation,
that's when

our way of life,
the sacred hoop
would be mending 
the mending

of the sacred hoop 
we have to
complete ourself
spiritually.

The last one hundred years
we re not sharing,
there's so many things that
we do not tell,

so we have this 
because we are not sharing
everything
is so closed in

& in the seventh generation
once again
people would start
to feel this.

So we live in that time when
the seventh generation 
since 1890 
the mending of the sacred hoop 

is once again
start sharing
& start understanding
this way of life, because

when we do this
in our way, we say that
when somebody is not sharing
& when they carry that pain

then it turns to violence,
anger,
hatred,
& jealousy,

& all the things that 
because
we are not teaching it,
we are not sharing them.

But
when we start
doing
the ceremonies,

we let go of that pain,
& we feel good
inside,
spiritually.

So these spiritual
connections
that we have
today,

we have to really
think about
not only ourselves, but
all things 

the two-legged,
the four-legged,
the winged ones,
the ones that crawl.

We say
Mitakuye Oyasin 
To All
My Relations

So I m really thankful
that there's a lot of good things
that's happening,
& I m very thankful to be here


3

This is an historical moment
for First Nations. For our people,
the birth
of the female white buffalo calf

signifies
that many changes
are coming
to the world.

In 1890,
when the 7th Cavalry
massacred my relatives
at Wounded Knee,

the sacred hoop
of our Nation
was broken. The prophecies
also tell us

that seven generations would pass
before we would be strong enough
to begin mending
the sacred hoop.

We are in the 7th generation
today. In this generation,
healing will begin
not only for ourselves,

our families,
our nations,
but also
for the whole world. We pray

to never see
another Wounded Knee happen
to any peoples
anywhere.


4

The birth
of the white buffalo calf
tells us the time
to begin this mending
of the sacred hoop
is now. Elders
have declared June 21st
to be World Peace

& Prayer Day. On this day,
people around the world
will gather
at their sacred sites

whether it be a church,
a temple,
a mosque,
or a mountain, they will pray

for world peace. If we do not do this,
much hardship is ahead
for all peoples
of all races. We have a short time

to return
to our spiritual roots
& begin respecting our Mother
who we depend on

for the sustenance
of life. Our Mother Earth
is needing to cleanse herself
& it is our duty

to also pray for her
so that we may see life
for our grandchildren
in the 7th generation."


]]> johnsinclair001@hotmail.com (John) White Buffalo Prayer Thu, 09 Feb 2006 11:14:36 +0000 http://localhost/backup/poetry/64-white-buffalo-prayer/846-white-buffalo-legend.html http://localhost/backup/poetry/64-white-buffalo-prayer/846-white-buffalo-legend.html
The White Buffalo Legend


In the words of Chief Arvol Looking Horse:

Hua Kola!

As the 19th Generation
Keeper
of the Sacred
White Buffalo Calf Pipe,

I bring you greetings
from the Lakota,
Dakota
& Nakota Nations....

Our prophesies
have informed us
that changes would come
with the birth

of the white buffalo calf. I believe
our voices & message
will be heard
through the medium of music.


I

The White Buffalo Legend


We have the stories
& the songs
that goes with
the White Buffalo.

A long time ago,
after the creation stories,
the people
were in the Black Hills,

heart
of everything
that is. And the people
used to go around

the Black Hills,
they used to travel
great distances,
but they always came back

to the Black Hills
because that's where
we the people
have come from.

And when they,
the people,
were in the northeast
of the sacred Black Hills,

when 
a long time ago, they say that
the camp,
that somebody was sick in the family,

that one person
would hold the whole camp back
& so
they wouldn t move camp.

Then one day
all the buffalo disappeared,
& the game,
so the people at camp

sent scouts out to travel,
& then,
after so many days,
they sent two scouts

out again
& it was,
I bet you,
it was a good day like this.


2

As they were
going back to the camp,
from the west
they saw a cloud of dust.

So
these two scouts said,
as they were talking
back & forth,

the cloud of dust
all of a sudden came over
the ridge
was a woman,

dressed in buckskin,
fringes,
black hair,
& she was carrying a bundle.

So
as she came down
that little dip there
then come up that hill

they both stood up,
said 
one said,
She is a beautiful woman,

I must take her for a wife. 
But the other said,
[Lakota words]
Surely

The Creator must have sent this woman,
because
the braves are sick,
the people are hungry. 

As they were talking back & forth
she came to them
& said 
she pointed to the one with the bad thoughts.

She motioned to him,
& he approached her,
& then a cloud
enveloped him.

Then the cloud lifted,
[Lakota words]
[Lakota words]
a skeleton.

Then
she turned to that one,
the other scout,
& said

Go back
to the people
& tell them
what you have seen. 

So
he
went back 
he thanked her & went back

& told the people.
Then she said, Tell them
tomorrow
I'll be returning

with this bundle.
Prepare an altar with sage,
cherry trees to the four directions,
& a tepee. 

So
the people
went
& prepared this.


3

The next day,
sure enough she was coming.
She was singing
these songs.

(And to this day
we have kept these songs.)
And when she came in
to the altar

she laid the bundle down.
She said, This red stone
is the blood of your people,
your ancestors.

And the stem
is the tree of life,
the root nation.
[Lakota words]

We put it together,
you pray,
you humble yourself,
you pray

to the west,
to the north,
east,
south,

your Creator,
& Mother Earth.
In time you will know
the seventh direction. 

Then when she left,
before she left them she said,
Only the good
shall see the pipe.

The bad
should not even
see it
or touch it. 

So when she went,
she went towards the west
& on the hill
when she turned over

the first time
she stood up
was a black buffalo 
young one.

Then the second time
was a red one.
The third time was a yellow,
buckskin.

The fourth time
was a white one.
So the people said,
she was a [Lakota words] 

the white
buffalo
calf
woman.


4

So we kept
the stories,
we kept the songs,
& people had dreams

because
the way that we live,
the cycle of life,
that each one of us

would have to live
these moments,
the good
& the bad.

That's what we pray 
we pray with these sacred bones
& we try
to clear our minds.

We tell people
we have to have that respect
for these sacred places.
Your walk

has to become sacred.
The people pray at these places
for a long time,
& it becomes sacred.

We live upon Mother Earth,
for a very short time,
then we go
into the spirit world

to meet our relatives 
a way of life 
so the ceremonies,
when we pray then we look good,

then we see
we have to give away
something,
then we see that

that's the way that life is,
that's the way 
what they call holistic 
everything 

that's the way we
pray,
that's the way
we feel,

that everything is connected.
[Lakota words],
everything
that moves

has a spirit.
So
we have these teachings
at the sacred

sweat lodge
we call it,
you can only see
half,

the other
goes beneath the earth,
& that makes
a complete circle 

that is Mother Earth
& our life 
when the White
Buffalo Calf Woman,

when she came to the people,
what they said was,
that's the way
we saw things,

that one is good
& one is bad,
& one
had good thoughts

& one had bad thoughts,
that's the way
we are
as common people


.]]> johnsinclair001@hotmail.com (John) White Buffalo Prayer Thu, 09 Feb 2006 11:13:33 +0000 http://localhost/backup/poetry/64-white-buffalo-prayer/344-00-white-buffalo-notes.html http://localhost/backup/poetry/64-white-buffalo-prayer/344-00-white-buffalo-notes.html

WHITE BUFFALO PRAYER


In the words of
Chief Arvol Looking Horse
Charles Neville
& Rev. Goat Carson

Edited & Arranged by John Sinclair
New Orleans, 1997




The White Buffalo Prayer

By John Sinclair


For many First Nations people, the birth of a female white buffalo calf named Miracle on a farm in Janesville, Wisconsin in August 1994 fulfilled a key Lakota prophecy and signaled the beginning of a new era in human relations.

According to this prophecy, White Buffalo Calf Woman materialized long ago in a Lakota village in the guise of a beautiful maiden. She gave the people the gift of the sacred pipe of peace and taught them how to live respectfully and harmoniously with everyone on earth. She would leave them now to learn these lessons for themselves, she explained, but upon her return she would lead them into a new social order based on her teachings.

As the woman left the village the people saw her change into a black buffalo calf. The calf rolled on the ground and came up red; rolled again and turned yellow; rolled once more and changed to white, signifying that people of all colors are one. Then the calf disappeared, and it was prophesied that the woman would return in the form of a white buffalo calf when the people were ready to receive her wisdom.

As keeper of the sacred White Buffalo pipe and interpreter of the Lakota prophecy, Dr. Arvol Looking Horse has traveled far from his home on the Green Grass reservation in South Dakota to spread the word of universal peace to world leaders and people from all walks of life. In January Looking Horse was invited by President Clinton to pray at the Inaugural festivities in Washington DC, where he spoke of the drum as the heart of Mother Earth and of the need for global healing through the power of the drum and the music it brings us.

Chief Looking Horse enjoys a special relationship with the city of New Orleans since his 1996 visit for our annual White Buffalo Day celebration, where the Lakota holy man blessed Congo Square as sacred ground and sanctified the remarkable treaty made between Lakota and Choctaw Ghost Dancers and the Mardi Gras Indians at their long-awaited first meeting on August 27, 1994.

On that day a Sacred Circle was formed in Congo Square by Kam Night Chase (Lakota Pipe Carrier) and David Carson (Choctaw) to greet and honor Big Chiefs Tootie Montana (Yellow Pocahontas), Donald Harrison Sr. (Guardians of the Flame), Larry Bannock (Golden Star Hunters), Spy Boy Nat (White Eagles), other Big Chiefs and representatives of the Mardi Gras Indian Council.

There the Mardi Gras Indian Natiion was formally accepted as brothers by the Native Americans, gifted with medicine bundles, and invited to share the sacred 1500-year-old Choctaw clan pipe of Mayan origin with the face of an African warrior on the bowl. The treaty was solemnified by drumming and sacred songs of both peoples, including a Lakota Ghost Dance song and a jubilant "Indian Red" led by Tootie Montana.

* * * * *

Kam Night Chase, a Lakota Pipe Carrier active in the Ghost Dance movement, had learned of the Black Indians of New Orleans from his friend Goat Carson, a half-breed harmonica preacher and barbeque specialist, and his wife Sharon Marie Asch, new residents of the Crescent City.

Goat and Sharon had met members of the Carrollton Hunters at Carson's weekly Sunday afternoon cookouts at Snake & Jake's Christmas Club Lounge uptown. When they spied the Wild Indians in the streets at their first Mardi Gras, Goat and Sharon's minds were blown by the many forms of homage paid to Native American culture by these inner-city Americans of African descent.

Carson could hear the echoes of Cherokee and Choctaw ceremonial music in the songs and chants of the Mardi Gras Indians; he wasn't surprised to learn that these distinctive forms had been arranged for the original Creole Wild West tribe more than a hundred years before by a full-blooded 7'2" Choctaw named Eugene Honore. But the Mardi Gras Indians had developed through successive generations without the benefit of actual contact with First Nations peoples, and Goat and Sharon resolved to try to bring the two together.

Night Chase was shown tapes and photos of the Mardi Gras Indians and heard a recording of the Black Indian prayer, "Indian Red," which struck a deep, responsive chord. Soon Night Chase would receive a vision revealing the Mardi Gras Indians as fellow Ghost Dancers, honoring and keeping the spirits of the ancestors alive with song, dance, and elaborate ritual costumery. In keeping with the teachings of White Buffalo Calf Woman, their prayer for recognition as brothers should be answered.

Night Chase extended an "Invitation to a Ghost Dance and Sacred Treaty" to Big Chief Alison "Tootie" Montana of the Yellow Pocahontas on behalf of the Mardi Gras Indian Nation. Montana asked that a public ceremony be held in Congo Square to celebrate the realization of this deeply cherished "hundred-year dream." The historic meeting was capped by the participation of City Councilman Troy Carter, who smoked the peace pipe and joined the City of New Orleans to the treaty.

Following the Sacred Circle ceremony Night Chase continued to pray for a sign that he had done the right thing by accepting the Black Indians as brothers of the Lakota Nation. That night the birth of the white buffalo calf in Wisconsin was announced by Dr. Looking Horse as a harbinger of the return of White Buffalo Calf Woman.

Night Chase now felt certain the Sacred Circle had fulfilled the Lakota prophecy that red, yellow, black and white would all come together and pray, each in their own way, for unity, peace and healing. The Sacred Circle should be joined to the birth of the white buffalo calf as a day of celebration in New Orleans each year.

In the spirit of White Buffalo Calf Woman, may it help lead us to the ultimate goal of unity for the family, peace for the tribes, and healing for the wounds of all nations.

New Orleans
April 23, 2000

(c) 2000 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.


]]> johnsinclair001@hotmail.com (John) White Buffalo Prayer Wed, 28 Dec 2005 06:44:36 +0000 http://localhost/backup/poetry/64-white-buffalo-prayer/276-03-history-101.html http://localhost/backup/poetry/64-white-buffalo-prayer/276-03-history-101.html III

History 101


In the words of Charles Neville:

This is our history
This is the way it was
This is
History 101

A great civilization existed
in this land we call
America 
long before the people who came to colonize
even knew that the world was round.

Pima
Dineh
Mohawk
Ojibway
Lakota
Creek
Seminole
Cree
Miscasoukee
Houmas
Choctaw
Misqualee
Suquamish
Duanish
Pawnee
Cheyenne
Apache
Arapahoe
Navaho
Mohican
Seneca
Tunica
Shoshone

The people
now called
Indian


2

There were varied cultures,
with traditions that involved
guarding & nurturing & keeping the Earth,
our Mother,
honoring all other living creatures

But colonists
from a far land beyond the ocean arrived here
seeking to own,
to conquer & subdue

the wilderness & its inhabitants,
to subdue the Earth,
to conquer Nature.

This would require a lot of work 
more work than the colonists
could do themselves,
more work than the colonists
were willing to do themselves,
more work than the colonists
were capable of doing themselves.

They needed
laborers, they needed
someone to do this dirty work
for them.

And so
another ancient civilization
was called upon to supply
the labor 

Yoruba
Mandinka
Zulu
Ibo
Princes from Dahomey,
Princess from the Kongo,
King from Bakulu 
Masai 
Africans!

These people
were brought in chains,
under duress,
forced to work under pain of death.

This is our history
This is the way it was
This is
History 101


3

There were cultural similarities
& similarities in the attitudes
of the colonists
toward both of these groups of people
& this gave these two groups common cause 

together
maybe they could successfully resist

But
the colonial officials
saw this danger
& they took a step to prevent
an alliance 

Hire Indians
as slave hunters,
Force the slaves
to fight the Indians 

Create fear
hatred,
distrust,
subjugate both peoples 
Divide And Conquer!

Now this strategy worked
to a certain extent
but in some areas
Seminoles & Africans joined
forces
& fought
to the bitter end 

Houmas
& Choctaws
& Africans
joined each other
in the Southern swamps
& fought

& in New Orleans,
in Congo Square,
Choctaws
Houmas
Africans

got together to express
the similarities in their culture
in music & dance

& to this day
in New Orleans
there are people who are known as
Mardi Gras Indians
who honor
& commemorate
the cooperation,
respect
& alliance

of the African
& the Indian,
the Indian & the African,
African & Indian,
Indian & African 

This is our history
This is the way it was
This is
History 101


4

African Americans
& Native Americans,
Native Americans & African Americans
are strangers to each other today 

we are brothers
& sisters
of the same blood,
brothers & sisters
of the same spirit,
brothers & sisters
from the same mud 

Our Mother,
the Earth

We must know each other
We must learn 

The thing that separates us today
is lack of knowledge & understanding

This is our history
This is the way it is 
This is
History 101


]]> johnsinclair001@hotmail.com (John) White Buffalo Prayer Sat, 24 Dec 2005 10:54:52 +0000 http://localhost/backup/poetry/64-white-buffalo-prayer/273-white-buffalo-prayer-cd-program.html http://localhost/backup/poetry/64-white-buffalo-prayer/273-white-buffalo-prayer-cd-program.html White Buffalo Prayer
John Sinclair & His Blues Scholars
SpyBoy Records SBCD-1001

CD Program:

[1] The White Buffalo Legend (9:11)
[2] The White Buffalo Prophecy (8:17)
[3] History 101 > White Buffalo Day (17:40)

John Sinclair, voice " Wayne Kramer, guitar " Charles Moore, trumpet " Ralph Buzzy  Jones, tenor saxophone " Craig Stuart, alto saxophone " Paul Ill, bass " Michael Voelker, drums.

Composers:
1 Chief Arvol Looking Horse / Sinclair/ Michael Voelker (Big Chief Music, ASCAP)
2 Looking Horse / Sinclair / Kramer (Big Chief Music, ASCAP)
3 Charles Neville / Sinclair / Kramer / Moore (Big Chief Music, ASCAP)
4 Goat Carson (Nophir Music)/ Sinclair / Kramer / Moore (Big Chief Music, ASCAP)

This performance is taken from a live radio broadcast on KXLU-FM, Loyola-Marymount University, Los Angeles, California, August 18, 1997 and was recorded in performance by Matt (Justin Time) Fitzgerald.

The original DAT masters were destroyed by fire in New Orleans on January 24, 2000 and the performance restored from cassette tapes and edited with the assistance of Andy Soloviev and David Kunian. Mastered by Henry Petras, John Sinclair & Greg Troyer at Side One Studios, Metairie, LA, April 22, 2000. Remastered by Tom Morgan at Elysian Fields, August 3, 2000.

Produced by John Sinclair for Big Chief Productions

This album is dedicated to Chief Arvol Looking Horse and Reverend Goat Carson
August 8, 2000

(p)(c) 2000 John Sinclair

]]> johnsinclair001@hotmail.com (John) White Buffalo Prayer Sat, 24 Dec 2005 10:52:14 +0000