Sioux tribe greets arrival of sacred animal
Thousands of people have travelled to see and honour a legend – a white buffalo born in a thunderstorm on a Texas ranch.
The rare white buffalo calf, regarded as sacred by Lakota Sioux, was honoured with Native American prayers, religious songs and the smoking of a pipe in Greenville, north east of Dallas.
The calf was named Lightning Medicine Cloud after the thunderstorm that marked his arrival as well as a tribute to a white buffalo born in 1933 named Big Medicine.
According to the Lakota Sioux, Whope, goddess of peace, once appeared as a white buffalo calf and will return when it happens four times – this being the third.