Algonquian ( or ther group?) term for White Buffalo Calf Woman?

lcumberl at indiana.edu lcumberl at indiana.edu
Fri Jan 21 18:05:25 UTC 2005


The Assiniboine do not have the White Buffalo Calf Woman in their tradition,
although she seems to be finding her way in as a result of ceremony
"revitalization" that dips into the more extensive record of Lakhota traditions
as a source, and also from recruiting Sioux holy men as leaders of major
ceremonies in Assiniboine communities.  As far as I can tell, the Assiniboine do
not have a specific origin story to account for the introduction of the pipe
(and all the social behaviors presumably introduced at the same time). I have
heard a couple of different stories, but on the whole, Assiniboine people say
only that use of the pipe is ancient. If one does the arithmetic counting back
from Arvol Looking Horse as 19th carrier of the Pipe, and assuming 20 years as a
generation, the appearance of the White Buffalo Calf Woman roughly coincides
with the hypothesized date for an Assiniobine/Sioux separation, which could
account for her absence in Assiniboine tradition. (19 x 20 + 380; hypothesized
separation approx. 400 yrs.). All of this is conjecture, though.

Linda

Quoting phute-khniyanyan <phute-khniyanyan at cfl.rr.com>:

> The Lakhota have a legend about the coming of the White Buffalo Calf
> Woman, who brings the ceremonial pipe to the Lakhotas.  The Lakhota term
> for this person is "Pte Hinchila Ska (or SaN) Win".  My question is: Do
> groups other than Siouan have this same or similar legend?  If so, what
> is this person called?
>  I ask this because, years ago in BAE, I came across identical stories
> of the Lakhota trickster character "Iktomi", and the strategy he uses to
> capture ducks by having them dance with their eyes closed, which was
> identical to an Algonquian legend and their trickster character, even
> though the Algonquian source of the legend was transcribed at a time
> period when the Algonquian source was located far to the northeast of
> the current location of the Lakhota.
> Because the Algonquian were widely dispersed, it seems that a term for
> White Buffalo Calf Woman would have been existed within this group, too.
>
>
>



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