White Buffalo Calf Woman brings the first Pipe
as told by John Fire Lame Deer in 1967
John Fire Lame Deer was a Lakota Holy man, and perhaps a Heyoka.
His book Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions, (see book review) written
with Richard Erdoes in 1972 . He died several years later on the
Roeebud Lakota reservation in South Dakota; his son Archie carries
on his spiritual work.
The Sioux are a warrior tribe, and one of their proverbs says,
"Woman shall not walk before man." Yet White Buffalo Woman is
the dominant figure of their most important legend. The medicine
man Crow Dog explains, "This holy woman brought the sacred
buffalo calf pipe to the Sioux. There could be no Indians without
it. Before she came, people didnt know how to live. They knew
nothing. The Buffalo Woman put her sacred mind into their
minds." At the ritual of the sun dance one woman, usally a
mature and universally respected member of the tribe, is
given the honor of respresenting Buffalo Woman.
to read the legend:
http://www.kstrom.net/isk/arvol/lamedeer.html