Air, particularly in the form of wind, can spook even a savvy horse more than any other element. The wind provides protection to the wild horse, carrying smells of danger and giving it time to escape to safety. The white buffalo also depends on this same protective power which the air provides. In the world of the Plains Indians, the white buffalo was revered and especially sacred. Deemed the most acceptable gift that could be obtained to offer to the Great Spirit, this rarest specimen of all buffalo, when encountered, was always killed for sacrifice. Ceremony and ritual accompanied the taking of a white buffalo. Although different tribes used the skin in various ways, all of them prized the white buffalo for its powerful spirituality. Today, when a white buffalo calf is born, it is visited by Native Americans and acknowledged as a symbol of the return to the old ways. It is a sign of answered prayers and that people are coming back to religion and spirituality. - JL

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