Indians name white buffalo

The tribes consider white buffalos to be omens of peace and good fortune.
FARMINGTON, Pa. (AP) -- American Indians from several tribes gathered over the weekend for the naming ceremony of a rare white baby buffalo born last month at a private zoo.
Kim "Many Weasels" Ord, wearing a white deerskin dress, said the animal born Nov. 12 was named Kenahkihinen, a Lenape word meaning "watch over us."
"That name just seemed to stand out on bold print on the page" of a Lenape-English dictionary, said Ord, 39, of Mt. Union, part of the 5,000-member Lenape Nation.
White buffalos are considered sacred by many American Indian tribes as omens of good fortune and peace.
Attended ceremony
About 2,500 people, many of them American Indians, attended Saturday's 21/2-hour ceremony that included singing, prayers, a healing service and dance.
"One of the things we as a tribe hope to do is help bring everybody together," Ord said. "We're all people. We all cry, we all breathe, we all have the same emotions and sorrows."
People began showing up at 8:30 a.m., said Jill Herring, who co-owns the Woodland Zoo near Farmington, about 55 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
"We felt it was really important to allow the tribes to handle the naming part of this," she said. "Even though we own the little guy, it's so special to them."
Those at the gathering said they approved of the calf's name.
"We all need [to be] watched over," said Virginia Cherban of Brownsville.
"The name was perfect," said Tammie Morgan of Uniontown.
Statistics
One in 10 million buffaloes is born white, according to Dr. Wynne Brown of Gibbon Glade, a medical doctor and practitioner of natural medicine and acupuncture who helped plan the naming ceremony.
The color results from a rare recessive gene that both parents must possess.
Zoo owner Sonny Herring said there have been offers for the buffalo, including one that was more than it cost to build the zoo, which has 180 animals.
The Herrings, however, say they are not selling Kenahkihinen.
"We respect the importance of it to the Native Americans," he said.
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