Someone recently contact me in regards to some on-line yabber involving a lot of misinterpreted symbols and concepts that were derived form some aboriginal cultures.
I was wanting to post a whole spew on this topic- along with clarifying some of the meanings of the actual symbols- and in light of the questions by ks_claw, I figured it was time to do the write up.


The End of the World is coming. Or should I say, Dynasty
I’m going to quote the question so that you can see what symbols/topics I am referring to, and further down the line, I will analyze them further along with the how and why things got misinterpreted:

"…I randomly came across a site the other day that spilled some… *incredible* bullshit about how 2012 is going to be a new Y2K or doomsday or whatever, and they had a whole list of signs of the apocalypse. Among them how a white buffalo is a bad sign... if I'm not completely wrong, that's not entirely true, is it?"

The coming of the Apocalypse
First off, the knowledge of the "2012 apocalypse" is that adapted off the Toltec (Aztec) cultural belief that there were (and are) 5 empires of the sun. During the fall of every sun Quetzalcoatl plays an integral part. There are variations to how Quetzalcoatl played a part in the creation of the sun/new suns- the two most prominent was that he would swallow the sun at the end of every dynasty before returning to the Land of the Dead. The other would be the legend that he created our current sun by deliberately sacrificing himself- going to the Land of the Dead- in order to produce our sun.
Either which way, the date "2012" is timed by the Aztec Calendar as the end of the 5th Sun’s (our) dynasty, and that in that year the end of the world- the Apocalypse- will come with the dying of our Sun.

Note: The Aztec calendar is an amazing recording feat of the Toltec, consisting of 2 different calendar- one recording 365 days, the other 260 days. The 260 day calendar has 2 wheels that continually move- each at a different pace- to produce an array of combinations. I’d advise people to look for anthropological text, reliable books, or classes that teach this as part of the concepts in the Toltec cultures. It’s a very hard thing to learn but well worth it.

The White Buffalo
Not all Native American cultures believe in the Legend of the White Buffalo Calf Woman. While capitalized in a lot of colonial stereotypes, it is wise to remember that the buffalo is a sacred symbol to the Natives of the Planes. This meaning that it is a limited symbol with limited association. As time would have it, with the colonialism that overtook the land, the merging of some indigenous cultures, and the widespread word of the Native Nations as a collective- even some of the non-plane Natives adapted the symbol into their teachings.

The White Buffalo Calf Woman is a being of Legend from the Lakota peoples. A supernatural being who came to give the peoples the Sacred Peace Pipe, along with the 7 rituals they carry out as part of their culture.
The Legend also accounts that her return – as promised by her- would return with an era of peace and balance, and that she would bring the balance with her. This, reminiscent of the prophecy of the Messiah. We see how that reminiscent connection plays a part in the misinterpretation of the symbol later.

The Signs of Apocalypse
The "Signs of the Apocalypse" they are referring to is the accumulative "warning signs" that each culture has documenting when exactly the end-of-the-world comes. Thing is, as I said in that last sentence- every culture has their OWN signs, so the concept that they are accumulating all of them as a general over-all is very inaccurate display or description. In this case, their statement of a "White Buffalo" being a bad sign is very convoluted due to either; interference, ignorance, or bad misassociation one culture has with another.


The use and misinterpretation of Cultural Symbols, Icons, and concepts
As we have seen before- and in this case earlier- there are many times when cultural concepts and symbols are badly misinterpreted, and then perpetuated within main stream or other cultures. My signature example is of the use of the word “Totem” to represent the belief some people have in a "Spirit animal guardian guide", and their blatant mis-use of the term and their claims that it’s "Native authentic" when it is not.

For the case of our little analysis here, we will use the White Buffalo Calf Women.

Like with the concept of "Totem" and other cultural concepts, the White Buffalo concept has been one that was wildly perpetuated by the colonists into their stereotyped, main stream New Age telling of "Indians" and "Indian Spirituality" to the point where little of authenticity can be found in most of the texts written by colonists. The seeing of ANY White Animal is deemed sacred- and that a world Wide cultural phenomena. A White Buffalo is particularly sacred to the Lakota Peoples- and some Planes Indians- due to the association of the White Buffalo Calf Woman- and her promise of return. The birth of one acts as a reminder that her time to return is near.
So where does the disambiguation start?
A lot of places.
First, colonists will- and have always- associated other people’s cultures with their own. A grand mistake (perhaps deliberate?) that leads not to unity, but rather more division. When someone tries to identify your symbol with their own, they diminish the value, meaning, and uniqueness of that symbol, and rather "conquer" it in a very quiet, non-aggressive and subconscious way (I can bring a load of examples. My “favorite” is incorporating lung/long and tatsu/ryu/ryo as "Dragons" when they ARE NOT.)
This means, rather than seeing the White Buffalo Calf Women as The White Buffalo Calf Woman, and her promise to return with peace, colonialists associated her with the Virgin Mary and Jesus as the Messiah.
After, perpetuated with that association, the meaning begins to falter. In Christianity, the coming of the Messiah also symbolizes the coming of the judgment day- the destruction of the evil (sinners) and the raising of the good (believers) to enlightenment. This begins to dominate the concept of the "White Buffalo" and the association begins to seep in and translate the coming of a White Buffalo as a sign of the Messiah- which leads to the coming of the judgment day- which leads to the "BEWARE- FEARFUL COMING AND SMITING OF THE SINNERS!" So, by the law of transference the White Buffalo means SIGNS OF THE APOCALYPSE!
Whut?
So you see how that works? Or, should I say- DOESN’T work?

Another option is someone mixing up the symbol of the White Buffalo with the Red Heifer in Judaism, and weather or not they associated the Red heifer as one of the signs of the Messiah. Same concept as above, just a little different route.

We can sit here and argue plenty if the bad interpretations are deliberately done by colonialists in order to "help integrate" indigenous cultures, or if it’s done from plane old ignorance and laziness of a colonizing or "outside" culture to really put in that effort to LEARN something about someone else.
Either which way, it’s those kinds of bad associations, and misinterpretations that lead us to where we are today- lots of symbols and concepts being thrown around without a lot of authentic basis to them (another example is "Aztec God". If I hear that ONE more time…)


So I hope that is enlightening to you all. I know I’m all enlightened for the evening… either that or my tail-end of the flu is making me light headed again. XD