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Buffalo Runners were elite runners of the plains, found among different tribes such as the Blackfoot, Lakota, Assiniboine, and Cree. They existed long before horse and gun appeared on the Plains of North America. The role of the society was to help in the selection, training and preparation of runners who played a central role in the communal hunt. They were the scouts who would go out to locate herds, and then to maneuver them to kill zones (either pounds or jumps). Speed, stamina, teamwork and skill were essential athletic qualities of these runners, but courage and spiritual preparedness were also central to the qualities of a Buffalo Runner. They were the Olympic athletes of their day, but their abilities were entirely committed to the survival of their communities. Contemporary elders refer to the role of the runners as 'providers'. The success of their running missions meant people would survive. The complexity and danger of the hunt demanded that individual accomplishment be matched by flawless teamwork and cooperation.
With the arrival of the horse into the plains, running gave way to hunting on horseback. The qualities most prized in human runners transferred to horses: reliability, speed, endurance, courage and intelligence. Of all horses in an owner’s collection, his most prized was his buffalo runner. This special animal would not be left out at pasture with the other horses but rather tied to the owner’s tipi, kept close at hand at all times. Eventually, some of the spiritual ceremonies established for human buffalo runners were transferred to the horse.
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The Buffalo Runner Half Marathon will be held annually in the 3rd week of September. ABOUT THE BUFFALO RUNNER SOCIETY LOGO
The logo of the Buffalo Runners Society points to the relationship of Buffalo Runners to the Buffalo Spirit. Figures are borrowed from the drawings contained in the Blackfoot “Wintercount” book, an historical record of the Blackfoot. The 4 human figures represent the four directions of the medicine wheel, four races of humanity, and is a way of saying ‘all people’, or ‘from all walks of life’. In a line they indicate working together, a vital quality for runners at that time. The figure closest to the buffalo is the Wintercount mark for a Piikani Blackfoot figure with the small slashing line beside the head. The small circle on the triangle body is the brand of the Buffalo Runner. In old days, young men were inducted into the society, a pipe bowl heated in a ceremony would be pressed to the leg, creating a welt or scar, marking the Buffalo Runner for life. Today the lip of the pipe bowl is lined with sacred paint, and the paint is applied to the skin. The modern day society has been given rights to an honour song, and now carries out important functions such as capturing and renewal ceremonies within the Black Buffalo Lodge tipi. See "stories" for more on the significance of this tipi. A coming development to this site will profile current and active Society runners, officers, elders, honourary members, and sponsors. ABOUT THE BUFFALO
“If God was the Creator and overseer of life, if the morning star, moon, and Mother Earth combined their talents to give birth and hope to the Indian, if the sun was the dispatcher of wisdom and warmth, then the buffalo was the tangible and immediate proof of them all, for out of the buffalo came almost everything necessary to daily life—including his religious use as an intermediary through which the Great Spirit could be addressed; and by which the Spirit often spoke to them. In short, the buffalo was life to the Plains Indians…It is slight wonder that the Indians reverenced the buffalo, related him directly to the Great Creator… [Some] thought him to be a natural symbol for the universe... (p 188. Thomas E. Mails. Mystic Warriors of the Plains).
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