The recognition of World Peace & Prayer Day and the true understanding of it's meaning for each of us is representative of ancient prophecies that are being fulfilled today. Derived from the wisdom of our world's great religious beliefs, the teachings of our indigenous cultures, and leading edge scientific research, this event symbolizes the coming of a new age of spiritual unity for all of mankind.

Our ancestors have, for thousands of years, predicted the time when humanity would be faced with great troubles that would threaten our very survival. Arriving upon the time in history known as the crossroads, we would be forced to make the decision to continue our destructive ways and face the possibility of our own extinction or unite as a world community in the global effort to create a culture of peace on behalf of our children.

For many years, native elders representing the world's oldest and wisest traditions have repeated their call for a return to balance so that we may avert an impending global catastrophe. Today, science has verified these teachings to a very considerable degree and has undeniably determined that the negative influences of population growth, overconsumption, and the industrial exploitation of our natural resources have severely damaged our earth's life sustaining capabilities.

As we look ahead to the future, many of us are asking ourselves what we can do to make a positive difference. From the examination of our past, it is easy to learn that the many problems that we see in our world today have emerged as a product of a civilization greatly out of balance with the laws of nature. Now, we have the opportunity to make things better by bringing about fundamental changes in the way we view ourselves, each other, and the planet that provides each of us with life.

Peace amongst people and harmony with the natural world seem at times to be hopeless, even naive, goals. And yet these goals are deep within the psyche of every parent contemplating their children's future, and are embedded within every religious and spiritual tradition.

Perhaps the experts are not naive in turning to old traditions for iinspiration and ideas. One of these traditions, that associated with the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota nation, tells the story of White Buffalo Calf Woman. White Buffalo Calf Woman is believed to have appeared to the tribes hundreds of years ago, bringing instruction in sacred ceremonies and in how to live in balance with all life, and leaving behind a sacred bundle containing a pipe of peace.

She left making prophecies about the time in which she would return again. The 1994 birth of a white buffalo calf is believed to have been the sign that these times are at hand. The 19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe is Chief Arvol Looking Horse. In 1996, following the birth of the white buffalo calf, he called upon spiritual leaders from around the world to join him in praying for global peace and healing, and issued an invitation for people of all faiths to gather at their sacred sites and pray in their own manner, on June 21, 1996.

Chief Looking Horse committed to honoring the four directions with four annual ceremonies, the first of which took place in the West at Gray Horn Butte in Wyoming, following a horseback ride from Wahpeton Dakota reservation in Saskatchewan.

In 1997, Chief Sundown of the Joseph Bighead Reserve in Canada hosted the ceremonies for the North. In 1998, the gathering moved East to Pipestone, Minnesota, where a vein of stone is quarried to make pipes. That year, the Unity Riders traveled from the east, beginning at Birch Coulee. As Chief Looking Horse began searching for a site for the 1999 ceremonies, colleagues associated with the United Nations described to him the University for Peace in Costa Rica.

Curiously, the site was also home to a powerful legend. The god Rasur took the children from their villages to a location deep within the mountain. The parents of the children could hear them laughing and singing, but were prevented by a force field coming closer. Rasur taught the children the principles of living in harmony with all beings, and sent them back to their villages with the prophecy that one day a civilization devoted to peace would emerge from that place to spread around the world.

Today, the international recognition of World Peace & Prayer Day is necessary to bring about greater global attention to the critical issues that we need to resolve and the solutions that will bring healing and balance to the world community for the benefit of our children and future generations. As a symbol of hope and promise, millions of people representing a great diversity of colors, cultures, and countries have embraced this monumental effort realizing the need for a positive shift in our collective global consciousness. With your prayers and support of this project, perhaps one day, we will all be free to experience the dream of peace as a reality right here on earth.