Buffalo Naming Ceremony at the Calgary Zoo

On November 19th, Siksika Media was honoured to attend a very special buffalo naming ceremony at the Calgary Zoo. This meaningful event celebrated the young male bison born last spring, now officially named “Ok’takii’” and “Apapom” — beautiful names chosen by students from the Siksika Board of Education. 💛🖤 These young bulls will be joining the older female bison, “Keewatin” and “Taiga”.

A big thank you to the Calgary zoo wilder institute for allowing SBOE to participate in naming the Buffalo calves. It was a big honour for the students. We hope that this collaboration will continue our siksika’powasin/siksikakaisitapi way of life.. special an acknowledgment to our Siksika elder, Rod Scout for carrying out the ceremony.

And stay tuned — an in-depth article about this powerful day will be featured in the December issue of our Aitsinikii Magazine. 📰✨

Moments like these remind us of the lasting connection between our people, our language, our future generations, and the buffalo who continue to teach us strength and resilience. 🦬🌾

Photos by Mase Scarlet

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