National Bison Day
It’s coming up! Buffalo Day is November 4, 2023—Always the first Saturday in November. Get your family ready to celebrate!
Remember, in the US and Canada we use the terms Bison and Buffalo interchangeably. And that’s OK. Either fits!!
Some would have us use only the scientific name, Bison. But just think how many cities and towns, counties, creeks, rivers and majestic buttes across this North American continent are named for Buffalo! Would the so-called “experts” have us change them all? Impossible, of course. And how petty to be so limited in our vision!
We’ve been using that term since 1616 when the French explorer, Samuel de Champlain, used it to describe the animal. A few years later, in 1625, Buffalo first appeared in the English language in North America, from the French word, boeuf, a Greek word given to Buffalo by French fur trappers here. Not until 1774—a century and a half later—was Bison first recorded to refer to these mammals in a scientific sense. So are we OK with that?