There seems to be a bit of controversy about this legend: The Warriors of the Rainbow Prophecy
One day... there would come a time, when the earth being ravaged and polluted, the forests being destroyed, the birds would fall from the air, the waters would be blackened, the fish being poisoned in the streams, and the trees would no longer be, mankind as we would know it would all but cease to exist -
Controversy or not the words are very real right now. Here's one story:
The Rainbow prophecy, as it has come to be known, refers to the keepers of the legends, rituals, and other myths that will be needed when the time comes to restore the health on Earth. It is believed that these legendary beings will return on a day of awakening, when all people will unite and create a new world of justice, peace and freedom, and they will be named the ‘Warriors of the Rainbow’. They will reteach the values and the knowledge that has been lost in time, demonstrating how to have wisdom and extra-perception, and how unity, harmony and love is the only way forward.
It seems to me that we need to start right now....at this moment. Read on below for more.
There is reference to a Wikipedia entry which I will link us to shortly:
While Wikipedia would have people believe that the legend originates in a 1962 book titled ‘Warriors of the Rainbow’ by William Willoya and Vinson Brown, the reality is that the prophecy is ancient, passed down as oral history over many generations. Brown, himself, admitted that his research came from the Hopi prophecies, and the book has been criticised as an attempt to evangelize with the Native American community by relating the prophecy of the Rainbow Warriors to the Second Coming of Christ. -
I am not surprised that what may be an ancient legend from Native People has been corrupted by the conquerors. The conquerors have no ability to be reverent about Native People's thought or the earth itself for that matter. That is why the words have so much meaning right now.
Let us look at what Wikipedia says: Legend of the Rainbow Warriors
Since the early 1970s, a legend of Rainbow Warriors has inspired some environmentalists in the United States with a belief that their movement is the fulfillment of a Native American prophecy. Usually the story is claimed to be Hopi or Cree. However, the origin of the "prophecy" is not Native American at all, but rather from a 1962 book titled Warriors of the Rainbow by William Willoya and Vinson Brown from Naturegraph Publishers. Brown, who is attributed with research into Hopi prophecies, is the founder and owner of Naturegraph Publishers.
The roots of that myth go back to a book called Warriors of the Rainbow. It was basically an evangelical Christian tract which was published in 1962. If anything, it was an attack on Native culture. It was an attempt to evangelize within the Native American community.
The modern story, misrepresented as ancient prophecy, is an example of "fakelore." While there are variations on the theme, especially as it has become popularized in Internet memes, the common thread in all versions of the story is that a time of crisis will come to the Earth, that people of many races will come together to save the planet, and it is always falsely credited as being a Native American or First Nations prophecy: "It is said there will be a time when the trees are dying, blah, blah, blah. There will be a tribe of people who come and save the Earth and they will be called the Rainbows." Some versions of the story specifically state that this new tribe will inherit the ways of the Native Americans, or that Native ways will die out to be replaced by the new ways of the "Rainbow" people.
The legend said [the Native Americans] would also be joined by many of their light-skinned brothers and sisters, who would in fact be the reincarnate souls of the Indians who were killed or enslaved by the first light-skinned settlers. It was said that the dead souls of these first people would return in bodies of all different colours: red, white, yellow and black. Together and unified, like the colours of the rainbow, these people would teach all of the peoples of the world how to have love and reverence for Mother Earth, of whose very stuff we human beings are also made.
In the spirit of making lemonade from lemons there seems to be a good idea at the root of all this. Let me explain.
We are in deep trouble. The situation described in the words of prophecy, whatever their origin, is basically coming to pass. It is also reasonable to look to the relationship the Native People had with the earth and with nature for some ideas about how we must change to bring about a sustainable world for our future generations. (I know, I always am corrected when I say such things because they were not perfect I'm told. That is surely not the point is it?) What we do certainly need right now is a seious movement arising from the coming together of people of all kinds. Why not an umbrella organization called the "Rainbow Warriors?" Just a thought. Any support for this?