"The Passing Of A Rose"
by A Kay Ensing
Monacan Powwow, but what happened there just
a few hours earlier touched not only me, but everyone that was able to experience what happened. A jingle dress dancer, Cisawni Rose, dropped
her Eagle fan in the circle while dancing.
Cisawni lives in Albuquerque, NM but is currently spending the summer with her Grandmother, Nantinki Rose. She is a beautiful girl who knows the importance of her role as a dancer.
After being notified by a traditional dancer, Nantinki grabbed several items from her booth and ran toward the circle. I listened as the MC announced to please stand and remove all head gear and respectfully asked that no pictures be taken. He then joined three other gentlemen in the circle to perform a pick up ceremony for the eagle fan.
I ran to the top of the hill and stopped. I looked down upon such a scene that I could not have imagined. I saw Nan in the drum arbour, holding her Grand daughter Cisawni as she sobbed. Cisawni was devastated. She knew what she had done. She knew the consequences. She knew what was about to happen. Many did not.
Behind the drum arbour and all around the circle, the dancers and spectators all stood. After the pick up ceremony, the MC informed the public what had just happened. He then turned the microphone over to Nantinki. She introduced herself and her grand daughter. She then proceeded to announce that because of Cisawni’s dropping of the fan, she had no choice but to give away all of her belongings. She began by asking someone to come forward to receive a beaded purse. She then asked four men to come forward to receive hat bands. She then asked for a little girl who was working on her regalia to come forward and take her barrettes. She asked that an elder come forward to receive her eagle fan and eagle feathers. She then asked that a little girl, about the size of Cisawni’s age and size come forward to receive her regalia. She then asked people to come forward to receive the money that had been given to her during the ceremony.
I stood on this hilltop watching our baby give away everything she owned to show her devastation. And Cisawni did as she was told, because she knew. She knew before she ever walked into that circle what an honour it was to be a dancer. She knew the responsibility of her feathers and her fan. She knew that she should never let her feathers touch the ground, for that had been told to her all of her life. She knew as soon as the fan fell from her hand what was to happen.
Nantinki and Cisawni came back up the hill, surrounded by Cisawni’s 2 sisters and brother, friends and the little girl that came to receive her regalia. Cisawni pulled off her regalia as we all cried for her. She gave it to the little girl and then they proceeded back down the hill. The little girl and Cisawni were to dance together in the circle, like the passing of the torch.
More people gave money, a little boy gave a hawk fan, jewellery and many other gifts came, all again to be given away again.
You see, for such a young woman, she still knew the shame of dropping her eagle fan. Cisawni had earned this fan after much discussion because she is a junior AIM warrior. She has participated in numerous AIM events and demonstrations. She has been identified as a warrior in the struggle to save Mother Earth and to fight with all her might for Native American issues and to work to mend the injustices against Native American people.
This fan is over 25 years old and had been carried by both her Mother and Grandmother, and has been in ceremonies too numerous to mention and has been shared by some of our most respected. She knew that anything less than that would be wrong. She taught all of us the humility and pride of what the circle represents.
She restored for many of us the pride of what our culture represents. This is not a game. It was not a game to Cisawni. She had earned her regalia. She had saved her money to purchase those moccasins, which had just been worn 10 times. She helped make her regalia. Nothing had been just given to her. She knew what that regalia meant.
She will not ever dance in this category again. In order to jingle dress, she must wait until she is thirteen to enter a new category.
Cisawni was devastated, but she taught so many of us with her actions. When her Grandmother walked to her, she asked if she wanted to give her regalia away, and she said yes. Including the moccasins? Nantinki asked, and she nodded yes. Cisawni took out her barrettes to give away, took off her bracelets to give away, took the eagle feathers out of her hair and took the regalia off her body to give away. That was to show the shame for letting her eagle feathers touch the ground. And to all that received her gifts, know that you are blessed and have honoured her and her family by receiving her giveaway
Before the end of the day, many people had approached Nan and Cisawni, and thanked them for restoring a tradition that many had forgotten. Many people made offers to start her new traditional or fancy dress outfit.
Grown men cried openly as did women, children, Native and non Native. It didn’t matter. Those that were there were able to witness a tradition of generations. And even for Cisawni, who at the tender age of 9, knew what was happening, so did her 7 year old little sister Monica, who, in her competition danced backwards. She danced that way to honour her sister. She danced to carry her sisters heart and her Mother’s heart. She won first this day. Her brother Aron wept openly and shamelessly for his sister. He made sure that he danced with her back to the circle.
Our eagle feathers are prized possessions and no matter what age, they are to be taken seriously. Thank you Cisawani for knowing. And thank you for sharing. Through your devastation, we learned the courage and pride of a true dancer and the importance of passing the traditions on.
Today there are many people who are proud to not only have witnessed this ceremony, but to have been honoured by your gift is overwhelming.
*printed with permission from Nantinki Rose Director Four Winds Foundation International
Thank you to: Eileen Brown
There is an unbelievable certainty in everything
about Rangimarie Turuki Rose Pere’. The impression she makes
is striking like a magnificent kauri, drawing deep from the earth, towering up with an unshakable strength, borne from
knowing exactly who she is with a purposefulness that gives her a sense of joy and peace. She knows
from whence she came. Believing we choose our parents, Rose
chose a family of Tohuna.
Tohuna in this sense means the people who know when and how to sow the seed (to) and when to hide the secrets (huna). She says that she made sure to
choose people who knew exactly whence they came, what their role is in life was and where they are going.
And Rose is pretty much the same. Her role is to help people remember their own wisdom and power if they have forgotten.
That is her number one role. Her destiny is that she will go home. Home to her is the Te Kainga tuturu mo tatou kateo te honoa Wairua.
The teachings she has been given go back well beyond the coming of the first canoe-since time began, in fact, when New Zealand was known as Hawaii-kitautau, the pulse of Hawaiiki itself.
Rose reminds us that we have to get back to the ancient teachings. Too many people have forgotten them, and how significant they are for us right
now. She comes from a very traditional background, but one whose teachings were very advanced. These traditions embrace people in a very simple way.
It is a culture that takes half a day to say hello, and she likes that, because when they sit down and take their time through the performing of rituals that slow them down...they really begin to “feel”.
The world is too fast. So we have to have rituals that tell us-wow-, you have to stop. We have to
concentrate and focus on people relating to each other.
Maoris are known across the world for the karanga, to be able to lift people to the heights: their hair standing up on the back of their necks. It is something rather special. For Rose, the most spiritual side has to be the karanga. No more the karakia, because she was taught that every breath
you take should be a prayer, and that one should be careful about what their mouth says.
The basic role of the kaika-ranga is to weave the people together and re-energise them. So we can never underestimate the power of the karanga, or
the importance of ritual. Rituals are very important in terms of people being able to “give of themselves,” to give tribute and to take tributes from others.
At a Maori gathering, all those who have passed on must be acknowledged. And acknowledged so that the world can hear. Maoris do not have headstones-not the traditional Maori. They remember their dead every time they meet.
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New Zealand was the first place to see the sunrise of the New Millennium...It was greeted and welcomed through the ceremony of the Maori Elders |
Rose reminds us that we need to take any opportunity that enables us to uplift the mother energy, as the balance of the Mother Earth needs to come back. As Joe and Rose travelled the Middle East in 1990, she said, these people have forgotten their Mother side, their left side. They forget, they neglect and trample on it. They have had to pay for that.
Rose remembered a Jewish man saying they were going to lead the peace process. She said, “No-there is no way that you can”, because they did not have the right energy, or the vibrations to
do it, because until you love your brother forget about peace, it just does not work. The very vibration of hate prevents and obstructs the peace.
Rose comes from a family where the female side must complement the male side as a person. So the left side- (the spiritual / feminine side)
Tamawahine-must complement Tamatane-the right side (the worldly / masculine side.) When it comes to the brain, there is a switchover. So Tamawahine (the female left side)
links into the right brain---- Rongomatane. And Tamatane links into Tumatauenga- (the masculine left brain), which looks at rational logical things. To balance the two is the key.
Rose emphasizes that this is about the balancing of the Mother energy and Father energy - inside and out. The two must compliment each other. They must not
compete.
Rose shares that one of the problems that we have has come from the western world-only in the last 10,000 years. In this civilized process we now
have conflict (between male and female). People have been so strongly influenced by religions that have come into our countries from other cultures.
Rose shares that religion has helped millions of people, and does not deny the fact that in the traditional Maori world they do believe in the Christ conscientiousness.
But the Christ conscientiousness that they believe is basically the Divine Self. For the Maori it is called He Atua HeTangata, (the saying that we are both
divine,) and beautifully human. But the fact is that we have churches that say which “Matua” means the father (the Maori word means parent.) It is not a sexist
language. But the churches have made the language into a sexist language. Many church people criticized Rose... like “You don’t believe in baptism Rose?
You come from a heritage of Pagans.” “What does pagan mean?” Rose asks. “You have many Gods.”
She answers, “Well, God exists in everything...Come On who is in conflict? And of course we believe in baptism. I was baptised in my mother’s waters for nine months, the most sacred waters in my entire
existence. The arrogance telling another culture -women who had lost children and were told ‘now, they’ll go into limbo.’ That’s not correct.
They have gone home. Sad.”
Rose teaches that we link into subtle energies for healing. First we look at enlightenment-that is the mother.
The vibration is “A”. The child is “I”. The father is “O”. Our forefathers heard the missionaries speak about the father and the son, so they hid the mother energy “A” and only revealed the “IO”, but everyone will
start remembering. The “mother, as the father and child” energies are in all of us. (This is often referred to as the inner universe). It is the highest school of learning-there is nothing to compare with it.
Tune into that and there are far greater answers than you’ll get from anywhere else. Rose is glad about the teachings that she has, for they are more Universal than many. For Rose, rituals and traditions are very important. She is adamant about the
wider community not trampling on Maori traditions. In travelling across the world, over 140 nations, one of the messages she laid out in front of them (eg: The United States) was to stop bastardising the American
Indian (tangata whenua) culture, and use their own such as Celtic or Grecian dances to express themselves.
All this is what is so powerful. It is sad when we don’t celebrate our own diversity because diversity should be enjoyed. One chap turned up at
her home Waikaremoana saying he was a Pharaoh in Egypt 3,000 years ago. She said, “All I can see is a Pakehia looking for a bed, so do not hand me that.”
She made him work for 2 weeks, and I said to him. “Don’t ever do that again, because I’m one of those people who believe in the celebration of who we are... (honouring the blood and bones of our own
ancestors) the diversity.
Rose enjoys celebrating the diversity and embraces all religions and all cultures -embracing them all, as long as they are healers for peace. For we
all are healers. Every person is a healer in his or her own way. Rose is an International Spiritual Leader. There are certain things she has to share or do with people -
she doesn’t beat around the bush. If she is healing someone, she shares that # 1, that you must heal yourself! Your mind
plays an important part. Her old people always told her: “people will always link into your ancient spirit.” She says All of us have an Ancient Spirit. But we
must never exploit it. People get carried away. That is the human side of it. She shares a story of a wonderful man, but then he went on this ego-tripping thing, and
suddenly he got himself 12 women disciples ...he went off the deep end. When people get into the human ego and not the divine, they lose their gifts. It’s an old one,
for we have choice.
Rose is from a family of very independent people, including the women. Her Kahungungunu grandmother spoke on the marae. So on that side she has full speaking rights. That is because the women had to go to battle the same as the men.
On her Tahoe side, only the women past menopause had to fight. Tahoe men stand out in front of the women - protecting the mother energy. Rose comes from a line of
both strong men and women. They did not put up with rubbish. It is the way they are.
Her grandfather & grandmother looked after her equally taking her in at 5 days old. She is used to having both, the two must go together. Joe
looks after the kids just as much as Rose.
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"...the five dimensions that influence my life - spirituality, ancestral ties, kinship ties, humanity as a whole, and the earth as part of a vast universe. Taku taha Maori, my Maoriness, gives me a strong core, a
force-field that can help me to stand up and do something for myself in today's world."
- Rangimarie Rose Pere |
Joe and Rose are so different, but they have many meeting points. Culturally, they work at it. They
also have the children. Rose couldn’t relate to a person who didn’t have the strands or understanding of the knowledge she is talking about. There are too many important things in life to become worried about a person who is just going to become a drag, not even a challenge. Their children keep saying they would like a relationship like Rose & Joe.
She says, “ You have to work at it”. When people say you’re lucky, she responds, “ Never! You have to work at everything that you do. Blissful
heavenly relationships just don’t happen; you have to work hard at it. In moments, stand back do not jump off the deep edge because you can’t always replay that, so take 5. It’s getting the balance. You always
have to give enough room to stand up again with dignity. That’s part of the secret. Trust is an important point in a tough situation. You need to know you can trust the person that you have left in charge. Support each other, do not be selfish, turn up when
you feel the other needs your support. You have to work together. There’s no such thing as old age. Raising our first Moko (grandson) is keeping us young.
It is a wonderful tradition, the idea that we transmit a heritage to them. We have far more patience as grandparents. There is no such thing as retirement.”
The people working with Rose at Waikaremoana have always been those on the fringes that nobody wants, the druggies, and the jailbirds. She has
worked with rapists, murderers, you name it. She sees that
Rose does not pay much attention to those who are living only for themselves. “ It is so easy for them to start talking about their Hapu.
It is different when you live at home. I’m living at Waikaremoana---not talking through my hat. I’ve been involved with shootings, knifings, not necessarily just in one place.
I have nieces and nephews across the board who are involved with different gangs and I use shock tactics to try and help them link back in with our own heritage. For us at Waikaremoana, if you think the world
owes you a favour, drop dead immediately.” The point is she can’t stand people wasting their lives. She was
brought up to share both the good and the bad times and to help make this world a better place.
At the end of the day, Rose is a person
who enjoys and celebrates diversity, someone who believes you must be counted, you must do something. We all have so many gifts to share, but with these gifts comes responsibility to use them in a good way to
benefit all and
Article reprinted with permission from Rangimarie Turuki Rose Pere' & Joe Pere' New Zealand Directors 4 Winds Fnd
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Four Winds Foundation
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