Story and Photos By Tiffany Edwards Hunt
(Editor’s Note: The following story by Tiffany Edwards Hunt published in the Big Island Weekly on Wednesday Feb. 17, 2010. To see video footage of the 13 Grandmothers’ gathering, click here.)
Called Kontiya’taro:ron, meaning Women Are Gathering, 26 grandmothers from a number of ethnicities gathered on the Big Island Valentine’s Weekend to share teachings, prophesies, and to engage in ceremony. Hundreds of women and handfuls of men joined these women some or all of the time for a donation of $20 per day.
In their three days of congregation, the grandmothers were either in a tent pitched at Waimea’s Ulu La’au Park, at Mauna Kea Resort’s Mau’u Mae Beach, or in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
Thirteen of the grandmothers either of Algonquin, Six Nations, Blackfoot, Cherokee or Choctaw descent visited from Canada. Another thirteen grandmothers from Hawaii with either Hawaiian or another Pacific island heritage joined them.
A forwarded email invited anyone and everyone to join the grandmothers. “You don’t have to be indigenous; this gathering is for sharing with aloha, coming together for peace, and empowering women with a sense of spirituality and ancient knowledge,” the email read.Emi Leatherman Hunt took her mother, Mieko Leatherman, and her nine-month-old daughter from Puna to Waimea to gather with the grandmothers in Waimea and at Mau’u Mae Beach.
“It’s powerful, meeting such strong women,” she noted. “Women just have strong and open hearts, which are responsive to change.”
Hunt was most struck by the two-hour pipe ceremony Thursday afternoon at Ulu La’au Park. As the grandmothers engaged in ceremony, participants were asked to form a circle and pass by them, one-by-one, holding a thought for positive change locally, nationally and globally.
“When we were thinking about positive change, what brought me to tears was looking at my daughter, thinking about the small children. I knew then in my heart that they are the positive change.”
The rainbow purification blessing on Friday, Feb. 12, 2010 was most striking for Suzanne Heinzelman, who, like Hunt, her mother, and daughter, had come from Puna for the grandmothers’ gathering.
“Being a witness to that is a day I’ll never forget,” Heinzelman said. “To see the Polynesian women with the landlocked grandmothers in the ocean together, bringing comfort and presence and power and connection across the elements and the cultures, that matriarchal energy was just unforgettable.”
“I think there are a lot of humans on the planet that feel really good in the presence of that matriarchal strength and wisdom and motherly affection,” Heinzelman said, noting she herself, in her mid-40s, never knew a strong matriarch in her family line. “The part of me that has been missing is the strong grandmother presence. There is a feeling of safety in being on the planet with that force there.”
On the Kilauea Caldera on Saturday night, there was a fire ceremony, which preceded a peace circle at the Kilauea Military Camp. More than a hundred people weathered the cold winds to surround the grandmothers and witness their offerings to Pele.
The grandmothers’ gathering was not without some controversy. There were some grandmotherly-type women that felt slighted by not being among the 13. At least one of the slighted women was at the Waimea event and couldn’t help speak up and state her mana’o, regardless of the fact that it ignored the organizers’ charge to participants to stay positive and not focus on problems, only solutions.
Also, the grandmothers’ gathering nearly fell through a month before the scheduled event. A New York City production company had got involved in the planning of the event and wanted to charge participants $350 to attend.
Two groups of Native Americans said they would not come to Hawaii gathering if that production were involved.
At that point, Ma’ata Tukuafu, of Waimea, took the conference in her own hands and went over and above the production company, saying participation would be for a donation and no one would be turned away.
“With the help of spirit and a bunch of wonderful volunteers, we were able to put it through,” Tukuafu said. “And, with absolutely no budget — I got the tent on credit, chairs were donated, time and service donated. I finally found my 13th grandmother last Sunday for my circle.”
“It was Spirit that made everything fall in like clockwork,” Tukuafu said. “People came through to assist me that needed to be there on short notice.” She credited Maya Yonting-Dornes for helping with the organization and for leading her to Vahinetapu Kahuna Hauolikeakahulilani Pahia, who, in turn, helped her find other grandmothers. Tukuafu also gave accolades to Vikki Catellacci, “a wonderful woman who stepped in immediately to take some of the burden off (Tukuafu’s) shoulders.”
The first and only chance the 13 grandmothers from Hawaii had to gather — many of them meeting for the first time — was on Feb. 10, the Wednesday night before the gathering commenced Thursday. Daniel Thiebaut Restaurant offered up a dining room, a server and pupus at no charge.
“I feel that many people who hungry for change and this is a good way to help do so,” Tukuafu said. “The breakout sessions were wonderful, focusing four areas and getting some dialog going; ancient wisdom and teachings, environmental issues, drug abuse issues, and grandmother issues — finding ways to support the grandmothers in our area who are trying to raise their grandchildren. Movement has started, people had input, several came forward who will write grants, Ideas were generated and shared.”
Tukuafu noted the importance of keeping the momentum going, and participants like Heinzelman and Hunt concurred.
“This could be a small start for us on the Big Island,” Hunt said, noting the importance of women of all ages gathering on a regular basis, in order for young women to be inspired to perpetuate culture and traditions.
On the web:
February 18th, 2010 at 9:24 am
Go! Grandmothers!!!!
Being a part of my grandkids life is so amazing! I am proud of my daughter and her husband for the way they are raising their 3 wonderful children! Family is so important in this world!
Kim
February 19th, 2010 at 7:18 am
My own grandmothers were a great influence for me.
Both were young women when women in 1920 when the U.S. Constitution was amended to include: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
And both were very proud of and aware of that right.
February 20th, 2010 at 8:59 am
What an exciting experience Hawaii was for me. I truly felt like an ancestor coming home. I never ever felt so much love and respect anywhere else in my whole entire 63 years young. I will always cherish the turtle’s welcome, the man at the volcano doing ceremony with us and the whale watching was beautiful. I am so so blessed by the warm and gentle ocean as it took away my ego. Lovely! Thank you also for showing these pictures it truly shows the beauty I felt and I actually look young in both pictures. The photographer who took these sure knows the work and does it extremely well. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALLOWING ME ON YOUR HOMELAND. I ASK FOR FORGIVENESS IF I EVER TRIED TO IMPOSE MYSELF OR HURT ANYONE THERE IN ANY WAY. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH AND THANK YOU JENNI AND FAMILY FOR BILLETING ME. YOU WERE ALL WONDERFUL. THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING ME TO ADOPT A NEW GRANDDAUGHTER…SHE TRULY IS A PRINCESS IN EVERY WAY.
February 21st, 2010 at 12:10 pm
judging from Marjorie’s reaction, I’d say you did a very excellent job.
I love the big island feeling, and im glad you could share it with mainland grandmothers!
keep up the positivity!
Chance
March 15th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
WOW! So much has happened in this past month ~ and it all came together at the first (of many) Pacifica Indigenous Grandmothers Council!! The experience of love, sharing, compassion and ceremony was exhilerating, and Pele has certainly blessed us with her passion and energy.
We are now beginning to work on the second Pacifica Indigenous Grandmothers Council, coming in October on Maui . . . stay tuned, women, we’re working it!!
As well, we are beginning to look for funding to buy land in order to implement the Grandmothers’ projects: a sustainable community based on bio-dynamic, organic farming; and an elder housing project, where indigenous elders can share their wisdom and mentor at-risk youth and others who want to learn to live in respect, compassion, harmony and beauty.
Any who would like to support our projects can find us at http://www.churchoftheearth.org All donations and volunteers are happily accepted!
Many Blessings ~
Grandmother Robin