In the old days there was a whole lot of ways our tīpuna celebrated the arrival of waiwhero, te awa atua. Some of the ceremonies included:
– the kotiro taking moko kauae
– receiving a new name
-presentation of taonga
– whanau hakari
-ceremonial cutting of hair
– ceremonial piercing of ears
When my niece got her awa atua we decided as a whanau to celebrate. The whole whanau got in behind the event and everyone played their part. My niece, for the last 3-4 years, had been counting down the days and months until the arrival of her special day because I had told her that when it arrived I would prepare a hakari for her with whatever kai she wanted. We had a beautiful spread, lots of mihi, gifted her a journal that she can write in at that special time of the month, then returned the first blood back to Papatuanuku, burying it with karakia. It was really healing and empowering for the whole whanau! I feel really excited that we have set that down as a tikanga for our whanau, empowering our tamariki with positive, loving and self assuring messages.
We have also reclaimed traditional names for menstruation that remind us of its cosmological origins. Some of these names include:
-Atua
-Awa Atua
-Rerenga Atua
-Ikura
-Maui
NOWHERE in my search of karakia, moteatea, cosmological, tribal and navigational histories did I find the term that most of us use today; mate wahine. I did, however, find it in the colonial ethnographic records where they have translated it as a ‘sickness of women’, aligning with their own Victorian cultural constructs..I have my serious doubts about whether this term is ‘traditional’ and it worries me that by using it we perpetuate negative beliefs about menstruation that stem from a colonial legacy rather than a cultural one.
Please feel free to leave stories about your own whānau – either about your tīpuna or about what you do today to celebrate the divine river.
I agree the words used to name the menstruation flow is very important, even the word “men-struation” raises my eyebrow a wee bit and where does that word originate from?
I’m absolutely kicking myself now that we didn’t “celebrate it” a bit more. I merely made daughter very relaxed and it was a very open, calm subject to discuss everything and how to manage when she is at school.
One of many things I was not advised about was the misuse of tampons. Everyone used them and I wasn’t told otherwise. I had to figure out how to use them myself which was painful half sticking in and half sticking out, and playing a game of softball very uncomfortable when I was young. I basically violated myself ?
But with my life experience……….to me it doesn’t make sense to plug up something that should flow freely and outward. I believe tampon’s oppress that which should flow and I believe it has physical and spiritual ramifications, that assists the total oppression of the power of woman………..the Goddess.
I’ve had my healthy womb cut out…..my lymph nodes cut up ….all unnecessary. I was bullied into it and talk over as if I did not exist, so now I am horrendously deformed with lymphedema in one leg.
Colonialism has many tactics the spell of english words is a powerful one. Goddess bless you and your mission to strengthen and restore the Matriarchal power to Earth once again.