By Chelsie Parayko, 2nd year MDP student
My community has completely lost our
language. Colonization has stripped that ability away from my people. In 2018
my people came together and celebrated finally receiving reserve designation on
the lands we had been gathering on for time immemorial. We invited our sister
nations and leaders from across Turtle Island, including Grand Chief Jonathan
Solomon. Jonathan took the time to
congratulate us and said,
“I
am not usually an emotional man but being here on the land with you is making
me cry. I had a dream last night that your language returned to these lands.
That your people once again spoke those words.”
His words rang in my ear and in my heart.
In Aotearoa, Waipareira welcomed me into
their whānau with a whakatau, a traditional ceremony to welcome new people into
their family in a good way. The first thing I noticed was how vibrant their
language and songs were. The staff spoke mostly in te reo Māori and everyone
sang their beautiful songs with ease. It was the most beautiful thing.
Nearing the end of my time in Aotearoa this
trip I was talking to a friend about my community and our loss of language. She
told me that her peoples retained a lot of their language through song and
perhaps that is how we will learn again. So there lies my newest great adventure,
to learn our songs so that my territory can hear those words be spoken again.
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| Chelsie at Monkey Creek |
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