On the Passing of a Kontiianehson

On December 2nd at 3:30 Am Maisie Shenandoah, the Wolf Clanmother of the Oneida Nation, breathed her last and passed into the spirit world. She had been selected by her clan as a kontiianehson in 1977 when the Oneidas were beginning to return to their ancestral homelands and eager to restore a traditional council.  They knew the first step was to find a female leader, one who exhibited qualities which have long been honored by the Haudenosaunee: honesty, humility, generosity, kindness, wisdom and patience all wrapped up in a blanket of humor.

Maisie, my mother-in-law for the past 18 years, had all of those characteristics along with a determination to carry on the dream of her mother, the Oneida patriot Mary Cornelius Winder. As a young woman Mrs. Winder sought to do the improbable, and to many the impossible, reverse the course of history and persuade the Oneidas to come back to central New York.

This meant challenging the US government policy of removal, ignoring decades of hostile court rulings, exposing the land theft scandals of New York State and provoking the dormant racism of a region whose residents had long ago dismissed the Oneidas as nothing more than deep woods savages, nomadic and ignorant.  They had written their school books to justify the stealing of Oneida land so anything which challenged this most cardinal element of American history would be met with resistance.

Mary Winder brushed aside the fears of her own people, most of whom were living as displaced people at Onondaga, in Wisconsin or in western Ontario. She lit the fire of Oneida nationalism and Maisie carried the torch.

For over 3 decades Maisie nurtured her community. She opened the door to her home to whomever need rest, a meal or comfort during a crisis. She was generous with her time and money; she was the first to be called when the community had a problem or a visitor needed information. Her living was made selling crafts at Native events throughout the northeast or by having her immediate family put on public performances showing Iroquois dances and music, art and culture.

As much as Maisie was affected by her mother’s vision of a revitalized Oneida Nation she felt compelled to share that dream with other Native people, particularly those along the eastern coast.  For the first time in generations they heard words of encouragement from a traditional leader that they did not have to abide by the restrictions and humiliations imposed upon them by the dominant aliens but that they had indigenous rights, which needed to be brought forth.  Maisie believed that their identity, as Native people should become a source of pride followed by a demand for respect.

This worked for the Oneidas and for many others. But Maisie was never unkind or confrontational.  She made friends everywhere and with everyone.

The rituals, which followed her physical death, gave her family comfort and assurance that they would be with her again in another place. The traditional beliefs regarding death are the most logical and wonderful of any spiritual discipline I know of.

The teachings, as adhered to by Maisie, tell of how our spirits came to this planet from somewhere else.  We were given the breath of life as a gift for which we are to express our gratitude. Our physical bodies came from the earth, the planet, and were designed so that we may see, feel, smell, taste and hear the beautiful things of this world and when we return the body to our “mother” we take those experiences with us as we return back to the place where light itself lives and is aware.  Death , as the physicists would say, is a relatively simple transfer of energy from one condition to another. Nothing ends but everything will become something else.  That is what we are told when someone dies with the exception that human consciousness as to awareness of place and time is carried into the next reality.

The rituals are meant to assure the spirit that the transformation must take place with grace as it does require adjustment.  We in this reality need to release the spirit so we have counsellors who talk to us, place this experience in the right perspective, lift our grief and remind us that we have a duty to carry on our respective responsibilities which means we must live.

We were told at Maisie’s funeral that our stay here is limited with the number of our days known in the spirit world.  We should not live in fear of dying but to know each one of our lives has great meaning to the universe.

No guilt, no shame, no fear.

 That is how Maisie was and how she passed from here to another place of being.  The people gathered by the hundreds at Oneida, in the longhouse she pressed to have built, on a territory she loved and defended. They heard the words as spoken by Sakokwanonkwas and Kahnonson. They heard of how Maisie enjoyed the ceremonies, guided the children, advised the leaders, and fulfilled her duties as a mother to her six children in the best way she knew how. The people saw Maisie’s body returned to the embrace of the earth and how everything was done in a manner consistent with the traditions she sought to restore and uphold at Oneida.

It was good, it was right and it was enough.