A Voice from the Eastern Door
A Voice from the Eastern Door
KATSITSIONNI MELISSA FOX (MOHAWK), DIRECTOR/PRODUCER Katsitsionni Melissa Fox has been making films since 2003. Her credits include: Sacredly Stoked, a short drama related to the traditional uses of tobacco. This film was distributed across Ontario and partially funded by Cancer Care Ontario. Two films which she recently produced, Akwesasne Transcending Borders and Akwesasne the Little Boy were commissioned by community funding agencies. Katsitsionni has personal experience in many of these rites of passage, growing up in the Akwesasne Mohawk territories in northern New York. She has an understanding and respect for these traditions that can only come from being immersed in them all of her life.
(Vision Maker Media) Lincoln, Nebraska - Follow the challenging journey of two Mohawk girls as they take part in their traditional passage rites to becoming Mohawk women. Ohero:kon-Under the Husk is a 27-minute documentary that focuses on Kaienkwinehtha and Kasennakohe as they both take part in a four-year adolescent passage rites ceremony called ohero:kon "under the husk" that has been revived in their community.
Ohero:kon-Under the Husk premieres at the imagineNative Festival in Toronto, Oct. 20. The film will release nationally to public television stations Feb. 25, 2017.
Kaienkwinehtha and Kasennakohe are childhood friends from traditional families living in the Mohawk Community of Akwesasne that straddles the U.S./Canada border. The ceremony challenges them spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically. It shapes the women they become.
"A lot of who I am now has to do with the way I was when I was out there, what I learned," Kaienkwinehtha said.
Pre-industrial and pre-colonial contact societies marked and celebrated the various transitions from birth-to-adulthood-to-parenthood-to-old age-to-death. As societies entered the Industrial Age, or were colonialized by emerging industrial societies, these traditions were lost or suppressed. Many anthropologists, such as Margaret Mead in Coming of Age in Samoa (1973) or Barbara Myerhoff in Number Our Days (1978) have commented that the loss of these rituals and celebrations have led to increased anxiety during adolescence (Mead) or for the elderly (Myerhoff) because they no longer have clearly defined expectations for these stages of life. Coming-of-age rituals served this and many other useful functions for all members of a society.
"This ceremony had not been practiced for generations and yet it was able to be revived to strengthen our youth," said Mohawk Director/Producer Katsitsionni Melissa Fox. "I knew early on [in the ceremony] that something magical was unfolding right in front of me and that it was going to change our community forever. I felt compelled to document and share this story, and I did so through the eyes of two Mohawk girls making their transition into women."
This rite of passage ceremony was a desperate attempt by Mohawk Clan Mother Louise Herne, to remedy social ills the youth faced, including alcohol and drug abuse, domestic violence, self-harm, suicide and loss of culture and language.
"There's a difference between shaming a young girl into her physical transformation versus celebrating her...I like to think of it as an ancestral calling and it's calling our kids home," Herne said.
The film documents the revival of the ceremony and how it has grown over the past 10 years, from seven Native youth participants to over 70. It has had a far-reaching effect, with sister communities following suit in these teachings.
This program was produced by Two Row Production LLC for a presentation of Vision Maker Media, with major funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Funding for Ohero:kon-Under the Husk was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Vision Maker Media.
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