The queen and we

Culture Matters

DARA E HEALY

“The new queen is expected to perform several tasks, including showing a leadership role among the women of the First Peoples Community ... and demonstrate an inclusive and unifying leadership, placing high value on traditional knowledge and beliefs...”

THE SUDDEN passing of Jennifer Cassar, queen of the indigenous Santa Rosa community in Arima, has meant that they must now elect someone to serve in this role. Traditionally, the queen herself would identify someone to continue her legacy, based on her assessment of their qualities and character.

As public discussion about this process continues, I remembered her humility and wondered if more should have been done at a national level to recognise her status and of those who came before her. This was a queen in our midst, but what did this really mean?

I wondered too about the governance structure of the community; that is, how can the presence of a chief and a queen be leveraged to generate more knowledge, respect, interest and acceptance of indigenous culture and mores? How can the traditions impact and empower the generations of the now and those to come?

These are the kinds of questions that are being asked about monarchies all over the world. The British monarchy is the most predominant of royal families, so understandably a great deal of attention is placed on what it costs to maintain the royal institution versus how much the family generates as a result of people travelling to the UK just to see them.

However, as you may already know, many ancient peoples developed their own kingdoms, with a specific hierarchy and mode of determining succession to the head of their social order.

“The world’s earliest kingdoms developed thousands of years ago when leaders began conquering and controlling cities and settlements. Rulers of early kingdoms provided protection to their residents, or subjects. In return, subjects paid taxes or services to the monarch. Kingdoms also had the power to create and enforce laws. There have been hundreds, if not thousands, of different kingdoms throughout history.”

Mongolia, Siam (now Thailand), Egypt, Mexico, Swaziland (now eSwatini), China, Iran, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Monaco, India ... all of these countries have had or still have their own version of royalty.

“Ancient Egypt was one of the oldest and longest lasting world civilizations. It was located along the Nile River in the northeast part of Africa and lasted for over three thousand years.”

Much of their legacy still impacts our lives today. For instance, the pyramids and the mathematical genius that they represent, their agricultural understanding of seasons and their sophisticated appreciation of spirituality and the connection between man and the divine.

The ancient Mayan civilisation was vast, comprising people from Mexico and other parts of Central America, reaching south to Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras. The Classic Maya Period is the most well-known. It “is the era which saw the consolidation of power in the great cities of the Yucatec Maya such as Chichen Itza and Uxmal... This period was the height of the Maya civilization in which they perfected mathematics, astronomy, architecture and the visual arts and also refined and perfected the calendar.”

Hawaii was at one point called the Kingdom of Hawaii. According to research “the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii was Queen Liliuokalani. Queen Liliuokalani was forced to abdicate, or resign, in 1893. The United States annexed the Hawaiian Islands in 1898, ending the kingdom.”

Throughout time, indigenous and ancient communities have had to defend their traditions and their right to have their own space. The Santa Rosa peoples are only too familiar with this history of displacement. Their ancestors were pushed further and further out of the city (where they traded and made homes) to make room for French planters who came with their enslaved through the Cedula of Population, 1783.

Another example cited is that of King Thibaw and Queen Supayalat, last monarchs of Burma (now Myanmar) who lost control to British colonists and were exiled to India.

The lessons are there throughout history for us to receive. The mandate of the new queen must therefore reach further than mentioned above. Her reign should not just be for the remaining indigenous population, but resonate outwards to strengthen not just them, but we.

Dara E Healy is a performance artist, communications specialist and founder of the NGO, the Indigenous Creative Arts Network – ICAN