HAMILTON, NEW ZEALAND:  
The Maori Brothers Association isn’t a lodge. Like the Caribbean Degree Team in Ontario ,the Philippine-Canadians who gather to support a brother, and the Police Degree Teams, the Maori brothers  gather in New Zealand for special occasions. In fact, their assembling helps make any occasion special.

Buddy Raukaua had died some time ago.  His son Douglas had  died within the past year. Both were Past Masters of Lodge Te Marama No. 186, a country lodge in Taupiri. The village is on the main rail line between the capital of Aukland and Hamilton, New Zealand’s fourth largest city.

Norrie Keenan, Worshipful Master of Lodge Tawhiri No. 166 in Hamilton had the pleasure of passing his son, Shaun Jarod Nankervis, to the second degree.

These were the reasons why the Maori Brothers Association had chosen to meet here this particular evening and Lodge Te Marama. 

WHY NEW ZEALAND?

It was one of those rare February days in New Zealand.  I’d left the land of ice and snow and was basking in the summer of the southern hemisphere. Masonic traveling creates coincidences.  Two years ago I was visiting Mimico Lodge in Toronto because my wife was entertaining her book club. . Dick Morgan from  Hamautari Lodge in Hamilton New Zealand was a fellow traveler that night, visiting his son in Toronto. The following year Dick  introduced me to Andy Shearer, a Past Master of Tawhiri, with whom I arranged exchange visits this year. Andy invited George Heath and myself to see a Maori degree in a country lodge, so instead of a snow storm in Toronto, we were parking the car in a pasture adjoining the country lodge.

THE ASSEMBLY

The brethren  came from valley villages and surrounding towns and from lodges in larger cities to share in the work and honor Norrie and Shaun. . One by one the Maori brethren assumed the chairs of the regular officers.  The work of the evening opened with an invocation from the chaplain, first in English, which I understood, then a different version in Maori, the significance of which I was to appreciate days later when Norrie and I were sipping a tea  together.

Each Maori community has a meeting house. It is less than a church and more than a cultural centre, encapsulating the tradition of the families and individuals of the tribe in art work and carving. It is in these buildings that much of the oral tradition of history and music is passed to the next generation, and oh my, is the music beautiful!

NOT REALLY GONE

The ancestors aren’t worshiped, but they are remembered and appreciated.  Norrie explained that, according to tradition, the members of the community who die do not leave the community immediately.  Their essence remains part of the daily life so long as they remain in living memory.  This isn’t a ghost story, because there are no ghosts and there is no haunting, but there is a benevolent presence.

So when Norrie assumed the gavel to have the Maori Brother pass Shaun, it was understood that Buddy and Douglas, both deceased, would be a welcome presence. Why not?  They The Craft in life.

But there was a hitch.  These friendly spirits don’t pass uninvited through doors and walls. They only come where they are wanted. They must be invited. ( And remember the tyler at the door!)  So after the chaplain completed the invocation in English, he addressed Buddy and Douglas and explained that their old friend and brother  Norrie was having a special night with Shaun. Would they care to come in and share the brotherhood they had so enjoyed in life?

All this was explained to me by Norrie the following week. The traditional supplication is a “Karakia” in which those who have passed on are invited to watch over the proceedings, whether it be a lodge meeting or a birthday party. 

And when the work of the evening was completed and a benediction was being pronounced by the chaplain. He spoke a second time in Maori, releasing the special visitors to continue their friendly presence within the community.

ROOM FOR DIFFERENCES

Men of good will form Masonic Lodges. The only demands of faith are that the members hold a belief in a Supreme Being, believe in Divine Revelation, and accept that virtue is rewarded and vice is punished.  Any belief beyond these basics is a matter  between a man and the Creator, and his brethren respect that relationship.

As Norrie and I were sipping our afternoon cupper, I asked him, “Were Buddy and Douglas really there?”  

“Yes.  Yes, they were.”  He paused. “We have spiritual views on all things that are natural. The fact that someone has died doesn’t mean he’s disappeared.  Blood in the living is the continuity of life while they breathe air.  Later, their spiritual task is to protect and comfort the people.”

Then he threw the question back at me.

“You were in lodge.  Do you believe they were there?”

I recalled the line from Hamlet, “There are more things in heaven and earth than are  dreamed of in your philosophy, my dear Horatio.”

“Were they there?,” I responded. “I’d like to think so.”

Happy to Meet Again !