Holly Pruett
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Stories
  • Services
  • About Holly
  • Life-Cycle Ceremonies
    • Overview
    • Beginning of Life
    • Coming of Age
    • Weddings & Unions
    • Mid-Life
    • End of Life
    • Organizations & Community

Elephants Never Forget

12/29/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
As a Celebrant I've served young and old, living and dead, humans and pets - but never before have I celebrated a family of pachyderms!

Portland loves the elephants who for more than 50 years have thrived at the Oregon Zoo. This month their new habitat opened, four times the size of their previous space and setting a new standard for elephant health and well-being.

I was asked to help create a dedication for the grand opening, one that honored each member of this beloved family, that showcased their individual attributes along with the features of their new world-class home.

I know the question of housing any animals in a zoo is unsettling to some, and these Asian elephants are certainly far from their native lands. But the Oregon Zoo has done a remarkable job in support of this endangered species. Some of their research discoveries have even been applied in Asia to reduce human-elephant conflict.

PictureEast African mother mourns her baby (c) BBC
The three-generation-strong family of elephants at the Oregon Zoo proves the adage that home is where the herd is. The seven (five of whom were born in Portland) are inter-related and inter-dependent. How this matriarchal society lives can teach us more than a thing or two. 

The entire herd shares in the care and tutelage of their young. Chendra, rescued in Malaysia orphaned and hungry with a gun shot wound to her left eye, earned her full place in the herd when she became doting auntie to baby Lily.

Elephants join dolphins, apes, and humans as the only animals known to recognize their reflections in a mirror. According to Scientific American, elephants can recognize and keep track of the location of as many as 30 companions at a time. The researcher says, "Imagine taking your family to a crowded department store and the Christmas sales are on. What a job to keep track of where four or five family members are. These elephants are doing it with 30 traveling-mates."

There are numerous accounts of elephants grieving: shedding tears, standing vigil over their dead for as long as three days, traveling long distances to visit the bones or dying grounds, moving the bones, perhaps even trying to bury' them.

PictureShine welcomes Tusko back to the herd
We don't yet know how grief is affecting the Oregon Zoo elephant family, but it followed immediately on the heels of the joyous habitat grand opening for the elephants' human family.

On December 22 the Zoo announced with great sadness the death of Tusko, at 44 one of the oldest and largest male Asian elephants in North America. A former circus elephant, he suffered from a decades-old leg injury and had been in poor health.

Six months earlier Tusko had been able to rejoin the herd after more than a year of medical treatment. The Zoo reported that the rest of the family greeted him with "a chorus of chirps, trumpets and thunderous roars". Apparently when Sung-Surin (known as Shine) first walked up to Tusko, "her roars sounded like something out of Jurassic World."

Tusko's return was particularly important to his male offspring Samudra, as Sam learns how to be an adolescent bull. Tusko made his mark on the new habitat, too. The builders counted on him to "Tusko-proof" many of the new features, knowing if they were suitable for this gentle giant, they would work for the rest of the herd.


The obituary released by the Oregon Zoo recognizes Tusko's legacy and the interdependence of his elephant and human families: "Tusko's energy, strength and spirit live on in the personalities of his two Oregon Zoo calves, Samudra and Lily, as well as in the new Elephant Lands habitat, the design of which he helped inspire."

The humans who worked with, cared for, observed, and learned from Tusko over his decade at the Oregon Zoo were deeply saddened by Tusko's physical decline and death. It's not hard to imagine that his deeply connected elephant family is now mourning his death too. Tusko, no doubt, will be remembered.

Elephant Lands Dedication

Home is truly where the herd is. As we welcome our herd into their new home, we begin with Rose-tu, who shares a name with the City of Portland, and is named after her mother and grandmother. To Rose-Tu, the devoted mother of our Sam and Lily, we dedicate our state-of-the-art barn, which has everything you and future mothers need to take care of your babies.

To our youngest, to underscore the investment our region’s voters have made to the future of the herd. To rambunctious young Lily, great-granddaughter of our first elephant Rosie, we dedicate our splash pool and water cannon. We know how much you’ll enjoy playing in the shooting stream of water and how much your family – and all of us – will enjoy watching you do what elephants love to do with water.

Lily is not the only young elephant who loves water play. Her big brother, Samudra, loves to swim. In fact, his name means Lord of the Ocean. To Sam, the very first third-generation elephant to be born in the United States, we dedicate the new 160,000-gallon pool, so you can swim to your heart’s content and expend some of that new adolescent energy.
​
This is for Tusko, the gentle papa of Lily and Sam. To you, Tusko, we dedicate Forest Hall, our new 43-foot tall indoor facility. Despite your gentle nature, you did your part to make this habitat great by “Tusko-proofing” its features during construction!

And now for Auntie Chendra, who was found in Borneo — orphaned, alone, and hungry. Chendra, to you we dedicate our natural habitat timed feeders; with your new family, in your home here at Elephant Lands, you will never be hungry again.

To the herd’s matriarch, Auntie Sung-Surin, we chose a fitting tribute for this daughter of Packy and Pet. Sung-Surin, to you we dedicate the outdoor shelters because your name in Thai means Sunshine and we know you prefer to stay dry.

This community loves elephants, in no small part thanks to Packy, the oldest male of his kind in the country, born 53 years ago right here at Oregon Zoo. His birth made international headlines, and ushered in a whole new era of elephant care and welfare. To Packy, our icon and your herd’s venerable patriarch, we dedicate the square footage of this new habitat -- four times the size of your previous home -- a space large enough for your family to stay together. For home is where the herd is.

~ dedication delivered by Metro Council members at Elephant Lands Grand Opening, December 15, 2015
Picture
Click image to watch a two-minute montage from baby Lily's first three years, including when she meets her dad Tusko for the first time, the herd's entrance into their new habitat, and good times with a pumpkin!
1 Comment

Solstice: The Wheel of Life

12/21/2015

5 Comments

 
PictureWinter Solstice Candle Wreath
These short, dark days can be difficult, especially when they come soaked in relentless sheets of rain as they have here in Portland this December.

There's no better reminder that we're tethered to the wheel of life: the longest night, followed by the return of the sun, the larger order we are part of, a cycle of change and renewal.

As Phillip Moffitt writes, "There is no new dawn without the night; their seeming separateness disguises a unity that reflects the unity of life, an unfathomable dance of opposites. This paradox is the very essence of what it is to be alive—joy and pain, sickness and health, light and dark, wonder and fear." 

This year, as last, I'm celebrating the winter solstice with a three-part invocation built off Moffat's words:
  • In honor of all the dark times within us and all who now suffer in pain, with sickness, in fear.
  • In honor of the light within each of us, our capacity to feel, anticipate, and generate joy, health, and wonder.
  • In honor of our great teacher, Mother Nature, who shows us how to hold it all, joy and pain, sickness and health, light and dark, wonder and fear, in one continuous cycle of being.​

I offered this twice yesterday: first in a class I led on Winter Rituals at Portland Nursery, then at a Death Cafe I hosted at our grand Central Library. At the Nursery we shared stories of winter traditions from our families and explored a bit of the old world origins of the holiday customs that persist today in their commercialized and Christianized guises. After we'd each decorated a candle wreath we admired each other's creations and blessed each other with this simple chant:

May the dark days of winter nourish you well. May the light of your candle illuminate your connection to the great wheel of life. 

This morning I slept through the dawning of the shortest day of the year; I slept as long as I needed. I rose and lit the candle in the center of my solstice wreath, the candles on my mantle, the colored bulbs on my Christmas tree. I'm savoring the cozy home I'm so fortunate to have as 50 mph winds tumble the world outside my windows.

In honor of the great wheel of life and all we remember during these dark days, some images from the Holten Canadian War Cemetery in the Netherlands, where each Christmas Eve 300 school children light candles and place them on each grave at dusk. The graveyard holds the bones and the stories of 1,394 servicemen who died in the final days of WWII as Canadian troops advanced into northern Germany.

As the cemetery web site says of this annual candle-lighting ceremony: "It is hoped that the youth will learn this lesson; war must be prevented, freedom is not to be taken for granted and every effort must be made to maintain peace and democracy. 

"It is difficult for children who have not experienced war to understand what it means for their country to be occupied, what it is to live in terror or the horror of a concentration camp. The soldiers who are buried in Holten gave their lives for our freedom, that we can now live peacefully in a democratic society. By telling and retelling the story, we pay respect to those who gave their lives and hope that the children (the responsible adults of the next generation) will keep the light of freedom burning."


Peace be with you all, in darkness and in light. 

Picture
click on the image to watch the home video that's making the rounds on Facebook
5 Comments
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    October 2012
    September 2012

    Author

    I want to know your story. And I want to help you tell it. If you’re eager to embrace the meaning in your life and to connect more deeply with others, you’ve found a kindred spirit in me.

    Categories

    All
    Adventures
    Anniversaries
    Beginning Of Life
    Ceremonies
    Coming Of Age
    Community
    House Rituals
    Memorials
    Pet Loss
    Publications
    Seasons
    Transitions
    Tributes
    Weddings

    RSS Feed


  • Holly Pruett Celebrant LLC – Creative Life Ceremonies from Cradle to Grave
  • Certified Life-Cycle Celebrant ® | Funeral & Wedding Officiant | Interfaith Minister
  • holly@hollypruettcelebrant.com | 503.348.0967 | Portland, Oregon, USA
  • Copyright © 2012 | Design by Red Door Designs
  • eMail
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google Plus
  • RSS Feed
Design by Weebly Templates and Weebly Themes
Storybrand Website Design by Red Door Designs