In Aotearoa-New Zealand, we are used to certain ancestral "tribal" ideas. Since the Maori people were colonised only 170 years ago, these ideas have not been lost. Because Maori and many white British descendants (pakeha) have close and familial relationships very often, the pakeha population, such as myself, has absorbed easily the ideas of Maoridom.

Maori are not a homogenous "race". Groups of sea-faring adventurers arrived on these islands, all at different times from c.1200 CE onwards. When a group of canoes arrived, they would set up camp and begin their new life on that territory. The next group of canoes would arrive 30 years later, somewhere else, and likewise, that group would set up on that different territory.

So in Aotearoa-New Zealand, what we have is actually not "Maori" in the homogenous sense, but tribes who are named after the ancestor who led the journey across the great, wide Pacific Ocean for that particular group. The territory they settled would also be named after that ancestor.

The land is called "whenua" and also is the placenta of a baby. When a baby is born, the plancenta (whenua) is buried in that earth (whenua). Are we starting to see the resonance yet of what your "Motherland" might be, from just this one example?

The people are called "tangata" and if you are of that territory, you are the "tangata whenua" - the people of that particular land or region. The term "tangata whenua" also has a general application, meaning "the people of the land" or "Maori" (generically). What we're discussing here is the first definition... The People of THIS particular place. That is tangata whenua.

ie: You got here, in the 21st century because of your lineage back through your ancestors who came before you. This lineage in Maori is called "whakapapa". When you can "whakapapa" (recite your family lineage) back through the original chiefs and tribes who landed there, you can claim that place. That piece of geography is then known as your "turangawaewae" - your "stomping ground". This is the place of your ancestors, where they once walked and because of that lineage, that place is also "rightfully" yours to walk as well.

The modern day expression of these things in the Maori culture are in a perfect parallel with what Anastasia talks about in the "Ringing Cedars of Russia" books. She herself lives on her ancestral land or "turangawaewae" just a short walk from where her grandfather lives. They hold dear the things of their culture, the memory of their ancestors held in stories and loved ones of the closer centuries whose memories are held in the trees that are planted all around the home base. She knows her own family histories, and collective "tribal" history of the people she comes from. Anastasia calls her tribe the "Vedrus" meaning, the Vedic Russians of the Siberian boreal pine forests. She tells the story of how her people spread out all over the Earth at the onset of the last great ice age - around 10,000 BCE. That is how long Anastasia's tribal memory is.

In the Ringing Cedars of Russia books, Anastasia tells us to "Take back your motherland". Most people read this in the generic sense being, "Take back mother Earth", and this could certainly be a legitimate translation of Anastasia's Russian words. However, what my gut tells me is this - What Anastasia was actually saying was: "Take back YOUR motherland" ... YOUR motherland.

So where is your motherland? This is the first step you need to take, to figure out where the best place is for you and your family to settle in all of the Earth. Where IS your Motherland?

You see... It's pointless for you to try to take back "somebody else's" motherland... It will never truly, genetically, to the core of your bones, feel like "home". There will always be something inside of you that doesn't fit.

Over millennia, people of every race under the sun have adapted. Those individuals whose physiology and psychology could weather the elements, adapt to the foods of that place, and be in harmony with living there, quite simply "survived". This is the "survival of the fittest". So way, way back in your genetic make-up, you are perfectly adapted to certain environments over others.

If these environments are places where generations of your ancestors have lived before you, their blood and bones are calling to you from that ground. This is your "holy ground". That place is your Motherland or Fatherland. THAT is the place of your ancestors.

Once you've figured that out for yourself, your next decision will be, "How connected do I feel to that land? Is it burning in my heart to return there, to the land of my ancestors?"

This is the way it must be. We must soul-search deeply.

We can't "fake" our heritage. The heart knows where "home" is, so it's no good trying to create a "motherland" for yourself when in your heart, you know it's not home.

This is a good beginning point. This is the level of honesty we must bring ourselves to, before we make the decision to stay in a country that has no familial roots for us. This is the biggest question you must ask. And when you have fully satisfied yourself, that where you stand truly is your Motherland, then you must love that land with all of your heart, and you must love the people who are native to that land with all of your heart also.

It is you who have made the decision to stay...

It is you who must now learn to assimilate into that new culture, climate and food options that come from that land. If you are not happy to adopt these things, you are not in your Motherland, and you will never be happy.

The time for stark black and white reality has arrived:

Where is your Motherland?