*Rite of Passage*
Before a marriage can be official
the couple and their families must go through a union process. It starts with
separation, a four-day engagement between the families in which they interact
and bond with the couple and their new family. Day one consists of the bride
going to spend the day with the groom’s family. She will learn his family
history, bond with the family and gain their acceptance through cooking and
housework. They will make things
hard for her, badger her and try to break her spirit. The second day the groom
goes to the bride’s family and spends the day bonding with them. While there he
must learn her history and gain acceptance through hunting and showing his
element mastery. Her family will test him as well. On the third day the couples
return to their own families to get feedback and spend a last day with their
inner family before their new life starts. The fourth and final day both of the
families come together to give approval and decide where they will live. This
four-day process is done to show your in-laws you are worthy of their child and
iron out details.
Next is the liminal phase, after
the four days the bride and groom must leave with nothing but the clothes on
their backs for a week long test to survive in the wilderness, they have nothing but each
other and their element strength. They must rely on each other if they
want to be successful. They are together but alone and away from their village. They must decide if with struggle and hardship they can depend on each other and
build a lasting union. Even though it is meant to test them in this phase they are free to live their last days of
youth with no expectations. After this week there is no turning back they will be
expected to have children and be productive in the village. Potential lies in
finding ones true self and showing you are capable of a life long union. If they are not ready to grow up or decide they can not manage a life with eachother they return home before the seventh day and are not a considered a valuable part of society.
The last stage is reincorporation,
on the seventh day when the couple returns home and their union is cemented. The
families throw a festive celebration for the new union of family. They are now recognized
as a married couple and get words of advice and wisdom from their in-laws and
their elders. They are now active members of the village and expected to be
fruitful.
Family
The first day of every fall all the
families in a village bring their surplus harvest or meat to the center of the
village. After everyone has put their extra food into a pile the eldest
villagers do an element praise to thank the creator that provided them with
power. The eldest start the ceremony because they have been on this planet the
longest and are closer to the elements. After the element praise any new child
that was born is walked to the center of the crowd and the entire village does
an element chant on the youngest villages to ensure longevity and
prosperity. After the old and
young leave the middle of the circle the ceremony kicks off with dance and
element practice. The first fall ceremony is to thank the creator for providing
food, pay homage to the elders and bless the young. The families that do not
have enough food for the winter get to take as much as they need until all the
food is gone. Sharing and praising the elements allows for the village to
flourish and enrich family bonds.
Government
Every
four years the elites of the element nations throw elaborate extravagant
celebrations. No one has to work or labor that day the children do not have to
practice elements and everything stops for the event. Each nation leader provides
food, drinks and entertainment for the villagers. At the end of the night there
is a tournament, the tournament is held in honor of the elements and re-enacts
the original offense that lead to the elements being sent away. Ten of the strongest villagers men and
women battle through the night. Each person showcases their power and diligence
with the element. The battle appeases the elements and satiates their need for
war. The battle lasts until there is only one person standing. At the end of
the battle everyone chants the element and praises the victor of the battle. It
is a great honor and grants you access to the elites. The winner is often
chosen to teach at the military schools or head military campaigns, both being
great distinctions in any nation.
Religion
Every
two years the elders of the village take the children to on sacred element
retreats that last two weeks. Starting around the age of eight and ending
around sixteen the children go to the camps to learn and master their element
skills. In the camps the children must pray for patience, peace, wisdom,
restraint and strength these along with other virtues are necessary to master a
skill. The children learn their element history and work to control and harness
the element. The sacred retreats are to impart the knowledge of the elders on
the youth and help them mature their powers. If a child is not successful they
bring shame to their element, which brings shame to their family. The younger
children take the lessons and learn while the teens demonstrate proficiency. At
the end of the two weeks a ceremony is held for the youth that successfully
master their element. They are praised and do element dances to worship their
element. This retreat is important because for a person to even be considered
for marriage they must master their element.
Marriage
The
first full moon of every New Year all of the youth from surrounding villages
that are twelve and over join together for a union ceremony. The ceremony is
held in a different village each year. Everyone dresses up in formal element
wear and goes to see if they are interested in marrying any of the other
youths. The ceremony starts with the boys doing elemental battles to show
strength and gain favor from the elements. The girls then do an elemental dance
showing their elemental prowess. While the youth can participate in the union
ceremony they cannot be completely spoken for until they master their element.
This allows time for the children to mature, pick who they want to be with and
gives the parents an idea of who they like. While it is generally up to the
children arranged marriages do happen when families are trying to pair up
certain families. At the of the ceremony youth that have chosen a partner and
mastered their skill announce their engagement.
First off, I'm commenting on your culture because I can't comment on either of my first two cultures.
ReplyDeleteThere are some similarities and differences between our two culture's rituals. Bonding seems to be the most prominent similarity found in both of our family rituals. Your ritual consists of sharing and praising the elements which allows for rich family bonds among your culture. In my culture, we make a journey once every six days to a sacred lake, this journey allows us to come closer to one another. A difference in ritual for both societies is the marriage ritual. In your culture there might be an arranged marriage, in ours there is no arranged marriages. For our government ritual the similarity is the competition that occurs. The difference between our competitions is in our culture, the winner of the competition is the leader of our culture, while your winner maybe the head of military campaigns or teach at military schools. Both rituals however, end with great honor. Your religious ritual seems to focus solely on the children and not the entire society. Our ritual wants all animals to love and be respectful to one another.
It seems that a cultural factor for our religious differences is in our praising to a higher power. Your culture bases religion around the elements, while we base our religion around the Heart (from which we were created) and St. Francis of Assisi. The cultural factors that contribute the similarities of our family rituals seems to be the close family bonds that our culture shares. We Labs have a pack mentality especially during our ritual where it's the only time both male and female are allowed to hunt together. This brings us closer together as a pack. During your ritual everyone shares during the feast, it doesn't matter how much you can contribute, you'll always get your fill. A cultural difference for our wedding ritual is the idea of arranged marriages. Now I know you stated that usually the child picks their soul mate, but sometimes arranged marriages happen. In our culture, we feel animals should get to be wed no matter their economic situation or status. If two animals love each other, they should be wed. A cultural factor which shows similarities in our government ritual is the people. In my ritual the people choose the best representative of their species and then when all are chosen, the representatives must compete in a series of competitions. Then at the end, after a leader is chosen, a feast is given in all attendees honor. Your government allows their people to have a day off of any labor or practice and provides them with a bountiful feast. Then a competition occurs as well in which the winner gets a very nice prize.
Based off your narrative, your government ritual could be a technological ritual. I believe this to be true because in your culture the elements are the rulers and only those elements may rule their societies, which allows them to control nature how they see fit. Ideological ritual is the best example for your family I believe, because in your narrative you say that all family members must be hospitable to one another, doesn't matter if you know them or not. This puts into place the proper values on how your society should run. Rite of passage to me fits best for your religious ritual. This is because in your narrative you said to master your element is religion, this statement sounds like in order to master your element you'd have to go through some kind of process, like certain phases to do so. Sounds like a lot of training at a young age. In your narrative you say that marrying outside of your family is forbidden this to me sounds like rites of identification. I feel it's this ritual because rites of identification are supposed to bring the community closer together and connect to the past. Your ritual of marriage only allows members of the same family to get wed which brings the family as a whole closer together while still keeping the rules of the past alive.
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ReplyDeleteI actually have to comment here, but I noticed some similarities and differences between our cultural rituals. There is praising to the Gods in our culture as in your family ritual and there is sharing of burdens in our marriage ritual as in your family ritual. Our political rituals are additionally similar due to the involvement or presence of ritualized violence; our rite of passage for our political elders includes a violent pilgrimage in contrast to your culture's literal fight for power. There are many differences between the rituals of our cultures however, and I attribute this to some underlying religious and general ideological factors. Our culture is polytheistic (therefore there is not just one creator, and we are not a warrior culture; we have reformed from those ways, which we practiced hundreds of years ago. There is really only a hierarchy in our society for the purpose of pragmatic organization and labor delegation. I believe your culture's rituals can be classified as such: Your family ritual is a protective ritual in an effort to give tribute to the Gods and protect from starvation in the fact of harsh environmental factors. The government ritual could be described as an anti-therapy ritual; it seeks to bring about chaos and violence, though for a political and entertaining purpose. The marriage and religious rituals can be seen as ideological rites of passage because children must demonstrate their societally defined worth if they can marry or practice religion, and religious ideals and marriage serve to solidify social bonds and shared ideologies.
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