The land I come from is a dangerous one. I live in a jungle with trees so tall that their roots are even sticking out of the ground. The leaves of these trees span on for miles--we walk on leaves and live on them. We spend much of our time in the trees--it's a lot safer than the ground. We have very few lakes and rivers; instead we get out water from the trees.
http://hog-heaven.blogspot.com/2006/11/tree-village.html
CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE
A. NORMS:
1. We share plates of food. We do not waste materials.
2. It is normal for hunter-warriors to wear tight, form-fitting clothes. We wear clothes according to the job in our society. We do not think twice about how revealing an outfit is because it is normal for us.
3. We do not believe in privacy. We bathe and change clothes in front of each other. We even have sex in front of others if we want sex.
4. When you greet a Faiwar, you must put your forehead to their forehead with your hands behind their ears. This is also how we say good-bye.
5. Never touch a Faiwar without their permission. We are very paranoid and the slightest touch will result in your harm.
B. VALUES
1. We value materials and space. We hate to waste materials and space which means we use it wisely.
2. We value independence of an individual as long as it means their independence keeps them and ourselves safe and happy. We need Faiwar to learn to survive, but we need to ensure we all survive as well.
3. We value strength and intellect. From a young age we train our children to be strong, and the smartest children we send outside of our culture to initiate growth in our community. Although we desire growth, we are not willing to deviate from our culture. We send our strongest warriors to travel with these young intelligence.
4. We value equality. We do not tolerate mistreatment of each other. If we are angry we gather together
5. We value community. It is important to spend time with other Faiwar, and to help them out if they need it. We love the elderly of our culture too. We live long lives because of our community.
C. WORLDVIEW
I believe in peace, but I am practical. I realize that I have to kill and use violence to survive. I respect life, and I only take that which is necessary. Faiwar hate to waste the environment needlessly. We believe in freedoms as well so long as harm does not come to life. Life includes plants and animals in addition to Faiwar.
D. SYMBOLS
E. CLASSIFICATIONS OF REALITY
1. Dead and alive. To be dead your body no longer works. To be alive, you have a body that still works.
2. Age: child, adult, and elder. A child is one who is too young to take care of themselves (ages birth to 15); adult is one who is old enough to survive on their own and to take care of the community (age 15+); elder is someone who is too old to survive on their own (age varies).
3. Kinship: Parent, Elder, and Child: Parents are acknowledged because they keep their children until the age of five. The Elders are those that are also a parental figure--they dispense wisdom and help raise the community. The Child is a young person the community is raising.
4. Colors: Green, Turquoise, Murky Green, Red, Yellow, Black, & Gray are color categories with lighter and darker versions within each of these categories.
STRUCTURE/SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
We have Faiwar Counsel, which is an institution that makes decisions on behalf of our Faiwar. All Faiwar attend the counsel, but the members of the counsel initiate and end the discussion. Their wisdom usually reigns supreme, and their decisions are final. We also have the All-Knowing which is our educational institution. Here Childs learn outside knowledge to advance our culture. We have our Care-Shelter which is similar to a hospital. They give medical attention as needed. Our Career Initiative is the organization in charge of all of the careers in our culture. Once a child is of age to learn a trade, they come to the Career Initiative and tell them what they want to learn. The initiative then sees over their training. We respect all careers in our culture, understanding that they keep us all alive. Therefore, we do not have class distinctions. Additionally, we do not practice marriage. Sometimes, Faiwar people stick to only one partner, but usually they do not. We have rituals for when a child becomes an adult and for death.
AREAS OF CULTURAL EMPHASIS
Plant life is huge in Faiwar culture since there are many reasons why we use plants (food, medicine, to avoid). For this reason, we have a lot of names for plants, trees, bushes, flowers, etc. We also have a lot of weapons to defend ourselves, to hunt, and to build. We have descriptions when we discuss making weapons, killing, hunting, and building. We recognize a difference between sex, but we do not separate genders like Earth usually does. For this reason, one may recognize in our language that we rarely distinguish sex. Usually sex only comes up if a birthing Faiwar is pregnant, giving birth, or lactating.
