Section Three: ESSAY

            In the beginning of time, Coelis, the godspirit of family, created two peoples. He created the cheecamiari’hoa, the white men, from stone and the Tai’hoa from wood. The cheecamiari’hoa left the Forest and lost their ability to breathe the Forest’s air. But the Tai’hoa stayed, and Coelis taught and raised them into the people they are today. 

            The Tai’hoa’s language, while full of nouns for the hundreds of different species of trees, animals, and ghost creatures, also has a vast amount of words that describe their two thought worlds, the spirit world beneath the roots of the Forest and the bright world that rests on the tops of the tallest trees, the moryero. Nouns and proper nouns in tai’hoaka are either very vague, as mory means tree, or very specific, as tan’morysayh refers to the sacred spirit groves of the Tai’hoa. Simple words are put together to describe specific things.They have a lot of words, a lot of adjectives, and they love to hum or talk. Their stories are of the spirits, the ghost creatures, the godspirits, and the creation of the Forest. They also like to tell stories about their pasts, events and occurrences that happened to them or to their families or to people they know.

            Recently a blight struck an urnatai (silverfruit) grove near one of the villages and, through trade, the fungus spread through four other villages. When consumed, the person experienced about ten days of feverish delusions and cravings. Many wandered into the Forest, either to be eaten or brought back by a ghost creature. Words were created and put together to describe and define the plague, which has since been dubbed polhonhin, or the sickness of wandering death, after a particularly charming species of ghost spirit that whispers to dreaming people and tempts them beyond their village’s protection.

            When the six tribes split and settled in their respective parts of the Forest, language change occurred. The tribes of the deep forest and to the west didn’t have lakes or rivers, and thus lost the words for such things. When they encounter the lake or river tribe at the Meeting of the Six Trees, and terms for running water or rivers or the lake are used, the tribes that do not encounter these phenomena on a regular basis cannot conjure up meaning for such words. 

            When Tai’hoa children are born, they are cared for closely by their immediate family. And before they learn tai’hoaka, the Tai’hoa language, they learn to hum. Humspeak is an affectionate and intimate level created by pressing sound through our gills, special because it’s the language that is thought to come directly from the heart. Humming is most often used when talking to an infant, mourning a loved one, or making love. As a child grows, their mother and immediate family members integrate spoken tai’hoaka words into the way they speak to the child and, when the child reaches a certain age, they will listen to the stories told by their tribe’s Grandfather Priests, learning the legends of the Tai’hoa people. Humming is the first pre-language vocalizations that Tai’hoa infants make, and although their noises don’t have specific meanings at first, humming is picked up quickly by children.

            There are several different groups of people amongst the Tai’hoa. There are the Grandmothers and the Grandfathers, the rothrael and eng’taigha and varves’wor, apprentices and tradesmen, near friends and far friends, people who are family and people who are not, adults and children, men and women, and so forth.

One of the most noticeable differences in speech patterns between groups of individuals is that between children and adults. The first form of communication that children learn is humming. And as they grow, even through their apprenticeship years, mix humspeak with their tai’hoaka as a sort of slang. It’s only after they finish their apprenticeships and they get married that the amount of humspeak they use lessens immensely, instead using it only during intimate moments with lovers or family members.

            The Tai’hoa are a very intimate people, sitting close together, comforting and greeting each other with hugs, grooming as a form of bonding, etc. Children are raised in the laps of their immediate family members, and families all sleep on one sleeping mat in their tribe’s longhouse. To refuse to touch others can be seen as disrespectful, rude, or even sick, and one is questioned by their family and the Grandfathers on the cause for asocial behavior. When it comes to associating within their tribe or with other tribes at the Meeting of the Six Trees, the Tai’hoa will greet with hugs. The length of the hug depending on the prior relationship to the other person, so a stranger would be greeted with a short, tight squeeze as opposed to greeting an aunt, a Grandmother, or a Grandfather with a long, endearing hug. Making eye contact amongst the Tai’hoa is normal, though it is considered respectful to wait for a Grandmother or Grandfather to lift your chin to make you meet their gaze.

            Metaphors amongst the Tai’hoa refer to things of nature and of the spirit world. Children and babies and apprentices are called little trees and seedlings, referring to their lack of or small asorril tattoos. As a person grows and goes through the stages of life, they receive certain tattoos to signify their passage, and the tree tattoos on their wrists are added to and the trees ‘grow’ with the person’s accomplishments and passages. 

            Men and women of the hunting craft are taught to be stealthy and strategic like ghost creatures, moving in the darkest shadows of the Forest in an attempt to replicate the spirit-like moves of the massive ghost creatures. Depending on their pledges, Grandfathers might be known as the Voice or Eyes of the godspirit that they serve. A really common nickname amongst the Tai’hoa is to call each other the friend of an animal, usually that person’s tamed pet. So someone that has made a pet out of a wolfdog might be called an ewore, or wolfdog friend.

            When a Tai’hoa comes of age, they are apprenticed into one of three trades. The rothrael are the hunters of the tribes, normally hunting smaller game solo or banding together to hunt larger animals. When there are disputes amongst the tribes or with the ess’hy, the rothrael act as the warriors of their village. The varves’wor are a select few of herdsmen, mostly made up of people who displayed particular interest in the animal lore of the Tai’hoa or that were born into herding families. And finally are the eng’taigha, the Tai’hoa craftsmen. The largest trade, eng’taigha are in charge of creating all the little things that make up Tai’hoa life. They create clothing, pottery, weapons, jewelry, mattresses, craft and maintain the longhouses, and are tattoo artists.

            Each of these professions has specific terms and use vocabulary specific to their trade. A rothrael, for example, isn’t going to understand the terms for the kilns, clays, and paints that potter eng’taigha are going to use. They simply won’t make sense to the hunters because they’re not terms that the hunters learn in their apprenticeships or have had to use before. And, vice versa, eng’taigha aren’t going to comprehend hunting terms about tracking, killing, or skinning animals.

            Grandfathers and Grandmothers also develop different vocabularies when they are inducted into either the enthdae’pol’ier, the Grandmother Council, or the sirana’pol’ess, the Grandfather Priests. Grandmothers learn words about honor, ambassadorship, political knowhow, and economy. Grandfathers are taught stories and learn words about karma, spirituality, ritual, and worship so they can lead their village in religious events and rites.

            Descriptions are very important to the Tai’hoa, who experience sight and smell differently than humans do, as they have large eyes to take in as much of the Forest’s dim light as they can and as their tongues are used for both scent and taste. And the Forest itself, though they refer to it as their Mother or Nursing Mother, is a very dangerous place and claims lives often. The central parts of the village that are outside of the tribal longhouses are marked by a string of silver and blue ribbons, hung in the trees higher than a person can reach, in a circle around the village. The Forest beyond the territorial ribbon is called the Mother’s Arms, the Dark Forest, the Ghost Creatures’ Home, terms that are purposefully not negative to avoid displeasing the godspirits.

            The diet of the Tai’hoa people revolves around fruits and meats primarily. They have very specific words to describe the tastes of foods, and their tongues are more enlightened to taste because they double as the center of taste and smell. Everyone in the tribe gathers fruit, especially children. They love to go out together and make themselves productive by collecting fruits for their families. Most of the six tribal longhouses are located near fruit tree groves, so the children never have to venture too far, but one of the responsibilities of being of the hunting craft is to watch over the foraging Tai’hoa whenever they go out. 

             Verbal and nonverbal communication preside equally in the Tai’hoa culture. There are two main forms of body modification amongst the Tai’hoa, piercings and tattoos. Piercings are used to symbolize and signify marriage. When a woman gets married for the first time, a metal hoop painted blue is put through the cartilage of her ear. With ever sequential second husband she marries, another hoop is added to her ear beneath the first one. If a man becomes a woman’s primary husband, blue hoops are pierced through the corners of his bottom lip, but if he becomes a secondary husband two hoops are put through one of his nostrils. 

            Brilliantly blue tattoos are given in commemoration of significant events in the lives of the Tai’hoa. Created from a mixture of ghost creature bones and the sap of the moryero, or the giant trees, the location and manner of the tattoo depends on the event. Tattoos are received when one advances from their apprenticeship, gets married, has children, moves to a new tribe, becomes a widow or widower, becomes a Grandmother or Grandfather, etc.

            Object communication is used primarily when it comes to wooing a woman. If a woman is being courted for the first time, men from all walks of life come forth and present the woman and her mother with all the gifts that they are able to give, and the gifts given depend on the man’s craft: hunters give meat and hides, herdsmen give baby animals and milk, and craftsmen give assortments of baskets, pottery, and clothing. The suitor picked for marriage pays a suitable bride-price, is able to provide for woman, and is emotionally compatible with her, according to her mother, who is thought to know the bride-to-be the best. Objects are also used in the Tai’hoa barter system, as there is no other currency, and trades are presided over by Grandmothers.

            The Tai’hoa are a people quite at home in the vicious Forest in which they preside, dealing day by day with whatever it is the godspirits decide to throw their way. Their language, whether it be humspeak or tai’hoaka is full of feeling and description, thanks to their great ease at observation and intimacy within their families and tribes.

Section One: CULTURE

 A. AVATAR

Example of a Tai'hoa girl

Original Artwork

Background

B. ENVIRONMENT

We thrive. We thrive here. Our forest is our everything, our most sacred mother. That’s what our name for our forest translates to, Nursing Mother. Because no matter where we go or what we do, the forest is always here, all around us, holding us to her bosom and keeping us in her arms. The forest is a mother to all. Everywhere you look, there are plants and creatures and Tai’hoa and the ess’hy, the ghost monsters. All are children of the mother. 

That’s not to say that our forest keeps us safe. Far from it. There are many dangers here, many ways that the forest can kill us. Take the air for example. We have seen outsiders, the cheecamiari’hoa, they came and died. They could not breathe. They did not have oughrama, our gills that let us breathe in the forest’s air. Without our gills we would die. 

The trees of the forest are our family, some of them we know to be ancestors. Some are the ancestors of ess’hy. And some are simply trees. The moryero are the giant trees. They are too tall to see the tops of, and they are the trees that shield us from the brightness of the sun. Our forest is always in shadow, and this is good. Our eyes don’t work well in the brightness, which is why they are so big, so that we can see well in the shadows and near-darkness of our forest’s floor.

It rains a lot in our forest. From what those that have climbed the moryero have told us, the rain that falls on the tops of the trees comes in little drops that do not hurt when they hit your skin. But when the rain from above falls on and collects on the leaves of the giant trees, then it falls to the forest floor in the big drops that hurt when they fall on our skin. When we need food, our hunters and some of the ess’hy will hunt in the rain, because there are creatures and animals that are not hurt by the rain that the hunters can find. But if we do not have to be in the rain, we won’t be. We’d much prefer to be under the shelter of our longhouses. 

C. CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE

NORMS – We keep our feet on the ground. We go about our business pleasantly and avoid confrontations. With the exception of the few the climb the giant trees, the moryero, the Tai’hoa don’t travel beyond our forest world. We are taught not to roughhouse or bicker in our longhouses for fear of upsetting the godspirits. And if food gets scarce, we always feed the Grandparents and children first. We are a simple, colorful people.

VALUES – Our people value the elderly, as our forest doesn’t allow many people to survive until an age when they may be considered a Grandmother or a Grandfather. We try to be a peaceful people, keeping to ourselves and caring for our families. Despite this, there are some disputes amongst tribes and between the Tai’hoa and the ess’hy. We have to remain peaceful amongst each other, because our entire tribe lives in a longhouse and bickering must not occur within the longhouse for fear of upsetting the spirits.

WORLDVIEW - The Tai'hoa see the forest as a mother figure, personified in the godspirit Uveri. The forest gives us all we'll ever need, but at the same time she takes lives sometimes to placate grudges she holds or to feed her ess'hy children. The most important of all the godspirits, she is also the most vengeful. The Gathering at Six Trees is held to placate her every year in hopes of having a blessed year to come.

SYMBOLS

• The Blue Tattoos (a symbol of LIFECYCLES) – A key feature amongst my people are our bright blue tattoos known as asorril. These tattoos are used to mark significant events in our lives such as passing apprenticeship, getting married, have a child or children, moving to a new tribe, becoming a widow or widower, getting initiated into the enthdae’pol’ir or the sirana’pol’ess, and so on. 
• Spirit Groves/ Soul Trees (a symbol of KINSHIP) – When a child is born, a seed from a tan’tas’ayrr tree is planted. These trees are our souls, and they are planted in spirit groves called tan’morysayh. If a village comes under attack, the Tai’hoa will flee to their spirit groves and defend these special trees with their lives. To lose one’s tan’tas’ayrr is to lose the will to live. Men who marry into a different village make pilgrimages to their home tribes once a year to tend to their spirit trees.
• Marriage Piercings (a symbol of MARRIAGE) – When a woman gets married, one of her ears is pierced through the cartilage and a metal hoop painted blue is put through the hole. A woman then continues to add blue hoops beneath the original one with each secondary husband she accumulates. If a man becomes a primary husband, his bottom lip is pierced near the corners and similar blue hoops are put through the holes. If a man becomes a secondary husband, two hoops are put through one of his nostrils.
• The Silver Crowns of the Enthdae’pol’ri (a symbol of GOVERNMENT) – When an elder woman is initiated into the Council of Grandmothers, she is presented with a metal crafted silver crown of leaves, the silver being found lodged in certain trees. When the Grandmother passes away, her crown is presented to her eldest daughter, and is passed down through generations. A family is considered well respected if they have a good number of crowns in their possession.
• The Six Trees (a symbol of RELIGION) – Once a year there is a gathering of all six Tai’hoa tribes at a place called Six Trees, where six moryero grow together, each one the ancestor to a creature that represents one of the tribes. During this gathering, rituals are conducted by the Councils of Grandfathers, treaties with certain ess’hy families are evaluated, and it is a place of reverence and merriment.

CLASSIFICATIONS OF REALITY – Besides the world that we see within the forest, the Tai’hoa know that there is a strange, bright world beyond our mothering forest, that the spirit world resides above the moryero, and that there is a hidden world of ancestors and ess’hy beneath the forest floor in a giant cave. These bright world and the spirit world are frightening to Tai’hoa, places that mothers use as threats to make their children behave. But the hidden world is a dream, where we all wish to go when we pass away.

D. SOCIAL STRUCTURE

GOVERNMENT – There are six Tai’hoa tribes spread throughout our forest. In charge of each group is a Enthdae’pol’ir, a council made up of the elder women of the tribe. These enthdae, or grandmothers, resolve arguments and hear out the complaints of the tribespeople. Equal but opposite of the enth’pol’ir is the sirana’pol’ess, the holy men that lead their villages in our religious endeavors. The rothrael make up the hunters of our people. In times of tribal disputes or battles against the ess’hy, the hunters also act as warriors, protecting first their village and second their village’s spirit groves. The varves’wor are the small group of herdspeople that watch over the domesticated flocks of creatures that make up parts of our diet. And finally there are the eng’taigha, our craftspeople. Amongst these people are the longhouse builders, the furniture makers, the tattoo artists, and the weaponsmasters.

RELIGION – Led by the sirana’pol’ess, which translates to the grandfather council of ghosts, the Tai’hoa worship a pantheon of four godspirits known as the sayh’ghayee: Uveri, the Nurturing Mother and the goddess of the forest; Ielmu, the god of creatures, animals, and the ess’hy; Tyenthine, the god of rain, thunderstorms, and hunting; and Coelis, god of family and protection. Each god is called upon and worshiped in a series of festivals and holy days. Coelis is the only god that is not a nature deity, and he is the only one that is seen as constantly on the side of our people. The others are thought to come and go as they please, and may curse or hold grudges on individuals or tribes as they see fit. 

MARRIAGE – When a Tai’hoa girl comes of age, whenever the enthdae’pol’ir deems her old enough, suitors supply her mother with gifts according to their craft, i.e. hunters supply meat and furs, herdsmen give baby animals, and craftsmen give assortments of objects. The girl’s mother then chooses from amongst the suitors a man that she finds compatible with her daughter as well as someone who will be able to care for her properly. There is a ceremony in the village’s spirit grove uniting the couple. This man, however, will only be the girl’s primary husband. With her husband’s consent, other men that fancy the girl may present gifts to the primary husband, to the girl, may help raise the girl’s children, and may have sexual intercourse with her. Men and women receive certain body piercings to signify that they are married. Suitors from tribes other than the girl’s home tribe make for more attractive matches as they offer brand new starts for the girl.

KINSHIP – In our traditions, we trace our lineages through our mothers. There are two words for a child’s fathers, one for their mother’s primary husband and one used for their mother’s secondary husbands. There are words for big brother, big sister, little sister, and little brother, terms used amongst children birthed from one woman, as they may not have the same biological father. Other than the nuclear family, we refer to any other Tai’hoa person with terms that describe friends: near friend or far friend, depending on whether they are part of our home village or not; old friend or young friend depending on age; and big friend or small friend depending on how close they are to us. And when a Tai’hoa begins to get silver hairs amongst their black, they are to be referred to as Grandfather or Grandmother, except by their children, and this is the highest term of respect amongst our people.

LIFECYCLES – A child is born into one of our six tribes, and they are raised by their mother, their mother’s primary husband, and their mother’s secondary husbands, all of which will care for the child and its siblings. As it grows, the child might show an interest in the craft of its mother or of one of its fathers. When this happens, the child is ritually put into an apprenticeship with another adult in the village, and thus that becomes the child’s craft. After a certain number of years in apprenticeship and ritual testing by the enthdae’pol’ir, the child graduates from apprenticeship and takes on working their craft fulltime, building a reputation and honing their craft. 

E. CULTURAL EMPHASIS

A lot of our worldview revolves around the forest, family, and spirits. We have words for all sorts of different kinds of trees, for plants, and for creatures; for our various friends and siblings and craftspeople; and for godspirits and ess’hy and ancestors. These are all things that mean a lot to us or that affect us greatly. Take the ess’hy for example, the enormous ghost monsters that live in our forest. They speak tai’hoaka, so we can communicate with them. But we have words for what type of creature they are, whether they are good or bad, benevolent or evil, and from what part of the forest they’re from. Some have even given us their names, and we know the names of their family groups. The same goes for trees and people.