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.