By Tavaan
They sent me to do a ‘review’ of the Library of Aranor. The problem with my mission revolved around one little issue – the best review I could write is this –
"The Library of Aranor is the biggest, most diverse library in the world, comprising the combined tomes of the three famous libraries of fabled Antara. If you dig deep enough, you can find information on just about anything. Books, of course, don’t leave the building."
Anything else I might have written was just a variation on that theme, so I thought I’d leave it at that. There is something else about the Library of Aranor, though, and that’s the people who go there. Sometimes not to read books at all, but simply to talk. And I stumbled upon just such a group when I was there. I made my introductions and soon found myself in a most interesting conversation. I’ve distilled the essence of our discussion for you, dear reader, and am hereby presenting my revised version of the review of the Library of Aranor – The Strangest Customs of the Known Lands.
And, I swear, this is all true. What I love about these customs is that they make absolutely no sense at all.
Jedda Felsuin
In Jedda, monkeys can’t be brought indoors – it is thought that they bring ‘chaos’ to the household. But birds can come right in – some homes have indoor feeding platforms for wild birds to eat at – the birds bring good luck.
Food should only be eaten with wooden utensils – metal utensils ‘poison’ the food. It’s alright to use metal utensils in the preparation stages, however, because ‘handling’ and cooking dissipate the toxins.
It is distasteful to wear fur of any kind in Jedda – fur is the ‘clothing’ of animals, and the animal’s spirit will haunt you if you wear its fur.
Melons must be cut along the natural lines of their rinds – it is very bad taste to cut them in any other way. In fact, taste is the reasoning here, for melons are the most human-like of fruit, and have ‘veins’ inside their flesh. If you slice them anywhere but along the natural lines, you will sever these veins and the melon will ‘bleed’ into its own flesh and the taste will be off.
Alright. Not too bad. But take a look at these –
Japura
Full moons aren’t good times to go outside – the light affects the skin, ‘paling’ the complexion and thinning the flesh. If one must venture out on such an evening, a wide-brimmed hat is worn, or a sort of parasol carried (even by men).
A ship, before being sea-worthy, must be consecrated in a horrific ritual. A shark is caught and put into a pool, into which is thrown a male slave. After the shark is done eating, the shark is killed, chopped to bits, and the mixture is smeared onto the hull of the vessel. This unites the powers of the sea (the shark) with the powers of land (the man), and then displays to the oceans that man has dominance over the powers of sea (for the mixture cannot penetrate the hull of the ship).
Back to monkeys again. They are a favorite food in Japura. The entire creature is eaten, but the choicest bits are saved for the most important person at the table. Only they will be able to nibble the flesh off the monkey’s tiny toes.
Lanterns must only be lit by women. In fact, fires in general shouldn’t be started by men. Women have the ‘birthing’ energy necessary to give the fire strength. If a fire is lit by a man, it will doubtless be weak, and the gods will be offended. Such a transgression can be remedied if a woman puts the fire out. You’ll occasionally see lanterns left burning outside homes – this is because a man lit it and didn’t have a woman to extinguish it – he’s just waiting for time (or spirits) to put it out for him. On a similar note, women, during their coming of age ritual, are given a bundle of sticks, bones, and bark. They build a fire with it, and the strength of the fire displays their level of fertility. This part of a young woman’s ritual can make a significant difference in the way the rest of her life goes.
And if you want to get really weird, just go to Shavay.
Shavay
In the Irtundra tribe, men must never cut their hair with stone or metal – it must be bitten off by the man’s wife, sister, mother, grandmother, or sister-in-law (in that descending order if you don’t have a woman to fill the necessary role).
The Chutuu people each have a spirit animal. They watch a certain animal for an entire moon, learning its habits, secrets, and personality. Then they kill it and wear the bloody skin for seven days as they run about the perimeter of the village, acting like their animal. After that the animal’s spirit is within them, and will guide them throughout their lives. That is, unless they ever eat the flesh of that animal again. If they do, their spirit animal will leave them in anger, and they’ll be without for the rest of their lives.
Deep in the jungles lies the Asati tribe. They have a complex schedule that dictates the stages of the first seventeen years of a person’s life. After the person turns eighteen, they are ‘dead’, and leave the tribe to live a solitary life in the jungle. They aren’t allowed to talk or associate with any humans after that seventeenth year.
There are doubtless thousands more peculiar customs, but this is all I could glean from that particular conversation. It gives a taste, I hope, of what strange beliefs dominate the lives of the different people of the world. Makes me glad I live in the Old World!
Of course, I suppose some of our own customs might seem a bit strange to the Chutuu tribespeople . . .