Upper-Class Cinpruxt
The Cinpruxt upper class, city-occupying culture is an adaptation of the rural Cinpruxt to a new, industrializing reality. Much of their culture is the same as the Cinpruxt, but there are some important distinctions.
Upper class in this scenario is very relative. The upper-class are not all especially wealthy or well off. In contrast to the low class, however, who have no land, share homes, and live completely subject to their lord, they are higher.
Upper class in this scenario is very relative. The upper-class are not all especially wealthy or well off. In contrast to the low class, however, who have no land, share homes, and live completely subject to their lord, they are higher.
Naming Traditions
Family names
Family names are very important, along with bringing honor and wealth to the name. When two individuals marry, the families must decide together which name they will carry, but usually the more honorable name from the wealthier family is agreed upon. The less-wealthy family is considered to be contributing to their wealth with their gift of their child, and tying their name to the wealthier family's increases their own honor. Families will also have their own unique hats, usually a combination of what the family does for a living or their trade, and religious symbols to seek favor from one of the divines.
Culture
Common Dress code
The higher class wear clothes to contrast their field-working lower class. For instance, they wear harems instead of skirts, which stretch all the way down to their heels. The extra material needed for the style flairs their wealth, so much so that they usually dangle onto the ground. This also shows off the fact that they "work" indoors, without worry of their clothes getting covered in mud or dirt. For the same reason, they specifically never wear shoes. Their hats, called daks, contrast the wide need to block the sun. The wealthy have servants to block the sun for them, or spend most of their time indoors, or have excessive drapes, and so their hats are tall instead of wide. They are also square, like a tower ascending from their head, to reflect the majestic structures in which they live, or their height over the lower-class, since usually lower-class buildings are one-story. They are constructed of four short reeds, wrapped in linen dyed black. The straps of their hats hang low under their chins to reflect the care-free life of the wealthy.
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
The upper class celebrate large marriages. The marriage can include symbols of the four major deities, but has heavy association with disks and colors for wealth and feathers for love.
The ceremony takes place over the course of two days. The first day is personal, the giver family delivers their child to the receiver family, who welcomes the child into their home. The giver family will leave their home at sunrise as the sky fills with colors representing wealth and prosperity, adorned in their own marriage dress and family hats--women will wear little, in simple browns, brown ribbons, and brown feathers, covered in dirt to represent their tie to the home, while the men's feathers and ribbons radiate with color. They also adorn disks. All are symbols of their wealth and ability to perform. The men's as well as the women's outfits came from their own wedding. Children wear simple coverings. As they march to the receiving home, the women are silent and the men sing and dance.
Upon arriving to the receiving family's home, the small parade will find them waiting outside in the same types of wedding clothes. The leading man of the giving home takes the child's family hat. If the child is a woman, he will present her; if he is a man, he will present himself. The presentation includes a list of reasons why the child would be a good addition to their family, all their accomplishments, their skills, and ends with an offering of the child. Then, the family's leading man will receive the child with a hearty welcome which includes hopes of prosperity and love for the couple, a promise to provide the child shelter, and a bestowing of their family name as the man places the new family hat on the child's head. The new family enters the home and the old family leaves. At this point, the child is part of the family.
On sunset on the first day, the family reemerges and a religious leader comes and asks for blessings for the couple under the radiant colors of the evening. The leader might utilize dirt, fish, reeds, water, disks, feathers, ribbons, or any other symbol in order to create a blessing according to desire. After the blessing the couple has been united, and spend their first night together in the home that night--there are no night festivities. There is no societal pressure to have sex.
The second dawn initiates celebrations that involve the community. They're simply celebrating the marriage. The man wears a robe and the woman wears a smaller brown covering, and members of the community will throw dirt onto her or bring brown feathers or brown ribbons for her outfit, or will bring bright feathers or ribbons for his, and so the community helps make their wedding garments. Once full, it's customary that the new husband dances three times--on his own, with the house's lead man, and with his wife. The order varies, and sometimes the three might do a dance together. Eventually, everyone dances together. By noon the party has finished, and the two go to work for the first time together as a new couple. It is possible that it is the new family member's first time with the trade, in which case their new family will instruct them.
The ceremony takes place over the course of two days. The first day is personal, the giver family delivers their child to the receiver family, who welcomes the child into their home. The giver family will leave their home at sunrise as the sky fills with colors representing wealth and prosperity, adorned in their own marriage dress and family hats--women will wear little, in simple browns, brown ribbons, and brown feathers, covered in dirt to represent their tie to the home, while the men's feathers and ribbons radiate with color. They also adorn disks. All are symbols of their wealth and ability to perform. The men's as well as the women's outfits came from their own wedding. Children wear simple coverings. As they march to the receiving home, the women are silent and the men sing and dance.
Upon arriving to the receiving family's home, the small parade will find them waiting outside in the same types of wedding clothes. The leading man of the giving home takes the child's family hat. If the child is a woman, he will present her; if he is a man, he will present himself. The presentation includes a list of reasons why the child would be a good addition to their family, all their accomplishments, their skills, and ends with an offering of the child. Then, the family's leading man will receive the child with a hearty welcome which includes hopes of prosperity and love for the couple, a promise to provide the child shelter, and a bestowing of their family name as the man places the new family hat on the child's head. The new family enters the home and the old family leaves. At this point, the child is part of the family.
On sunset on the first day, the family reemerges and a religious leader comes and asks for blessings for the couple under the radiant colors of the evening. The leader might utilize dirt, fish, reeds, water, disks, feathers, ribbons, or any other symbol in order to create a blessing according to desire. After the blessing the couple has been united, and spend their first night together in the home that night--there are no night festivities. There is no societal pressure to have sex.
The second dawn initiates celebrations that involve the community. They're simply celebrating the marriage. The man wears a robe and the woman wears a smaller brown covering, and members of the community will throw dirt onto her or bring brown feathers or brown ribbons for her outfit, or will bring bright feathers or ribbons for his, and so the community helps make their wedding garments. Once full, it's customary that the new husband dances three times--on his own, with the house's lead man, and with his wife. The order varies, and sometimes the three might do a dance together. Eventually, everyone dances together. By noon the party has finished, and the two go to work for the first time together as a new couple. It is possible that it is the new family member's first time with the trade, in which case their new family will instruct them.
Coming of Age Rites
The upper class practice a celebration of coming of age for marriage, called a krand. A young person cannot marry until they have had their krand. They do not keep track of age, but their ceremony occurs at around the age of fifteen. Someone who has not had their krand is called a schsrucx. It mimics a bird leaving their nest--the child dresses in a feathered outfit, brown for girls and colored for boys, and swings from the city gate over the river. The cable attaches to a lever at the top of the gate which can be pushed from one side to another, allowing the parents at the top to build momentum and swing their child at the bottom. With enough momentum, the child eventually pulls a chord and releases, diving into the river. The city watches the whole ordeal, recovers the child from the river after, and celebrates by eating and dancing.
Ideals
Gender Ideals
Gender in the high class society is more rigid. A man's gender revolves around presentation: he aught to be accomplished, powerful, wealthy, but also charming, charismatic, and fun. He is a wild colorful bird, capable of impressing his female and drawing attention to himself naturally. Beauty and majesty belong to a man. A woman is meek--she is quiet and unseen. Both genders work, and both genders contribute to the raising of children, but a child's physical health is ultimately the woman's responsibility. She is the baby-carer. Although she works, she will frequently do so from home. Her home is her nest, she is responsible for its upkeep.
Men and women are designed for each other, and so homosexuality and nonmarriage are unnatural. Transgenderism can be fine accepted, but an emphasis is put on having children.
Although these rolls result in the oppression of women, they still can own their own property, they are not subject to any desire of their fathers or husbands, and when unmarried at an older age face an equal amount of shame as men do.
Men and women are designed for each other, and so homosexuality and nonmarriage are unnatural. Transgenderism can be fine accepted, but an emphasis is put on having children.
Although these rolls result in the oppression of women, they still can own their own property, they are not subject to any desire of their fathers or husbands, and when unmarried at an older age face an equal amount of shame as men do.
Courtship Ideals
The high class practice arraigned, homogeneous, heterosexual marriages. Parents of children who have had their krand will look for a potential spouse to continue their life with. The ideal of marriage and love are a continuation of their parent's financial success. It exists so that the two can take on the responsibilities of their parent's trade and continue to make money and attribute more to their family name. Parents look for a partner for their child who they will be "successful" with, both in raising a family and in working.
Comments