The Ciata

"You know there's places where Ciata still get refused service? Where owners worry about letting us over the threshold in case their business gets 'cursed'? I never got the logic of that. Yeah let us in, let us enjoy a meal, that'll get you cursed? Not the pushing us outside and looking at us funny? If I had the power to curse people I know who I'd be using it on and it isn't the young couple who'll let me buy a muffin. It's on judgy mcelderly and his closed blinds."
Twin Tradana, Saying It Like I Ciata It

Naming Traditions

Family names

Tradana, Belede, Ryini, Padege

Culture

Culture and cultural heritage

The Ciata people come from one specific area in Northern Borel, which was the sight of a magical catastrophe over a thousand years ago. The people there were considered behind the times, too wrapped up in their quiet farming and appreciation of nature. A group of magi, sometimes suggested to be members of the Thaumarian army, decided to torment the locals and their "backwards ways".
The powerful magic laid a "curse", as some call it, upon the people, tying them to the seasons and the earth and forcing them to abide by it. Making them susceptible to changes in weather, and slowly causing a physical change within the body if allowed. If the individual does not find the willpower to push back against the lingering magic, they slowly become tree like - the skin thickens, buds and leaves begin to push through, and the desire to put down roots becomes overwhelming.
Most Ciata, it should be said, do not mind this, as they consider it an appealing alternative to losing their wits as most do. It only comes about at the end of their natural lives, when their minds begin to go, and is not transmittable in any way.

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

In Ciata culture, beauty is generally expressed by showing off a sense of harmony with the seasons. This translates as vibrancy in the summer- whether in clothes, make up, or hair, the idea is to appear in bloom. In the winter, it is more refined, more tight, and in the blacks and whites of winter weather.

Courtship Ideals

Courtship for Ciata traditionally begins in the spring - nowadays it is far less observed, but once it was common to withhold your affections until the first good thaw of the year. Beginning a courtship in summer was acceptable, if it meant building up to it previously, but beginning in autumn was considered unlucky.
Beginning in winter was compared to planting a seed in the snow, dooming the relationship before it even started.