The Neko Moot
The seasons in Zami Ramal are defined as either rainy or not. The rains fall in the forests of the north in torrential floods and in the mountains of the south as snow. This gives a longer period of delivery of water to the subterranean rivers than a normal desert area would expect. It also allows the lush and fertile times of spring and summer to last 6 moons, peaking in the 5th month when young born at the start of the rains and the rivers refilling are usually strong enough to endure the following 6 months of drought.
Thus, in the height of Zamian summer, when the forest is verdant, dense and in the mornings, misty and ethereal, the neko-kin hold their annual moot. All of the families attend the event held in The Emerald Clearing in the Northern Forest, setting up shelters and a small testing arena, as well as sweat lodges and initiation platforms. Groups of neko of various types, from the dark-furred rangers to the white-furred healers and shamen gather at the moot to catch up with old friends, introduce new kittens and trade goods from the forest and the outside world. The shamen sit around the central pool and tell stories for the kittens to enjoy and to educate them in neko traditions. Those neko reaching maturity are asked to mount the initiation platform and pronounce themselves worthy of adulthood, before all the other families, which facilitates finding a mate in many cases!
In the testing arena, feats of skill and daring are compared and contested including extremely accurate archery, leaping vertically over great wooden walls and wrestling without the use of teeth or claws, for which a combatant would be disqualified.
The moot continues for three or four days, with feasting, storytelling, trading and vison-questing available to all who wish it. Matches are made, differences are settled and the dead are remembered. After the celebration is closed, with a small, solemn ceremony to remember those who could not attend, the neko families melt back into the forest and continue their normal lives, until next year.
Thus, in the height of Zamian summer, when the forest is verdant, dense and in the mornings, misty and ethereal, the neko-kin hold their annual moot. All of the families attend the event held in The Emerald Clearing in the Northern Forest, setting up shelters and a small testing arena, as well as sweat lodges and initiation platforms. Groups of neko of various types, from the dark-furred rangers to the white-furred healers and shamen gather at the moot to catch up with old friends, introduce new kittens and trade goods from the forest and the outside world. The shamen sit around the central pool and tell stories for the kittens to enjoy and to educate them in neko traditions. Those neko reaching maturity are asked to mount the initiation platform and pronounce themselves worthy of adulthood, before all the other families, which facilitates finding a mate in many cases!
In the testing arena, feats of skill and daring are compared and contested including extremely accurate archery, leaping vertically over great wooden walls and wrestling without the use of teeth or claws, for which a combatant would be disqualified.
The moot continues for three or four days, with feasting, storytelling, trading and vison-questing available to all who wish it. Matches are made, differences are settled and the dead are remembered. After the celebration is closed, with a small, solemn ceremony to remember those who could not attend, the neko families melt back into the forest and continue their normal lives, until next year.
History
Ever since the forest was young, neko have gathered once per year to meet and check up on each other, to trade stories and goods and allow the kittens to mingle. The celebration has taken place as long as the shamen can remember.
Execution
The families all tend to arrive in the early morning of the new moon of the fifth month of the rainy half of the year. Some may arrive a few hours late but all attend and are happy to bring the whole family.
Components and tools
The competitive events utilise various constructed tests and obstacles for contestants to try themselves upon. For example, the High Wall is a vertical wooden wall constructed of withies attached between to uprights made from heavy tree trunks. The highest crossbar can be raised as the contest progresses. Neko must leap vertically to the top of the wall, setting only one foot lightly atop the highest crossbar before dropping to within a body length of the base. This is a test of strength and agility for adult neko and is keenly observed.
Participants
All neko-kin attend the moot - young, old, couples and shamen. It is the shamen who lead the activities, guiding those who vision quest within the sweat lodges, reciting traditional tales for the kittens' education and judging the contests of strength. The shamen also open and close the moot with offerings to Tabasta of food and fetish items made of stones, claws, bones and fur.
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