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mostly-mundane-atla · 3 years

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So I was thinking of Zuko as a clearly scarred leader+Toph as a Beifong/teacher of Avatar+Teo, which all led me to thinking of war recovery including changes so there are accommodations for people who use wheelchairs, etc. Then, I was thinking of a Braille system of some kind being created+implemented, which led me to thinking about how the different nations would do it. I was thinking FN would put up like metal 3Dish plaques + EN would just bend out part of walls into forms.

And then I was thinking about the NWT+SWT. Based on research I see that different Inuit groups tend to use different stone for sculpting, and I know some do totem poles, and I know walrus ivory is used. So I guess I was thinking the SWT+NWT would probably do things differently. (I was thinking they would not do ice because ... having to touch ice? Would not be a cool accommodation.)

So, I was wondering what your thoughts are on this. Also, Do the SWT+NWT actually draw any inspiration from specific Inuit cultures/people’s? Or are the WN aesthetics just a mashup of different Inuit cultures/or a nebulous reference?

My apologies if you ever discussed any of these things before+thank you for taking the time to read this. I would love to hear your thoughts/opinions.

To answer your other asks, a good umbrella term is Circumpolar peoples. This covers all your bases and you can specify region, such as "from Greenland to Sibera" which I hear a lot in regards to the Inuit, Inupiat, and Yup'ik peoples.

That said, Circumpolar peoples don't do totem poles. Nations from the Pacific Northwest and southeast Alaska do, but we don't. You may be thinking of dance masks which can get incredibly intricate, especially the Yup'ik ones, but serve an entirely different purpose.

And now to go onto the actually questions. How would a fantasy version of Inupiaq culture do braille? Well, I'm not sure it would be entirely necessary. Unlike most of the cultures that the series takes inspiration from, we didn't really have paper or a written language pre-contact. We did use lampblack (burned animal fat in our case) for ink, but that was used for art and tattooing, not for writing words. Due to this lack of paper, our art was more three dimensional. It was beautiful fur clothes and dance masks, and figures carved of driftwood, ivory, stone, and scrimshaw. Etchings in baleen or ivory. You start at one end of the piece and "read" the story through interpreting the carved illustrations to the other end. We didn't really use signs for trails because there wasn't really a point. You would go that way your whole life and rarely ever completely alone.

But I suppose if I were to apply braille-esque signs to the Water Tribe anyway, I think they'd be treated as art pieces. The words, carved in driftwood or bone, or even baleen if you're feeling fancy, would be the most important part, but I don't think they could resist adding other designs that could be felt. I'm sure other accomodations were already worked into the culture. I'd find it hard to believe if snowblindness and having to travel in weather conditions so bad you can't see past your own nose weren't common among Water Tribesmen.

As for if they take inspiration from irl peoples, they definitely do, but I'd say it's more an amalgamation of various circumpolar peoples than any one particular group. Though many are quick to point out the Inuit influence on the aesthetic, I think it's fair to say just as much was taken from the Yup'ik peoples, shown in the photo below

This Kuskokwim Yup'ik couple was photographed in 1879. Note that these hoodless parkas are longer and have slimmer silhouettes than those you typically find in traditional Inuit dress, like the ones we see in the show.

There are also discriptions of traditional caps made of the skin of a wolf's head worn by Saint Lawrence Islanders, which may have inspired the wolf helms.

In Legend of Korra and the comics it seems they were trying to put a little more effort into referencing the Inuit and Inupiat through naming. Unalaq (from "Ungalaaqłiit") and Noatak (from "Nuataaq") are both named after Inupiaq villages. Tonraq likely comes from the Inuit word "tornaq" (our word for the concept is "tunģaaq") which is a land mammal spirit summoned by a shaman. Senna likely comes from Sedna, the most popular name for an armless woman in the ocean from Inuit myth, whose bones from her missing hands and forarms became all the creatures in the sea. If you perked up at this and said "there's an armless woman in Legend of Korra too! She's also Water Tribe!" I'll let you come to your own conclusions on that.

Malina, from North and South, also gets her name from a woman of Inuit myth, who became the sun after running away from her brother (for gross and fucked up reasons) who, in turn, became the moon. Her brother Malik has a name that could mean a number of things depending on what Inupiaq word you think he's supposed to be named after, from tidal wave to lure to one birth shortly after another (the traditional lifestyle typically involved gaps of about five years between children so only one year between births was notable) to constantly following (which, knowing the Inuit myth about Malina and her brother, is a little unfortunate).

Even in the original series, you find some glimpses of the language in names. Arnook is likely from "nanuq" or polar bear, which was spelled nanook before the spirit movement in the 80s estabished a standardized written aspect of the language. Kuruk's name likely comes from "kurruk" which means to hang one's head in sorrow, shame, or disappointment, but you could interpret it as coming from longer words meaning things like to lower one's head as if to look for something or to fall head over heels.

You can check my "eskimo on main" tag for more, or send me another ask. My messages are open too, if you would prefer that

#response #eskimo on main #water tribe

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revert-inlove · 6 years

Text

My Revert Story

(for those of you who want a long one)

If you ever needed proof that there is a God, this is the story!

This story starts with a Canadian girl in her early 20’s. I loved all things prohibited by Islam. I loved tattoos to the point that I was getting a new one every week, Trap music & Metal and By Allah I loved moslon Canadian a little more than I should have.

My 23rd birthday was fast approaching and as usual the plan was to get wreckkked. Plastered. Wasted. At the local bar that was down the steeet from my apartment with my boyfriend (now husband)

My birthday is In April near Easter and being brought up Christian it was something that I was looking forward to.

And my mind clicked, what am I honestly celebrating here?

This holiday makes no sense to me.

Is Jesus pbuh is the son of God or God as some believed. How could he die? And how did the Easter bunny become involved in such an occasion!

After doing a minimal amount of research, I came to learn that we were actually celebrating a pagan holiday intertwined with this religion that I have been blindly following! In this pagan holiday the bunny symbolizes the fertility of the spring and the search for hemords …. for lack of a better word “package” if you catch my drift.

I could not believe this, really.. astigfirallah!

So I dug just a little bit deeper and I realized Christmas was a lie too.

So later that day or week I went into my room and prostrated and asked God to guide me, to show me the way. As I was doing this I felt sharp deep scratches on my back and I immediately got up. Shook. Frightened. Terrified.

For a couple of days I was in this state.

Soon after I was reading a dawah book about the basic of Islam that I found at my father in laws house & it made sense… well for the most part. I wasn’t willing to except that Jesus pbuh was not the son of god and that Muhammed pbuh was a messenger. This was hard for me to understand as I was brought up Christian and this was a huge part of it.

Days later my now husband came home with a Quran and I started reading it.

This was not the first quran I had in my possession, I had been given several in my life and the always seemed to disappear in my parents home and when I did start reading it back the. I thought it was the wrong book because of the chapter named the heifer in English lol.

Soooo I began reading and Reading and it made so much sense to me. I knew that this is what God wanted me to be… a Muslim.

For days I kept looking up information and one morning I decided this is it. I’m a Muslim I don’t care. So I Youtube how do I become a Muslim. I took my shahada with my head hanging of my couch upside down alone. And it’s was beautiful I shed a tear.

I was still terrified as to how my family would react and even more so my boyfriend ( I was convinced he was going to leave me) but I knew that this is what Allah swt wanted me to do.

One morning I was getting ready for work and I put on a hijab and my uniform. Walked out into my living room and said “I’m a Muslim, I wear hijab now take it or leave it. This is what Allah wants me to do”

His

Response

Was

Mash’Allah

Mine was confusion.

( my words were “what the **** did you just say to me?” In my usual sailor mouth ways at the time)

He had been Muslim for months now and was too afraid to let me know because he thought I was gonna leave him.

I never did even up at the bar for my birthday or my next tattoo appointment ! Alhamdulliah ❤️

Our next step together was to get married, we knew we couldn’t keep living in this haram lifestyle together.

We were already discussing this prior so it was the right step to take.

My husband and his friend drove around aimlessly trying to find a masjid In Toronto that would marry us with no ID or a mahram. But we could not find one. Until I started to cry, I was adamant on getting married on June 4th. I was not going to do this haram life one more moment. So I prayed and prayed and he prayed and prayed. Finally at like 11 pm at night he came in the house and said we found somewhere. So I put on my cutest hijab and got in the car. The masjid was actually a trailor in the back of some buildings in the neighbourhood. The Imam asked me if I wanted to marry him and I said yes. He said somethings to him and then some words in Arabic to this day I have no idea what he said and at 11:57 pm we completed half our deen.

With ups and downs and bumps in the road ,we are still on our deen

With a beautiful 2 year old son(named Eysa, we thought it was only appropriate to name him Jesus) who runs around the house saying as Salaamu Alkiuem, Number and letters.

I know that Allah has chosen us, He even named us Muslim names as none muslims!

My birth name is Khadaija and his name is the name of one of the Sahaba.

Allah (swt) says: “Take one step towards me, I will take ten steps towards you. Walk towards me, I will run towards you.” Hadith Qudsi.

Subhan’Allah I am a Muslim.

Thanks for reading.

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