Jaxāŋa People

The Jaxāŋa are an Upper-Tændean culture.

Etymology

The word "Jaxāŋa" comes from an Old Jaxāŋa word meaning "river person."

Culture

Communities

The Jaxāŋa live in small villages of huts arranged in a circular fashion, and each hut houses a single family (parents and children). The elders inhabit their own hut, which is the largest of all and is located opposite the path leading into the circle. This elder hut is only inhabited by those whose children have left the house, which occurs at marriage. If one never had children or they died before becoming old enough to marry, that person is disallowed from entering the house. At the center of the hut is a paced circle, where the inhabitants socialize, and a well. Villages usually consist of multiple of these circular hut-formations.

Food Sources

Jaxāŋa life is dependent most on simple agriculture, and they cultivate grain-like plants along with local fruits. The Jaxāŋa are also heavily dependent on the numerous rivers around which the villages cluster, and use river fish as a source of nearly all their meat. Hunting is somewhat uncommon, generally being done only for clothing, but is more prevalent in the north.

Property and Trade

The Jaxāŋa are highly protective of their possessions, and therefore stealing is seen as one of the worst crimes. Because of this theives are quite uncommon and there is no standard way of punishing them; generally, however, they are banished from the village. They engage in trade very often, even with things like land. The possessions of a person usually fall to their spouse first after they die, and then to the children, being split up as evenly as possible. However, if there are no valid inheritants, the items are usually auctioned off by neighbors.

Language

The Jaxāŋa speak the Jaxāŋa language, an Upper-Tændean language. It consists of a large number of dialects forming a dialect continuum.

Religion

The Jaxāŋa practice a form of animism in which all things have some life force contained within them. They do not see these things as alive, but merely a form of proto-life per se. The Jaxāŋa see this force as light, and so the brightest and shiniest objects are treasured. As a result, trade is often conducted with bright gems and rocks and other objects which may be seen as valuable. However, They see things which give off light as alive, notably the sun, moon, and fire, which are seen as the three forces which created the world. These forces are not worshipped, and the Jaxāŋa believe that life was not created by them but arose from the life-forces contained within non-living things.