Sasquatch dwellings are built in five layers. First to go up is the framework of sticks and wooden beams, and then the finer woven mattes. Moss and dry grass is packed into the holes of the mattes for insulation, and then the whole is covered in specially prepared bark shingles. Inside, another layer of woven mattes cover the walls and allow for easy hanging. All of their furniture is easily collapsible, everything portable and pack-able with a few hours of practiced efficiency. The dwellings themselves, called jukhom, look like enormous tree stumps, and are spread in such a fashion that a careless hiker could walk right through the center of the village without knowing anything.
My own bright orange tent was extraordinarily out of place, needless to say, and soon after I had met with the elders of the village, Wyatt's mother kindly offered to let me stay inside of their jukhom. It was warm and cozy, complete with a small radio, lamps, portable stove... almost anything you could find in the home of a modern American.
I was led to the Jkha, the communal building at the center of the encampment, to meet with the Elders soon after waking. The Jkha is quite different from the jukhoms, resembling a small hill- although by small, I mean about 500 feet wide, and 40 feet tall. On the inside was a low perimeter second level, and in the center they had set up a large fire pit. The area was cordoned off into various workshops for the members of the tribe. Set around the fire pit were the elders, literally the oldest members of the village, smoking and debating among themselves on wicker chairs.
The size of the entire place was staggering. Most sasquatch's are between 8 and 10 feet in height, and their buildings, furniture, doorways, everything was built for their size. I've never noticed before, how easy we have it in the 'civilized world', where everything is made for generally human size, but those extra feet really make a difference. Walking among them, I felt like a child. Actually, Wyatt's 9 year old sister was taller than me by a few inches. They tended to treat me like a child as well, carefully, cutting my food up for me, opening jars or reaching to the top shelves for things I couldn't reach... but i'm getting ahead of myself a little.
Among the sasquatch people, influence is accumulated right along with age. The youngest, the children and the young adults, make very few decisions within the community and are protected from outside influences. Once a sasquatch reaches 26 years of age, they go through their first hrumner ceremony, and are considered an adult, with a vote in the community and the right to their own tent. Adult sasquatches practice a trade and do most a the physical labor throughout the camp. In their late 30s or early 40s, they marry and begin their own families. At around the age of 65, a sasquatch undergoes a second hrumner ceremony, in which they become an Elder of the village. Elders are the master craftsmen, the political force, and the voice of the community to the outside world. While a humans at 65 are beginning to feel their age, a sasquatch is in the prime of health.
Sasquatches that live beyond the century mark may undergo, if they wish, a third and final hrumner ceremony, becoming an acknowledged Ancient. Ancients carry the wisdom of their people with them, and form the core governing council of any gathering of the People. Their word for themselves has been integrated into the modern veracular: Yeti.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Sasquatch Weekend Part 1
Sasquatch (Homo pilosus): The legendary Big Foot, the Hairy Men are generally shy by nature and avoid all social situations like the plague. However, they are devoted to family and the few that become their friends. They are stereotyped as having bad, even violent tempers.
For my first Immersion project, my buddy Wyatt agreed to take me with him when he went home for the weekend. I was really excited, but also incredibly nervous. What would it be like to visit a Bigfoot village?
Wyatt was the only Sasquatch I knew personally. I met him my freshman year, when we were both staying in E.H. Hall. He's a pretty quiet, until you get him talking about the chemical structure of carbon-based polymers, or prebiotic molecules, or silica membranes. Then he can go on for hours about this or that beautiful or ugly chemical structure. Yeah, he's a nerd.
Wyatt is 8 foot 10 inches, with bright brown eyes. Like all sasquatches, he has a peaked skull, and he's covered in soft charcoal-brown hair. He cuts most of it short, all but a truly inspiring mow hawk that adds another 18 inches to his height. His skin is a slightly lighter coffee brown, and smooth- at first I had thought that all sasquatch have premature wrinkles like they always show in the news, Wyatt explained that generally only village elders talk to the public. Wyatt, as well as other sasquatches his age, are unusual for leaving the reservation. It had only been in the past 12 years, he told me, that the sasquatch Elders decided it would be best if some of the younger members of the tribes were sent to Universities, gaining knowledge that would benefit the entire People.
There are 22 sasquatches attending Arcadia University, more than in any other University in the United States. It's because of our intense forestry program, I think, and our dedication to xenosociological studies. That's part of the reason I decided to attend, myself.
Anyways, when I first asked Wyatt about it, he was understandably nervous. I didn't realize how much sway the Elders have on sasquatch culture, even those a hundred miles away. He sent my petition to the Elders anyway, and was very surprised when they said I could come. After the trip, I understood why he was so surprised.
Iktoo village is in an undisclosed location a good hour drive and 40 mile hike away from Arcadia. Sasquatch society is extremely isolated from outsiders, secretive and untrusting. I learned later that they only allowed me in due to my connection with Eostre, and because my research would help them to understand their steadily encroaching neighbors. Despite their almost obsessive need for space and seclusion, the sasquatch people are also very curious of the outside world.
As part of the conditions, I was blindfolded on the whole car ride to the drop off point. When we got their, it was 8 o clock Friday evening, already getting dark and a little cold, and I was glad for my heavy coat and boots. As it turns out, I still recognized where we were, but out of respect for their privacy I will not reveal the location.
Wyatt of course was walking barefoot. Sasquatch feet are incredibly resilient. They can handle extremely cold temperatures, and I saw Wyatt walk on broken glass without cutting himself once. He wore a pair of baggy jeans and a 6XL white hoodie that seemed to glow faintly in the twilight woods. It had a large picture of a polypeptide molecule. He was also wearing some wood-bead bracelets and a bone-shell necklace.
"Don't say anything when the guide gets here." He warned me uncomfortably. "We don't speak unless spoken to by the elders. We're a little old fashioned that way, I guess." He laughed a little self-consciously.
"Why do we need a guide?" I asked curiously, "Don't you know where it is?"
"The camp changes every couple of weeks, although it's generally in the same area. I could find it if I had to, but with a guide, it's much easier." Wyatt fell silent.
We stood there for about a half hour before the guide came, Wyatt reminding me nervously of various points of Sasquatch etiquette every couple of moments. Finally, our guide arrived.
He was a little shorter than Wyatt, a burnished red color to his hair that I noted even in the near-darkness. His face had the lined look so familiar in pictures, and he frowned and grunted at me disapprovingly before heading off into the forest.
A little advice: don't try following Sasquatch without a little magical help. Wyatt and the other moved silent as ghosts through the forest with huge strides, the darkness not bothering them at all, the chill only refreshing to them. I'd procured some Lupine Essence just for this trip, and I still had a hard time keeping up. I had to jog to keep up with their terrain-eating footsteps, breaking branches and stumbling occasionally, and despite the potion I was breathing heavily and sweating.
We hiked for about 6 hours, until about 3 in the morning. Finally, reaching a clearing in the woods, our guide indicated that we should set up camp. When we woke up the next morning, the Sasquatch camp surrounded us.
For my first Immersion project, my buddy Wyatt agreed to take me with him when he went home for the weekend. I was really excited, but also incredibly nervous. What would it be like to visit a Bigfoot village?
Wyatt was the only Sasquatch I knew personally. I met him my freshman year, when we were both staying in E.H. Hall. He's a pretty quiet, until you get him talking about the chemical structure of carbon-based polymers, or prebiotic molecules, or silica membranes. Then he can go on for hours about this or that beautiful or ugly chemical structure. Yeah, he's a nerd.
Wyatt is 8 foot 10 inches, with bright brown eyes. Like all sasquatches, he has a peaked skull, and he's covered in soft charcoal-brown hair. He cuts most of it short, all but a truly inspiring mow hawk that adds another 18 inches to his height. His skin is a slightly lighter coffee brown, and smooth- at first I had thought that all sasquatch have premature wrinkles like they always show in the news, Wyatt explained that generally only village elders talk to the public. Wyatt, as well as other sasquatches his age, are unusual for leaving the reservation. It had only been in the past 12 years, he told me, that the sasquatch Elders decided it would be best if some of the younger members of the tribes were sent to Universities, gaining knowledge that would benefit the entire People.
There are 22 sasquatches attending Arcadia University, more than in any other University in the United States. It's because of our intense forestry program, I think, and our dedication to xenosociological studies. That's part of the reason I decided to attend, myself.
Anyways, when I first asked Wyatt about it, he was understandably nervous. I didn't realize how much sway the Elders have on sasquatch culture, even those a hundred miles away. He sent my petition to the Elders anyway, and was very surprised when they said I could come. After the trip, I understood why he was so surprised.
Iktoo village is in an undisclosed location a good hour drive and 40 mile hike away from Arcadia. Sasquatch society is extremely isolated from outsiders, secretive and untrusting. I learned later that they only allowed me in due to my connection with Eostre, and because my research would help them to understand their steadily encroaching neighbors. Despite their almost obsessive need for space and seclusion, the sasquatch people are also very curious of the outside world.
As part of the conditions, I was blindfolded on the whole car ride to the drop off point. When we got their, it was 8 o clock Friday evening, already getting dark and a little cold, and I was glad for my heavy coat and boots. As it turns out, I still recognized where we were, but out of respect for their privacy I will not reveal the location.
Wyatt of course was walking barefoot. Sasquatch feet are incredibly resilient. They can handle extremely cold temperatures, and I saw Wyatt walk on broken glass without cutting himself once. He wore a pair of baggy jeans and a 6XL white hoodie that seemed to glow faintly in the twilight woods. It had a large picture of a polypeptide molecule. He was also wearing some wood-bead bracelets and a bone-shell necklace.
"Don't say anything when the guide gets here." He warned me uncomfortably. "We don't speak unless spoken to by the elders. We're a little old fashioned that way, I guess." He laughed a little self-consciously.
"Why do we need a guide?" I asked curiously, "Don't you know where it is?"
"The camp changes every couple of weeks, although it's generally in the same area. I could find it if I had to, but with a guide, it's much easier." Wyatt fell silent.
We stood there for about a half hour before the guide came, Wyatt reminding me nervously of various points of Sasquatch etiquette every couple of moments. Finally, our guide arrived.
He was a little shorter than Wyatt, a burnished red color to his hair that I noted even in the near-darkness. His face had the lined look so familiar in pictures, and he frowned and grunted at me disapprovingly before heading off into the forest.
A little advice: don't try following Sasquatch without a little magical help. Wyatt and the other moved silent as ghosts through the forest with huge strides, the darkness not bothering them at all, the chill only refreshing to them. I'd procured some Lupine Essence just for this trip, and I still had a hard time keeping up. I had to jog to keep up with their terrain-eating footsteps, breaking branches and stumbling occasionally, and despite the potion I was breathing heavily and sweating.
We hiked for about 6 hours, until about 3 in the morning. Finally, reaching a clearing in the woods, our guide indicated that we should set up camp. When we woke up the next morning, the Sasquatch camp surrounded us.
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