The Cultural Fair

[wise_maiden]

Who: Everyone! Or as close to that as possible, please. \o/
What: The Cultural Fair
When: April 25th-26th, though the earlier set-up days (22nd, 23rd, and keeping everything dry on the 24th) are also encouraged to help get a feel for it
Where: All around the town square
Summary: Also here.
Rating: ... is this a thing?

Note: Booths can be labeled as separate comments! Just put [booth name] or something in the subject line so people can find top level comments easier. Work was probably started for it on the 22nd-23rd for labor purposes, sheltering things from the weather on the 24th, and the actual Fair is on the 25th-26th, so using any of those dates and figuring out where your characters are helping would be good. CHARACTERS ARE WELCOME TO TAG THE LOG FOR INTERACTING WITH OTHERS, NOT JUST BOOTHS, SO FEEL FREE TO TAG IN! Also a character who might not know what's going on is welcome to walk by and question it! And so forth.

I'll leave the descriptions up to you all as there probably isn't much that is too uniform about the displays, as everyone is encouraged to be creative about it. Think of it as something on a much smaller scale than the festival from a year ago, definitely, but how hard the characters worked isn't something I could define for each of you. That said there are plenty of unique sights, so enjoy browsing! Thank you!

(Also, please add your name tags!)

Comments

[truthin_bones]

[The grin on Brennan's face indicates otherwise. In essence, it's a very basic cultural anthropology or world civilizations class - lacking, of course, the scientific framework utilized by professionals. Earth itself has a rich and full cultural history, but it is nothing like the diversity she has encountered here.]

I can imagine how fascinating it must be. I must admit that as an anthropologist, the differing worlds here has been one of the few aspects of life in Luceti to really capture my attention. This fair has been very enjoyable.

[markofthebrave]

[Katara responds to this encouragement with a beaming smile.]

It is! Learning about different worlds and cultures is one of my favorite things about being here. It's always so interesting to find the commonalities between different people and worlds. But "anthropologist" isn't a word I've heard before - what is it?

[truthin_bones]

Someone who has pursued a scientific study of what you just described. An anthropologist studies the origin and behavior of humans and their cultures, focusing both on biological and sociological traits.

[markofthebrave]

Oh, I see! The biological differences are what you were describing before, but what do you mean about "sociological?"

[truthin_bones]

Yes. [A grin. She appreciates a relatively quick study.] Sociological studies, meanwhile, would focus more on human societies - their development and functioning. Pure sociological studies tend to be more quantitative in nature. Due to the heavy emphasis of culture in anthropology, our studies are much more qualitative.

[markofthebrave]

I see. [And she does, mostly. Some of those terms are fairly easy to follow in context, like 'quantitative' and 'qualitative,' although she's not sure completely grasps the meaning, she's got the gist.]

It sounds almost like a historian, but of people groups and cultures, instead of the past.

[She can see how that would be interesting, if not, necessarily... useful.]

It sounds like something they might study at the university of Ba Sing Se.

[truthin_bones]

[A nod. She's not good at explaining matters simply and only makes the effort when asked. But Katara seems to get the idea well enough. And there is, thankfully, no need to get into archaeology and complicate matters. At least for now.] Exactly.

[A beat.] Ba Sing Se?

[markofthebrave]

It's the largest city in the Earth Kingdom. We met a professor from there once.

[truthin_bones]

[Hadn't she said she was from a water tribe? Interesting.] Is it typical for societies in your world to be named after the classical elements?

[markofthebrave]

[She nods.] Or what's classical in our understanding - earth, water, fire, and air. There are four elements, and each of the four nations are tied in with the element.

[She gestures to another part of their booth.]

I can show you a map, if you like.

[truthin_bones]

Those same elements have also been frequently utilized by a number of earlier Earth cultures and philosophies as the simplest aspects of the natural world.

[She nods.] I would very much like to see this map.

[markofthebrave]

Yes, I'd heard about that.

[She speaks as she goes to find the map, moving away from the food. Follow?]

I was astonished that there were other worlds which had considered different elements - like lightning or wood or aether. It's such a basic part of the way our world is made up, I'd never considered any elemental differences.

[Here's the map! She's not going to bring it back over to where the food is, instead she starts to unfurl the precious scroll.

[truthin_bones]

[She follows Katara to another portion of the booth, watching as she rolls out the scroll. It's understandable to keep it from the food. Brennan would never think of exposing any of her own artifacts, let alone evidence, to anything that could harm them in any way.]

Even on Earth, we have cultures that utilize these elements you just mentioned in their philosophies. Is it only the four in your own?

[markofthebrave]

Yes, I'd heard about that.

[Robin had actually been quite informative.]

We only have the four in my world. See, here's the Earth Kingdom. [She points to it on the map.] And here's Ba Sing Se, where the university was.

[truthin_bones]

[A nod. The map is certainly interesting.]

The Earth Kingdom appears to be very expansive in comparison to the other nations. Are there universities in any of the other nations?

[markofthebrave]

[A shadow flickers over her face briefly.]

I'm sure that the Fire Nation has some. And the Northern Water Tribe might have had something like that too, but it didn't come up when we were there.

[truthin_bones]

Is the Northern Tribe very different from your own?

[markofthebrave]

They're very different in that, until recently, they weren't affected by the war. [She'd rather not talk about how bereft her Tribe was in comparison, so she keeps going.] And their culture is different in a few key ways as well - their government is much more centralized and they're far more patriarchal. They still believed in arranged marriages and there was a whole practice of bending they didn't teach to women.

[Until she got there, that is. Katara: Wrecking Stupid Cultures One Dumb Tradition At a Time.]

[truthin_bones]

[As an anthropologist, she tries to be as culturally relativistic as possible. As a woman, however, she can sympathize with Katara's opinion.]

Given the geographic difference, that is... not very surprising. [Especially if there was little interaction between the two groups. However!] You did not mention a war.

[markofthebrave]

We weren't talking about history. [She shook her head.] It's a long story.

[And were cultural fairs really the place to talk about genocide? She didn't think so. =/]