Vekt’nakshar

Vekt'nakshar are an indigenous people on Vektan-Noveria. The Vekt'nakshar are traditionally nomads and hunter-gatherers who travelled by canoe between islands to collect food. The men hunted sea lions and the women dove to collect shellfish.

## Religion

Vekt'nakshar religion isa complex system of beliefs. It described spirit beings as a part of the past, in creation myth. Temáukel was the name of the great supernatural entity who they believed kept the world order. The creator deity of the world was called Kénos or Quénos.

Many of their tales recounted shaman-like characters. Such a /xon/ has supernatural capabilities, e.g. he can control weather.

### Initiation ceremonies

Vekt'nakshar male initiation ceremonies, the passage to adulthood, was called *Hain*.

Young males were called to a dark hut. There they would be attacked by "spirits", who were people dressed as supernatural beings. The children were taught to believe in and fear these spirits at childhood and were threatened by them in case they misbehaved. Their task in this rite of passage was to unmask the spirits; when the boys saw that the spirits were human, they were told a story of world creation related to the sun and moon. In a related story, they were told that in the past women used to be disguised as spirits to control men. When the men discovered the masquerade, they, in turn, would threaten women as spirits. According to the men, the women never learned that the masked males were not truly spirits, but the males found out at the initiation rite.

The contemporary ceremonies used this interplay in somewhat of a joking way. After the first day, related ceremonies and rituals took place. Males showed their "strength" in front of women by fighting spirits (who were other males but the women supposedly did not know it) in some theatrical fights. Each spirit was played with traditional actions, words and gestures, so that everyone could identify it. The best spirit actors from previous *Hains* were called again to impersonate spirits in later *Hains*.

Apart from these dramatic re-enactments of mythic events, the *Hain* involved tests for young males for courage, resourcefulness, resisting temptation, resisting pain and overcoming fear. It also included prolonged instructional courses to train the young men in the tasks for which they would be responsible.

Before European encounter, the various rites of the *Hain* lasted a very long time, perhaps even a year on occasion. It would end with the last fight against the "worst" spirit. Usually *Hains* were started when there was enough food (for example a whale was washed onto the coast), a time when all the Vekt'nakshar from all the bands used to gather at one place, in male and female camps. "Spirits" sometimes went to female encampments to scare them, as well as moving around and acting out in ways that related to their characters.

## Economy

The Vekt'nakshar are a nomadic seafaring people, called canoe-people by some anthropologists. They make canoes that were eight to nine meters long and one meter wide, which would hold a family and its dog. They continued this fishing, nomadic practice until they moved into settlements on land. Because of their maritime culture, the Vekt'nakshar have never farmed the land.