Mitta

Hekzhi va Cadusa, a Mitta

The Mitta are a proud, seafaring nation who live on a large, low-lying peninsula, dotted and flecked with rivers and streams meeting their coastline. They are known for swift, narrow, angular boats of excellent quality that cut through the water and can even paddle up streams. These boats are often used to row out to an island home, but they have numerous other uses.

The Mitta are known as explorers and navigators, travelers, and cartographers. Mitta love showing off new and exotic items on their person and in the home, there is a major culture of individual as well as group travel, the further the better.

## Naming Traditions

### Unisex names

As in the majority of cultures of Paan Atta, Mitta birth names are not gender specific. However, during the ritual of coming of age, a Mitta person will take a second name that represents them better and more personally as the person they have grown into. These chosen names can have gendered connotations or be neutral. When a name is announced and chosen, it is placed first, before the (genderless) birth name. The birth name is given the place of a middle name, its use being formal, in introductions and papers, and sometimes as the basis of an affectionate familial nickname.

### Family names

Rather than more unique family names, the Mitta usually have second names referring to their place of birth. (town, city, village, name of a home or building, etc. Usually as narrowed down as possible.) Examples include va Cadusa, va Hemshen, and va Zhordis.

### Other names

Mitta chosen names with a feminine connotation begin with a breathy/exhalatory sound such as "H", "Uh", "F", "V", "Sh", "Ch", "J", "S", etc.

Mitta chosen names with a masculine connotation begin with a guttural/deep sound such as, "Guh", "L", "Ooh", "Oh", "I", "M", "N", "R" etc.

Neutral names which are given at birth or can also be chosen begin with a sort of popping or clicking sound such as, "K", "P", "D", "E", "B", "T", etc.

## Culture

### Art and architecture

Mitta maps are lush with detail, balancing social borders with natural boundaries, lines of elevation, and patterns that represent climates and biomes. Often, maps and globes are hand painted, watercolor over dried soot-ink. These delicate and subtle colors are used to detail the salinity of water, and the density and ethnicities of human populations. Maps are not just a tool of navigation or study, but a personal journey and a lifetime's achievement of travel and learning. Maps are an heirloom, a museum piece, an art form.

### Shared customary codes and values

Individuality, independence, and self-sufficiency are major ideals of the Mitta. Children are taught to cook, fish, swim, boat, clean, and similar from a very young age.

### Common Etiquette rules

Touching, taking, using, borrowing, or doing anything with someone's fishing implements without asking is incredibly offensive, especially if it's the fish hook in their pierced earlobe from their coming-of-age ritual.

Intentionally pouring, spilling, flicking, or splashing water on someone is seen as very intimate, and is generally reserved for romantic partners, close friends, and immediate family.

Jumping or shouting at night is seen as bad luck and more impolite than doing so during the day.

### Foods & Cuisine

Their preparation of crustaceans and under-utilized fish in their food is well known, and both a popular export and a popular tourist attraction. Professional chefs will even use an advanced method to neutralize the toxicity of poisonous fish, with errors being incredibly rare. This subset of Mitta cuisine is expensive and not for the faint of heart, but hordes of tourists clamor to taste it every year.

### Birth & Baptismal Rites

Specific birthing customs vary by family and region, but once a baby has been born, cleaned up, had its first sleep, and woken from this, one of its earlobes is pierced with a clean needle. A peg of polished wood, bone, horn, or specially prepared leather is kept in the piercing until the coming-of-age ritual.

### Coming of Age Rites

Unlike most other cultures of Paan Atta aside from the Ndwebe, for the Mitta, the coming of age rite is not at a particular age or age range.

The ritual of coming of age takes place when a Mitta child catches a fish with no assistance for the first time. They will take a second name that represents them better and more personally as who they have grown into. They present this fish to their family and announce their chosen name. An adult cleans the hook that this fish was caught with and pushes it through the child's pierced earlobe.

The fish is prepared with as much contribution from the child as possible and served in a meal for the family, extended family, family friends, friends of the child, locals, etc.

The fish hook is kept as a personal and cultural item of incredible importance, worn in the ear every day (with exceptions made for when it is not possible/safe). This fish hook is a clear identifier of someone as Mitta, both to other Mitta people and to outsiders.

### Funerary and Memorial customs

The deceased are traditionally given a "sea burial", lowered down by their closest family members and friends.

### Common Myths and Legends

It is said that seaweed is the hair of the Vorgau who lurk below the sand. The Vorgau are said to be capricious and temperamental, a symbolic offering of something from the land is put out on the water to ensure a safe voyage of any duration. If this is not done, it is said that they will rock, splash, scratch, or tip your boat, or even pull it off course.

Offerings vary in size and significance based on the duration and danger involved in the voyage. For a short trip out to an island, a handful of land grass or a small flower will do. For the most perilous voyages, a bit of your meal, a sip of a beverage, a small personal trinket, or multiple will be given.

## Ideals

### Beauty Ideals

Well-trimmed hair, pushed behind the ears is ideal for the Mitta. Large hands, long legs, a suntan, short fingernails, and a strong/wide build are seen as highly desirable.

### Courtship Ideals

A Mitta courtship involves invitations to physical training/sparring. In a long-term relationship and marriage, weapons, and related items are very romantic and ideal gifts.

### Relationship Ideals

The ideal in a relationship, regardless of duration, is protecting one another and being ready to do so at any time. Common demonstrations of affection include: standing closer to the street than your partner, shielding them from inclement weather (i.e. lending garments, holding an umbrella or parasol over them, helping them over a puddle, etc.), and fixing their hair/pushing it behind their ears.