#ray’s weekly insight into sa culture

[zhaozaipalooza]

Your Weekly Insight into SA Culture! - HOLI!!! ✨

Oh boy, did I save a fun one for LuZhao week. I’ll try to keep this short and sweet… just like their relationship. (Uh oh I hear boss music-)

I remember this incredibly fondly ~ I still know I whacked my Anna’s face (Anna meaning big brother) with green powder first 💚, and after he got yellow in my hair 💛, I hit him with blue 💙. I’d been an art kid since age four, so when I found out at eight? - nine? - that it was okay and even encouraged to smear color all over people’s faces? I found a new favorite holiday (IT’S LITERALLY IN THE WORD HOLI-DAY IT’S THAT SPECIAL GUYS {jk but STILL}). Our whole house ended up a mess, but luckily floors in India are rarely carpeted, often marble or vitrified tiles, so no worries, just chaos. My ideal state in life.

I present… Christmas and birthdays and Halloween and Easter and Valentine’s all rolled into one: The Festival of Colors.

Holi’s grown to mean a lot of things for many different countries that adopted the tradition, so I can’t speak for all of them! But I am aware it’s also known as the Festival of Love, in celebration of the inimitable Radha-Krisha amour ~ and YES, they deserve every inch of adoration that comes their way yearly, DAILY, because they’re just so cute!! A tangent:

Krishna himself is the eighth incarnate of our Avatar, and probably the most famous! His younger years are known for mischief-mastery, incredible feats of strength (held up a hill on his finger to protect people from a storm), and delighting the local gopikas - daughters and wives of the cowherds - with his flute music. In fact, little Krishna 100% reminds me of Aang! (<< I just realized this and I’m smiling so hard rn IT FITS)

His early life would go on to give him the reputation as a god of compassion, protection, and playfulness. Radha was the gopika he came to love the most. When he left the quaint village where he was raised to discover his destiny, Radha stayed behind, and she waited for him for nearly a lifetime, faithful all the while. In depictions of them together, Krishna is often seen playing his flute while Radha listens contently - they’re portrayed as two halves in perfect union (God and the human soul, or masculine and feminine), with the gopikas symbolizing the interplay between human love and divine love.

And best of all? Pretty sure they never wed or make love, and still maintain some of the strongest companionship I’ve seen in our stories! A victory for the aces in the deck?

😍😍 THEY!!!

Of course, this makes Holi a time for dropping any and all grudges and coming together ~ good vibes only. It’s also the time of year when the caste system is entirely suspended, which I find wonderful.

The powders used for Holi are aplenty, and some ingredients are medicinal herbs suggested by Ayurvedic doctors - an immune boost as a bonus! The flowers of the tesu tree, indigo, raddish, saffron, pomegranate, hibiscus, mehendi, turmeric, marigold, beetroot, dried tea leaves, gooseberries… ALL and more are game for creating dozens of pigments. If you’re headed to one of the busier celebrations (of about a few hundred people): wear clothes you hate, rub oil over your skin, cover your eyes, hair, and plug in your ears… and remember, if you can’t beat them, join ‘em!

That this didn’t find its way into ATLA is a TRAVESTY. 💜🧡💙❤️💛💚 Hope you enjoyed the read!!

[zhaozaipalooza]

Your Weekly Insight Into SA… Cultural Culture?

Man. Cultural anatomy this week is all over the place, hm?

Well, of course. It’s hard to put your thumb on something as broad as culture, and India - land of over a hundred languages and breaching thousands when including dialects - is a crucible of influences that are more than I can pin down in one post.

Stories swim in and out of recognition, filter through interpretation - Agni himself began as the messenger of the gods, found on the earth as fire, in the atmosphere as lightning, in the sky as the sun. Now he’s slipped more into a general understanding of what binds the land and sky together: an essence instead of a deity.

And even that’s not true for everyone. Parts of South Asia still venerate him - an eight-day fire festival in Karnataka features fifteen minutes of chucking flaming torches at one another with medical assistance on standby… appeasing the goddess Durga in the same act. (How’s that for the adrenaline-crazed sister of Diwali?!)

And, India’s never lost its touch as the land of mystery!

Some of this may be due to idiotic Orientalism, but most of it lies very much in the fact that we’ve been ever-changing and diverse since before the arrival of the Aryans. A wealth of history, religion, and celebration to outfit a continent by ourselves, and in these few weeks I’ve hardly presented a hoard of the treasure.

So here’s something I stumbled across that seems to apply strongly to the princess above (and her mother), and leads into the last week without pulling punches: the Visha Kanya.

Literally “poison maiden” - women who were trained from a young age to become master assassins for Indian kings. Via a disturbing practice, really. CW for snakes and poisons under the cut.

(Yo… 😳) Raised on a diet of toxins and antidotes until they achieved a remarkable immunity by maturity, some of these girls would die, while others survived - vetted as the toxic virgins whose very kiss meant instant death.

It’s said that Aristotle warned Alexander the Great of these women before he began his Indian campaign - also that Alexander died from embracing a Visha Kanya who was gifted to him. Their own skin and bodily fluids became venomous through an excess use of mithridatism. Ladies that make Westley’s trick in The Princess Bride look like child’s play…!

Strangest of all? There’s no historical record of them. They’ve passed into folklore and fascination, as cultural epochs can attest to. And yet, statues of women entwined with snakes stand in relief at ancient sites.

Are they real, or are they not - and could Azula have easily (no doubt metaphorically) been a weapon brought up by posion? Ozai’s cold-blooded angel could have a hell of a twisted backstory after this…

Eek. This one gives me the creeps. Guess it’s another love letter to horror enthusiast and fellow mod Crooked!

See you all for one last week! ✨

[zhaozaipalooza]

Your Weekly Insight into SA Culture Horror! - Chandramukhi

A breakdown of a cultural icon, and this 🤏🏾 close to a love letter to @crookedmouth-mountainbones, mod for the event and enthusiast of both Zhayu and horror. (There’s been… almost seventeen Chandramukhi films? WHAT?)

First things first, we’ll knock the mythology out of the way. Last week we looked at the ocean, otherwise a Hinduistic dive into La, your beloved Koizilla. I snuck in a subtle hint that Tui was next… Chandra, meaning “bright, shining, glittering”, is the moon god. Yes, he’s gay for Agni (no, please, from what I’ve read he’s pretty straight 😭).

Two stories of interest when it comes to this ladies’ man. He fell in love, illegitimately, with the star goddess Tara, ending in a declaration of war: gods fighting on Tara’s husband’s side, and asuras fighting on Chandra’s side. Oof. The guy went on to have many other consorts, representing the 27 closest constellations to the moon (aww). He was devoted to Rohini the most, and when the rest of his 26 wives got cranky enough to snap, dude got cursed.

^ Rohini, for one, is the personified star Aldebaran, brightest in the Taurus constellation. Her designation is therefore Alpha Tauri.

Another fun story (further highlighting this dude’s terrible luck): the Hindu tale behind the moon phases! Ganesha, the absolute icon of an elephant god, was returning from a hearty feast, certainly full after gorging on his favorite sweets, modaks (google for mouth-watering image results). When a snake slithered onto his path, the animal he was riding on spooked and turned tail, and Ganesha fell hard on his stomach… and all that sweetness came right back up.

Chandra, witnessing this, busted a gut, causing Ganesha to break off one of his tusks in fury and chuck it at the moon’s face. Then he cursed him (again) to never be whole… the reasons for waxing and waning, and the large crater on the moon, visible even from earth.

Okay, so where the heck were we? Horror? 😂

Well, somewhat relevant! Chandramukhi combined comedy with thriller-horror elements and racked up half a billion rupees in the box office, going on to win about eleven awards from different film-honoring associations. Two actors were awarded the Kalaimanami, the highest honor a Tamil Nadu citizen can receive, and it was the first Tamil film to be dubbed in German as “The Ghost Hunters”... okay, okay, point made.

Chandramukhi, if you’ve already guessed part of the name, means “moon-faced” or “as beautiful as the moon”. The film itself was a HUGE hit. I remember being a kid and going cold at the sight and sound of her: rattling anklets and bugged-out eyes, an unhinged, murderous voice… The movie has everything: haunted mansion, twisted-up love affairs, a mysterious and harrowing origin story for a spirit out for vengeance, things unexpectedly breaking and catching fire, poisoned coffee, a pushed fish tank, strange singing in the night… exorcisms! And split personality disorder! (Though, like James McAvoy’s performance in Split, a poor representation of the actual condition.)

The famous “Raa, Raa” track came out of the film - meaning “Come, Come” - and so did the “Lakka lakka…” sound Chandramukhi makes, goading her prey to her (popular among children! I might recall schoolmates chasing me around with this… I hated it 😂). The line uttered by Prahbu to the protagonist, translated to “What atrocity is this, Saravanan?” is used sometimes to the effect of irony and surprise. We can meme, too! With the best of ‘em!

Now, Chandramukhi’s actual story is a bit sad.

A tear-jerker of an explanation here. A hundred and fifty years ago, the woman as beautiful as the moon was a dancer in the city of Vizianagaram. This city was visited by the king Vettaiyan, who was immediately bewitched by her, and brought her to his palace by force… where she lived the rest of her life under his ownership. She provided royal entertainment, yet refused to reciprocate his advances, already in love with a dancer named Gunasekaran. When the king discovered she was meeting her lover in secret, he had Gunaeskaran beheaded and Chandramukhi burned alive in front of his court. Her spirit became bent on vengeance in the afterlife, and after Vettaiyan’s many priests and sorcerers were finally able to tame her, was locked in a corner of the palace and guarded by a king cobra.

Ganga, the character in the film who transforms into the newly-possessed (-ive?) Chandramukhi, exhibits “split personality disorder”, in that her actions as a crazed murderess are distinct from a loving and oblivious young woman. The iconic “tie bell anklets around her feet to hear if she sleepwalks, confirming Ganga and Chandramukhi are one and the same” scene is branded in my memory. Spooky!

Shine bright! Catch you next time ;p

[zhaozaipalooza]

Your Weekly Insight Into SA Culture - Palaces, Palaces Everywhere!

Welcome, welcome! Today I serve as your tour guide through time, for India boasts plenty of old fortresses of its own. This week’s insight is less mythology-based and more appreciative of our stunning architecture and rich history.

1. Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur

A fort of burnished red sandstone that appears to “command and to meld with the landscape.” A filming location in The Jungle Book and The Dark Knight Rises, its construction began in the 15th century and lasted for 500 years, meaning many, MANY revolving architectural influences are included in the fort and its palaces. A trip through time in itself! (80% sure I visited this one when I was a kid.)

Maharaja (king) Rao Jodha would begin construction two generations after Rao Chunda secured his capital in Marwar, located in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan. Jodhpur is naturally named after the clan, and Mehrangarh itself? Translates to ‘fort of the sun’… a hat tip to the family’s supposed descent from the sun god Surya.

Well, well. A real life Fire Nation royal family?

2. Hawa Mahal, Jaipur

… the “Palace of Winds.”

(😱 This elemental pattern is entirely coincidental!!)

Built as an extension of the City Palace on the brink of the 18th century, the honeycomb shape of over 900 windows is meant to resemble Lord Krishna’s crown. The curved, five-story structure actually lacks a foundation - making it the tallest building in the world without one! The curve to it is what keeps it upright, I’ve read.

There’s one downside… The windows aren’t much bigger than peepholes, and the whole extension was to provide royal ladies a seat from which to watch events and royal processions without being seen. The Purdah system at the time forbid royal women from being seen in public. Boo.

3. Rambagh Palace, Jaipur

Known as The Jewel of Jaipur. (The earth element? 🤔) It’s a palace converted into a hotel you can literally book!!

Built in the 1830s, Rambagh Palace began as a garden house for the maharani’s (queen) dearest handmaiden. In the 1880s, it was converted into a hunting lodge (damn, leave it to men to ruin such epic lesbianism). It was renovated multiple times after, even as a wedding gift to Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II’s wife - the Maharani Suite - then at last, ended up as the upscale residence given to Taj Hotels for management in 1972.

Notable rent-outs include American First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, British India’s last Viceroy, Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, Lady Diana, and good ol’ Anderson Cooper.

Now… all this talk of gifts to wives and Taj Hotels…

Last on the list, one I have no doubt you’ve all heard of ~ among the Seven Wonders of the World and Persian for “Crown of Palaces”…..

4. Taj Mahal, Agra

An insurmountable source of Indian pride, the ivory-white marble monument in Agra has been known to stir tenfold the questions it can answer. The chief architect, Ustad Ahmad Lahauri, was a Persian from Iran, and the building ascribes more to the Muslim mausoleum. The marvel is littered with optical illusions, from the tilted minarets, trippy near and far proportions, color-changing allure, to the Shah’s west-leaning cenotaph that throws off its perfect symmetry…

Shah Jahan, the romantic who ordered the grand resting place of his beloved wife be erected in the 1630s, had a more ruthless reputation than the ideal husband’s. The grand scale composed of crystal, lapis lazuli, Makrana marble, and turquoise doubled as a symbol of power and heightened the glory of his reign.

Empress Mumtaz Mahal was lost in childbirth, and her sarcophagus lies in a quiet room below the cenotaphs on display. When pollution and age damage the timeless sensation, a facial used by Indian women is repurposed for the giant structure, and leaves it as gleaming white as before!

And there’s your element of water ~ plus all our tearbending for such a heartbreaking gesture. Looks like all four have been unintentionally covered!

Whew! This one (rightfully) got pretty long. See you next time! P.S. Bryke GET BACK HERE AND GIVE ME BROWN REP

[zhaozaipalooza]

Your Weekly Insight Into SA Culture! - Bharatanatyam, A Dance of Fire

YOU DIDN’T THINK I WAS GOING TO LEAVE YOU HANGING did you??? The last of Ray’s scribbled cultural notes before the event, here we go!! 

I present ~ a topic I decided ahead of time for our darling dark angels: the mother of our classical dance heritage, made of marvelous getups and a threefold expression of emotion, music, and rhythm. (Along with virtues, spiritual ideas, and the essence of Hindu scriptures all tied with one big bow.)

Marvelous getups? Women wear silk sarees with pleats that spread like a peacock’s feathers, embroidered and jeweled with gold, musical anklets, medhini on the hands and feet, and more. So much more! Here’s a link to the list of everything traditional dancers wear, and the twelve steps to doll up for a performance:

Bharatanatyam is considered the manifestation of fire in the human body, meaning it’s all too relevant for a girl like Azula. Bharata combines the use of bhava, raga, and tala (take a wild guess!), and natyam translates to dance. The skill follows an ancient treatise on the performing arts from around 200 BCE, emphasizing hand movements and gestures, posture, step, and finesse. Students undergo years of training under a guru before their debut, and its symbolic strength has been reinforced as recently as British colonial occupation, when the practice was banned and ridiculed (hm, sounds similar to a little fact we learned in Book Three…)

Tamilians were worried of losing a staple of their heritage to social reform, and revival efforts swept the country. Revivalists were incarcerated and the Indian voice suppressed, but across the 20th century, the freedom movement soldiered on… and temples started to hold performances once again. Famous dancers helped establish bharatanatyam as a mainstream art, and it became one of many cultures and traditions that made it out intact, and more alive than ever! Limited to just women? No way! The earliest students, gurus, choreographers, and ballet masters were men who embraced the classical arts. Idols and carvings of Lord Shiva - as many as a hundred in the Thillai Natarajar Temple - depict the man, the myth himself in intricate poses. Looks like India’s next battle will be gender norms, but it’s hardly an alien thought - anyone can claim the stage:

Wonder if the Royal Fire Academy for Girls ever held dance recitals back in the day… Mai, Azula, and Ty Lee with gorgeous sarees and star-quality talent on the firelit floor? YES PLEASE!

[zhaozaipalooza]

Your (Hopefully) Weekly Insight into SA Culture! - The Blue Spirit Mask

Hallo, Ray here! As a Desi American, watching ATLA draw from a melting pot of cultural influences was great, and... not great. The only brown characters we see are Guru Pathik, and some resemblance in Mr. Combustion Man? Kinda sad, especially when the concept of the Avatar itself is drawn from Hindu mythology.

So, here’s a glimpse into the South Asian side of things! I’m going off of the stories and knowledge I grew up with, armed with a little bit of research - so expect small-brained inaccuracies. Maybe something in these blurbs, if I could be so honored, will inspire you to slip what you learned into future submissions!!! :D

Ah, the Blue Spirit... I’ve heard Bryke traced their inspiration to the masks found in Chinese Nuo opera, which sounds amazing! Masks seem to be prevalent in Asian cultures, and no wonder. Our religions are often polytheistic; there’s a lot of cool deities (and bad guys) to keep tabs on for when we honor them.

Just look at this range of Nepali masks! (Not me getting homesick already...) Any of these look like a much more flamboyant version of the Blue Spirit? Not good for Avatar-robbing under the cover of darkness, I’d expect, but the culture... so RICH!

Some of these dudes look pretty mean, but that isn’t to say they’re the rotten ones. (Demons in Hinduism are called asuras, I believe.) But we’ll say, for the sake of the Fire Nation branding Zuko’s secret identity as the “scourge of the Fire Nation”, that the Blue Spirit refers to a nasty villain in Hindu myth. After all, the Dark Water Spirit is the main antagonist in the plot of Love Amongst the Dragons.

There’s endless options: Ravana, the ten-headed bully who is STILL fresh in my mind (ugh, Sita deserves better back off), Duryodhana, mastermind behind the Mahabharata war, Mahishasura, the buffalo demon slayed by THE South Asian equivalent of Kyoshi... milady Durga herself!! All and plenty of others are likely paired with gruesome and recognizable visages, and given corresponding masks.

Now, check this: hair! A very big part of SA culture, and incredibly relevant to the Fire Nation. I remember going to Tirupati and climbing the seven Tirumala Hills (traumatic) so our family could have our hair cut. Hair is a powerful metaphor in Hinduism, but unlike the Fire Nation, it’s almost tied to the complete opposite of honor... Hair can be associated with undesirable traits from past lives, so sometimes children will have their heads shaved to symbolize severing that tether, and moving into the future with a fresh, blank slate.

In mythology (circling back to our gods and demon bois now), hair is HUGE and full of secrets. “Unbound, unruly hair represents wild nature. Well oiled and combed hair represents culture.” For some mythological figures, wild hair represents fury. Well-kept, thick hair represents reputation and potent mental power. And of course, shaved heads tend to represent asceticism.

Pretty familiar-sounding, and yet, it makes you wonder... whether Zuko was severing his ties to a distasteful life in this scene, ‘freeing’ himself - or losing his last shred of honor.

Last but not least, to allude to M. Night’s live-action garbage fire. ONLY because it has the occasional nugget of SA insight... and behold, the visualization of unruly and unbound hair, as depicted on villains + an asura’s mask!!!

Tada! Hair extensions can be a part of masks, too! I don’t know how many times I’ve worn long, braided hair that was someone else’s to accompany a ceremonial outfit... It felt weird, truly, but after it was woven with sweet-smelling jasmine flowers, and my arms were decorated with mehndi, golden bangles, and jeweled arm cuffs, hey, I looked neat!

I’d say it’d be awesome to see a South Asian interpretation of the infamous Blue Spirit. Hope you enjoyed reading, paloozers (that sounds mean 😬 I mean pa-WINNERS!), and if you had any thoughts, feel free to drop an ask!