Re: OT: Chinese zither

> > I'll have to give some thought to where the
> > bamboo grew originally and if
> > they might not have brought it with them when
> > they migrated into their previous homes.
>
>That I suppose they could do. Especially if they
>were given some time to gather supplies and move
>out in an orderly fashion.
There were two migrations.  One of them was a slow migration, probably from
their original homeland, into an already inhabited region.  I am thinking
that they came over the western mountains into lower country to the east
and a plateau farther to the east, which were already inhabited, but the
original inhabitants and the newcomers found that they could get along
well.  If the bamboo was originally found in the mountains (or westward),
and not in the lower country, then they would have had time to go back and
get some and transplant it into their new home.  The second migration was
less orderly; it was a flight.  Later, a third group of people, calling
themselves "the Emigrees" migrated into the area from the south.  After
this group had attained sufficient numbers they began to attack the other
peoples living around them.  In less than half a century they had driven
everyone else off of the plateau.  The Cwendaso fled either west, off of
the plateau, or north into the foothills of the northern mountain
range.  The next wave of warfare from the Emigrees was the conquest of the
lands between the plateau and the western mountain range.  It lasted for a
hundred years and drove all the Cwendaso into the northern mountains where
they still live today, subjugated the Nidirino people, the aboriginal
inhabitants of the land, and destroyed any other smaller tribes in the
region.  Since that time, there has been peace for about 400 years.  But
during the second migration, no the Cwendaso did not have the same amount
of time to pack.  But I think that bamboo grew wild in the northern
mountains.  They did have some time to pack.  It was more of a mass
evacuation of a large area under threat of force.

> > > > butchering should be accomplished before
> > the
> > > > meal is served, not during the
> > > > meal, in their opinion.
> > >
> > >Sounds reminiscent of many Daine, who prefer
> > to
> > >cut up meat before cooking it. This is not to
> > say
> > >they don't enjoy roasted joints, mind!
> >
> > Oh, Cwendaso would never touch a roasted joint
> > (just one of those little
> > cultural things) and so they never cook it that
> > way.
>
>Understandable! Daine as a rule don't touch organ
>meats. Marrow and hearts are ok to many, though.
Cwendaso consider most organ meat a special treat.  Ok, not the intestines,
those aren't exactly clean (yes, I know that they can be cleaned up; a
Greek woman at our Church gave us some sheep intestine soup this Pascha,
but we couldn't bring ourselves to eat it), and probably not the brains,
eyeballs, etc.  But heart, liver, kidneys, those are all delicacies.

>It's not the term I had in mind. I was thinking
>of an overtone flute, which is a holeless
>recorder or whistle which is constructed in such
>a way that all the notes can be attained by
>overblowing to the high partials. They're
>traditional to some Scandinavian country. I want
>to say Sweden or Finland.
I do know about this type of flute.  Some tribe in Africa (my college
papers are hopelessly burried) makes this sort of instrument.  I included
it in a research paper that I did on several various types of African
flutes for an introductory ethnomusicology class.  You know, one of the
Khoisian tribes (better known for their click consonants) make large sets
of end-blown flutes and play them together in huge ensembles.  The Music
Library at IU has some great field recordings in their collection, so I
actually got to hear a recording of a group playing.  It sounds sort of
like a pipe organ radically out of whack.  Really great.

> > >Turtle shell drums. Drums can also be made of
> > >skulls.
> >
> > There's another good idea.
>
>(: You know, for when you have a few extra skulls
>lying about and just can't be having with more
>soup bowls or soma cups!
>
>Of course, there's plenty of room for sacred
>drums made out of the skulls of beloved
>ancestors.
Sorry, not these people!  They are so concerned about not defiling a dead
body that they won't even undress it to put on new clothes for burial.  A
person is buried in whatever they happened to die in.  And in war, they
consider it their duty, as civilized people, to keep guard over the bodies
of their slain enemies and prevent the bodies from being defiled by carrion
beasts until a delegation from the enemy can come and claim the
bodies.  It's a rather maladaptive strategy in warfare, but it is important
to them to act in a civilized manner.  Though I can think of one of my
other concultures that might very well find a use for resonators made from
human skulls in certain of their religious rites

> > >  travoises,
> > >books (I know - they probably don't write!),
> >
> > They don't write yet, but they will.  And it
> > will make the most sense for
> > them to write on parchment, since they have so
> > much leather available.  The
> > Trehelish (southerners), on the other hand,
> > don't have such a surplus of
> > leather, and have learned to make paper.
>
>Makes for a good export!
They export a lot of fur.  I hadn't thought of skins as well, but those
would be in demand farther south for parchment.  Thank you for the good idea.

> > (It's not actually an animal that you want
> > to mess with.)
>
>Daine hunters don't mind tackling such beasties
>at times!
Nor do these people.  Hey, one of those creatures carries a load of good
beef, and the horns are very useful as well.  It's worth a little danger.

>Keep us posted!
I'll let you know when I figure anything out, but it probably won't be for
a while.

Isidora

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