Culture of the Oan Isles

The culture of the Oan Isles refers to the customs, traditions, and prevalent aesthetic tastes that pervade people who live in the Oan Isles. Because the Oan Isles is the ancestral home of the Oan people who in turn make up by far the largest ethnic group, their customs and tastes dominate the rest of society. Furthermore, Mauism, infuses rituals, customs and symbology into the culture of the Oan Isles due to being the majority religion as well as having being practices in the country for centuries. Before Mauism and Thaerism were introduced in the Oan Isles, there existed various folk beliefs. These led to the formation of superstitions, myths and legends that persist in the form of beliefs or aesthetic features and customs despite being persecuted starting with Ahua the Great.

Marriage

Marriage (Oan: mārenatanga) is a fundamental right of all people guaranteed by the Kaupapa Ture Oa regardless of sexual orientation, gender or religion. Same-sex marriage is protected by law and same-sex couples do not face discrimination or barriers that heterosexual couples do not. Marital rites in the Oan Isles vary by religion and cultural background, however the law recognises marriages which are concluded in line with Oan marriage law, i.e., a marriage contract is signed by the couple in the presence of a lawfully appointed marriage officer and two witnesses. The marriage officer in turn registers them in the National Marriage Register and issues them with a valid marriage certificate. Marriages completed in foreign countries are recognised by Oan marriage law.

In the traditions of native Oan people, a variety of customs have emerged around marriage. Either of the people in the relationship make a proposal for engagement by asking their partner for marriage. If the partner accepts the proposal, they will notify their parents or guardians and/or closest relatives. In the past, when heterosexual marriages were dominant, males would pay a dowry to the female's family. This is a practice that remains to some degree among noble families. For instance, Rangitanga-a-te-Moana Oahoanu paid dowry for Aroha Putea. However this practice is not commonly practiced due to the end of patriarchy. Most people are not married in traditional or religious institutions. Instead they go through a civil ceremony and sometimes have a party with their relatives to celebrate the marriage. Usually family and friends will bring gifts for the couple concerned. Various games will be played anpeople will dance and sing.

In families that are adherents of Mauism, the couple will be introduced to the respective ancestors of their tribe. A ceremony is held at the family shrine where they light incense and announce to the dead that they are getting married and ask for good fortune. A married couple can also have a Mauist priest lay hands on their heads and pray to Thaer (Oan: Atea) and Maui on their behalf asking for them to bless and protect the couple.

Names

The Oan Public Registration Act governs the naming conventions of children and naturalised citizens. The act forbids the use of special characters, symbols and numerals as part of names. Furthermore all names written in non-Staynish scripts must be transliterated into Staynish script and the Staynish script name shall be the official name of the person within the Oan Isles. Other restrictions exists which forbid the use of vulgarity and profanity in a child's name. A list of forbidden words is kept by the Minister of Home Affairs. There have been challenges to some forbidden words in the courts largely due to arguments that Oan customary and Mauist religious stereotypes play a large and discriminatory role in the selection of forbidden words.

Totems

Oan people make use of symbols called totems to represent themselved personally or as part of a larger group such as a clan, sub-tribe or tribe. Most groups use a fictional creature or living animal to distinguish their group from another. A standard of symbols has emerged throughout the ages. Guidelines exist for marine, air and terrestrial creatures.

Various body parts are assigned specific meaning. These include talons, tails, quills, scales, claws, paws, fur, markings, fins, flippers, Jaws, eyes, ears, horns and tusks. Thus, a chimera of various bodily features is formed to indicate a person or groups relation to other groups of people. Thus, these totem animals while being superficially based on some real animal are often never found in nature due to ascribing unique features for the purposes of identification.

A special certificate called a Certification of Totemage is issued by the Department of Home Affairs with a full description of the totem and the relevant relations it represents upon application by a person (or their legal guardians) and groups. Although the certificate is a relatively new contrivance designed to prevent repetition of totems, the totems are ancient and have increased in sophistication and complexity with time. Some families have the totem carved into wooden seal or a large statue outside their home.

Funereal rites

Funereal rites vary according to different groups, however Oan people have developed burial rites that combine their folk beliefs and Mauism. Mauism has a strong reverance for the ancestors and thus believes that the physical body should be handled with respect and care. To that end when a person dies, the body is washed and wrapped by the family in white linen or a similar fabric. The body is usually cremated and scattered in a sacred location. These locations are determined by decree of the Rangitanga-a-te-Moana and cannot be violated. They are legally protected cultural heritage sites and various rules exist about the kinds of ceremonies and activities that can be done there or in their vicinity. However, the head is removed from the body and mummified and preserved in a shrine. This allows the family members to continue commuting with the dead even long after they are gone. Modern methods of preservation such as through the use of plastic and modern dehydration have developed that have allowed shrunken heads to be preserved for hundreds of years. Oan people living in foreign countries must often repatriate the bodies of the dead to the Oan Isles as many countries do not allow dismembering or long term preservation of the bodies of the dead for non-scientific or forensic purposes.

For this reason, the Oan Isles lacks cemeteries. Thus, if people who are not of ethnic Oan descent want to perform other rites such as burials, they need to either form groups that administer such services and which acquire land used for that purpose. The practice of burying the dead was highly taboo and was illegal for many years. Thus, many Oan citizens and residsnts of non-Oan ancestry had to bury their loved ones in a foreign country that allowed burials. Because of its proximity, the Morstaybishlian West Pacific Territories has fulfilled this void. The island of Koroimotu has been a locus of such burials due to relative ease accessing land there because of being the only land border the Oan Isles has. However around 1943, burials were permitted. Burials remain stigmatised in Oan society.

In traditional Oan funereal rites, à ceremony is usually held by which the family, friends and acquaintances commemorate the death and life of the deceased. Mauists do not believe that human beings have any say over the souls of people or the afterlife. Thus ceremonies are usually entirely structured for the benefit of the living. They usually consist of people retelling old memories with the deceased, relatives and loved ones sharing words of encouragement, prayers for those left behind and incense and prayers to Atea, Maui and the ancestors for the successful execution of the funereal rites as mentioned in the preceding paragraph.

Tattoos

Permanent body markings called tattoos are important parts of the cultural expression of Oan people. Traditional Oan body markings are called moko. They involve specific rules are distinct from a esthetically similar markings used by people of non-Oan descent called kirituhi. Moko is created by using a sharp stelle to cause coagulation on the surface of the skin to create designs. The process is intense and time consuming. Furthermore, it is usually very painful. Thus, with the development of modern anesthesia, Moko is performed almost entirely by cosmetic surgeons. Cosmetic surgeons or Moko tattooists must receive a certification from the Department of Health before they can be permitted to perform such procedures. This certificate was developed with the Department of Cultural Heritage which regulates the designs, forms and symbols that can be used on ta Moko. Surgeons who fail to meet the cultural criteria will usually be banned and those who perform bad Moko can be sued for medical malpractice.

Kirituhi on the other hand can be performed by any registered tattoo artists. Kirituhi is considered an aesthetic concept that uses Moko style designs. It is usually produced using modern inking techniques. In the Oan Isles there are symbols reserved exclusively for Moko. People of non-Oan descent are forbidden from getting Moko by law. However, in Smith v Department of Cultural Heritage, the Supreme Court of the Oan Isles ruled that ethnicity testing was discriminatory and arbitrarily prohibited people with real but unverified claims to Oan ethnicity from accessing their cultural heritage. This was an issue especially for descendants of Oans who migrated to foreign nations over several generations. Thus, Moko procedures are performed without inspecting the ethnic heritage of a person. However designs which make use of totemic symbols reserved for tribes, clans or families of which they individual has no claim are forbidden and surgeons must verify the claims beforehand. A system called the National Online Totem Registry was developed by Cafe Net to assist in this verification process.