Segment One Blog Project
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A. ENVIRONMENT

I have been living in the Forest of the North for as long as I can remember. As a Hippogriff my herd and I do not like for winters to be unbearably cold or for the summers to get unbearably hot. The temperatures here usually stay between 50 degrees F to 75 degrees F. My kind also prefers a moist air, nothing too dry. It rains periodically throughout each year in our forest so this keeps the air clean and moist. Even though Hippogriffs prefer flatter land there are a few hills in our forest but nothing too difficult for my kind to handle.   My forest has many species of plants and trees. Sessile Oak, Ash, and Elm trees and some of the many trees that you will see here. The trees are huge and branch out several feet and provide my kind with a lot of shade and cover. The leaves are very thick that allow us to hide easily if we need too. Along with trees there are blackberry and holly bushes in my forest. These bushes have bright colored berries on them and add colors other than green to the forest. They provide food for the herbivores in the forest and a pretty sight to the animals that do not eat them.

   We Hippogriffs however, are not the only creatures in the forest. We live with mammals such as red deer, wrens, viviparous lizards, European robins, and white-tailed eagles. Some of the red deer have antlers on top of their head. This distinguishes them as male and females. They are kind of a tannish red color but do not come with a variety of colors like my species does. The wrens, robins, and white-tailed eagles all seem very small to me. Wrens are a dark brown color and blend in well with the trees in our forest. Robins have a orange belly and the rest of their body is a light grey. Eagles soar above the trees just like we do sometimes. My herd thinks that we are distantly related to these creatures because our front half of our body's look just like them. They have clawed feet and dark in color with a white tail. The viviparous lizards have a long scaly red and orange body and crawly along the ground.

    

B: CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE

Norms

   My family or herd as we call it, is very involved with each other. We eat together every night and our elders share stories about our ancestry and how we came to be. Hippogriffs have many legends pertaining to our existence and the stories have been passed down from generation to generation and will continue to be passed on for hundreds of years.
   When children or foals as we call them are born, my herd immediately begins to teach them about our language and our everyday life. They are never treated as if they are too young to learn.
   In my culture it is not unusual for us to have many different mates. We breed in order to make our kind better and to expand our population.
   Our herd is very big on protection. We not only protect our kind but others as well. Every night someone from our family stands guard to protect the way we live, our family, and other creatures around us. We each take turns with this important job.
  The elders are the only form of government and law that we really have. Anything they tell us o do must be followed however the elders respect the herd enough that their power is never abused.
Values

   Our herd takes great pride in where we come from we don't worship our ancestors however we do show them great respect. The elders in my herd are treated with as much respect as we treat our ancestors memories. They are very high in power and their wishes much be respected.
   Hippogriffs take great pride in our language. Our language is very unique because it takes both sides of our ancestry -horses and eagles- and combines them to form our way of communication. We value our offspring to learn our language quickly but correctly.
   My kind worships the forest as well as the sky because the forest provides us with shelter and protection and the sky gives us freedom; it opens our eyes to so many possibilities. We take great care of our home and make an great effort to protect our forest from harm. Anything in the forest or in the sky will be under our protection.
   Hippogriffs also value kindness. We see no point in being hurtful to other creatures because it just causes tension and takes us away from our real purpose in life.
Worldview

   Since Hippogriffs can fly and walk on land we view the world in many different ways. Instead of seeing only one side of things we can view all aspects of the world either from the ground or from the sky. We believe that we all have a purpose and are put here for a reason. We are kind to all creatures and make an effort to make the world that we live in a better place.
Symbols



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Classification of Reality

   We see the world as having a lack of kindness. We strive to make our part of our world as kind as possible along with protecting our kind. As a result of living this way for so long we now tend to block out any kind of harsh living or confrontations.
   Another way we view the world is that we are here for a purpose however we do not believe in a God. We do not believe in a higher power or a creator or anything similar to that.

C: STRUCTURE/ORGANIZATION

Since our elders are the most important aspect of any form of law we have, Hippogriffs view all knowledge as power. Therefore the more knowledge one has the more powerful they become with the herd. This is the basis behind our laws because they are put in place by our elders and can only be changed by our elders. Knowledge is power.

   Another institution in my culture is that marriage doesn't really exist. We have mates that better our population and community not love.

   When it comes to educating our young we tend to orient ourselves around the elders in the herd yet again. As I stated earlier my herd listens to stories and legends about our ancestry every night, this is part of how our offspring learn about our culture however they also have periodic sessions with elders to teach them to become fluent in our language and traditions at a very early age.
   Religion is not really seen as a form of higher power in my world. We view the sky and the forest the only things worthy of our worship because they allow us to live and fly there.
   In my culture we keep track of age through decades instead of celebrating every year. By the time a young Hippogriff turns 10 they should know our culture extremely well and be fluent in our language also by this age they should be finding mates and providing more offspring for the herd. When a Hippogriff in our herd turns 100 years old they are then considered and elder. We usually live to be around 300 years old.
   My diet and my families diet consists of mostly small rodents however we can also survive on plants as well. The reason we can survive on both is because we are half eagle and half horse so we are able to eat both aspects of the diets.
   The only type of ritual my kind has is our death ritual. In this ritual we give the body back to the land and bless their spirit. We thank the forest for allowing us time with this being and then we move on.
    

D. AREAS OF CULTURAL INTEREST

One of the things most important in our culture is our heritage. Where we come from? Why are we half bird half horse? The answers to these question have been past down throughout our history for many years.    Another important area of our culture is secrecy within the herd. In our family we do not keep secrets from one another, however to an outsider every story about our ancestry is kept secret until we know that we can trust you.
   A great aspect of our culture is the individual diverseness within. We all have unique qualities that we add to the herd even though we are all "one". This shows that we can be a great culture and stick together but still hold onto important things that make us an individual.
   Since my culture takes so much pride in where we live another excellent aspect is our home. We take great care of our forest and it is absolutely beautiful.
   Language is very important to us. Ours is extremely unique and holds a great aspect about us in the way that we use it.

Section III Essay

   Children in the Hippogriff culture learn language from our elders. As Hippogriff children grow up they listen to stories told by elders and the elder teach the children our language along the way. When they first start learning the language some of the words are hard to pronounce correctly because their beaks ae not fully developed. As they age it become easier and easier for them to speak longer more complicated words. As well as learning to speak our native language our children learn to write and read it at the same time. This usually begin around a year after birth when they first show the ability to learn more about our language.
   In the very beginnings of the Hippogriff culture our ancestors noticed that the native language we were speaking was hard to write down because our talons make our ranges of characters difficult to draw. They then came up with a special system to help modify our language to an easier sense of writing down the characters. Other changes have occurred throughout the centuries we have had to create new words for things after droughts and floods occurred in our forest. Also when we discover a new creature in the forest we create a new word to call them. Our language has also become more modern because as other creatures in the forest develop and modernized our language was forced to do the same.
   My language reflects mood by the change in tone but also by the change in writing. If a Hippogriff writes a letter and the characters are written sharper and maybe a touch sloppier that is supposed to show anger or that that Hippogriff is upset with you. We have words in my culture that describe emotion but they are only used in times of great importance because Hippogriffs focus more on survival and the well being of the herd not individual needs or feelings. Our language tends to focus on our laws put there by the elders of the herd. We must keep traditions and do as the elder tell us to. In my culture it is normal to paw the ground and snort as a way of protecting one's territory, this is our only form of nonverbal communication. In the Hippogriff culture eye contact is very important. It shows that you are engaged and interested and it also is an indication that each individual in the herd is equal; that no one thinks they are better than anyone else.
   As teenagers in my culture become fluent in the Hippogriff language they begin to make up slang term to shorten words and to keep the elders and other adults from understanding. Some examples of the slang is: ee which is slang for tree, uit which is slang for fruit, and od which is slang for food. This shows that as the Hippogriff culture grows the future generations want to shorten words to make conversation faster. When greeting someone in my culture you use terms such as, "good to see you", "I hope you are well", and "hope life is being kind to you". Hippogriffs greet others this way because we care about each others well being. we always want to make sure that our herd is safe and well and want to help if they aren't. When Hippogriffs want to have fun we participate in a game called flying ball. This is a fun game that requires two teams to fly around in the sky trying to score points on either side of the marked off areas with a ball. Everyone in my herd participates even the elders.
   Some examples of semantic domains in my culture are animals: squirrel, bird, lizard, insect, rat: scenery: tree, leaf, river, sky, cloud: food: rats, mice, leaves, birds, water: home: forest, tree line, cave, outcropping: furniture: rocks, trees, bushes. These domains demonstrate our way of living. In my culture we do not distinguish between race in our language only between male and female. Our language has different words for men and woman and men are also help to higher standard in our tribe just like the elders. My culture also doesn't distinguish between rich or poor because we all try to live equally.
   In the Hippogriff language we have words for things that are commonly used or seen in the forest. If we do not use or see something on a daily basis then we most likely do not have a word for it and will defiantly not use it in an everyday conversation. When it comes to food ours sources range between small animals and some plants so in our language the same word we use to point out a food source are used to describe animals and plants in the forest. Some examples of metaphorical concepts in my language are, "that rat won't eat itself", "time is living", "live for the past", "time is flying", "knowledge is power".
   This project has expanded my understanding of the relationship between language and culture. I know understand that if a culture changes or shifts then the language will be changed as well. Now I know that culture and language are one in the same.