From: D M McNamara (D.M.McNamara@durham.ac.uk)
Date: Thu 11 Jul 1996 - 13:01:19 EEST
What i always thought (and this is merely a pragmatic opinion in lieu of
more valid knowledge) is that tobacco plants may well be growing wild in
Prax. I've been reading Gould's 'Living Archaeology.' He followed this
band of aboriginies around australia, observing what they ate and
scribbling in his notebook (needless to say the aboriginies thought he
was insane). Occasionally the aboriginies, on their travels, found a
small tobacco patch, and picked some for smoking. They preferred to get
hold of ready mades from trading posts, however. These were less
'westernised' aboriginies, by the way (aboriginies have tended to split
into two general camps - those who often live off welfare, and have come
reasonably westernised, and live in camps and use 'western' material
culture when possible, and those who still live mostly as they did before
colonial conquest).
I imagine much of the outback may be less fertile than the better parts
of prax (it looks that way from 'the flying doctors'), so i don't see why
tobacco can't be growing there too. Having said this, my knowledge of
australian landscape is pretty limited, and i don't know any gloranthan
myths about tobacco either. I suppose you would also have to be
semi-nomadic to be able to collect reasonable amounts of tobacco leaves.
I suspect that tobacco may well serve ritual purposes in morokanth
society. Feel free to naysay me, but there is considerable evidence to
support this in pre-capitalist societies in the RW. Some parts of
Levi-Strauss support this too (see the raw-cooked-rotten triangle in 'the
origin of table manners'). He suggests that because substances like
tobacco or honey transcend the traditional culture:nature dualities in
human cognition, they are believed to hold magic power - hence their
common usage in rituals of many kinds. This is because tobacco must be
consumed by 'culture' ie. fire, before it is used (the smoke inhaled),
therefore it is uncannily 'over-cultural.' Honey is already often found
'ready-processed' in hollow logs, etc. so it is considered to be
'over-naturalised.' This is in contrast with most normal food items,
which usually move from 'nature' to 'culture' in consumption - for
example, raw to cooked.
Funnily enough, similar taboos still existed in the victorian dinner
party. For example, 'wet' and 'dry' foods were often not mixed in the
mouth, and similarly 'hot' and 'cold.'
The problem with morokanth is that consumption of tobacco by fire has
'yelmish' connotations (and they are primarily darkness rune linked
people). I suppose there has to be a way round this though (certainly i
would not deny that Levi-Strauss' structuralist analysis can be
dangerously schematic and determinist).
Just some thoughts whizzing round my head. Feel free to ignore them.
Dominic.
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