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#also i know there is headcanons and i think word of god comments from bardugo about kaz being asian or picturing him that way
crowshoots · 7 months
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the zemeni, their beliefs about grisha abilities, and relations to religion & belief
said that i would do this post a bit ago, so here we go. now, several things before i go into it: this is all headcannoned and lore i made myself rather than anything supported in canon, as Ieigh bardugo has offered... pretty much nothing on zemeni culture, so! again, this is primarily for my blog and how i understand it, but keep this in mind for whenever talking about (my) jesper's culture. onward we go!
to start: we know very little of the zemeni culture in canon (unfortunately). the very little we know is that grisha are seen as blessed (and the word for grisha translates as 'the blessed'), and novyi zem is one of the few places available for grisha to hide safely for their lives. they do have teachings for their abilities off to the west, and they don't believe in grisha orders like the ravkans and the rest of the world does.
the terminology of the word 'blessed' as connotations. one, it obviously indicates a positive image of zowa. even in ravka, one of the countries most well-known for their employment and treatment of grisha, they're not exactly the same way. instead, the grisha are named after one of the first grisha saints, gregori.
a lot of the older ravkan saints are tales of grisha who were brutalized, such as gregori himself (mauled to death by bears). the ravkan legends tend to commentate them for all of the things they could do, uplifting them to a pedestal rather than ridiculing them or making them out to be monsters. in the books, it's also implied that saints are not shared from country to country -- inej has her own (suli) saints, and colm has his (kaelish) saints. they likely have their own tales and beliefs.
however, the usage of the word 'blessed' by the zemeni implies that they believe that this power comes from a higher power. it implies that fate had a hand in 'blessing' someone and gifting them this power. leoni's father says --
"leoni is zowa. she has the gift too."
the way that this is phrased implies again that the zemeni believe grisha/zowa power to be a gift from someone. aditi also says that "if my gifts can help people, then it's my duty to use them", perhaps implying a (mayhaps personal or moral-related) understanding of these gifts and using them in such a way to help others. in short: in my understanding, the zemeni view zowa power as a gift from a higher power, specifically given to aid others the best they can.
however, with the zemeni seemingly lacking in saints, now it becomes a question of exactly what this higher power is. in siege and storm, alina hears from mal that the zemeni have a god of work that they pray to (also curiously enough, capitalized as God of Work but I have no coherent thoughts on that). the god of work is not given a name, and we can assume that mal wouldn't know the zemeni names. (sort of like how if you weren't kerch/grounded in kerch culture, you wouldn't exactly know what ghezen would be the god of when someone told you that they'll pray to ghezen. it's not like they say "i'll pray to ghezen, god of commerce")
the way that i interpret this is that the god of work is not one person. it is not someone grounded in history, nor is it one body and one identity. they are just... the god of work, and that's all they are.
this is also where another piece of my personal headcanoned lore comes in. as the zemeni are based in black culture, i believe some elements are inspired by african-american history, as well as other places such as haiti and west africa. for my understanding of zemeni culture, it combines spiritualism as well as animism (as the zemeni are also based on australia, which i will take to mean the aborginal people of australia). in addition, jesper also says that he believes in things such as "ghosts and gnomes", the latter of which i think is a joke but the former i think is a reference to his belief in spirits.
the zemeni seem to be very connected to the land. novyi zem is most well-known for its crops and usage of natural materials. they have shown that they are quite technologically advanced (such as their weaponry and their airships), but purposefully guard these things as their own, as they've had enough of other countries stealing their things and using them without any respect for the ground it came from or anything else in relation to its creation process.
the zemeni believe that their land is inhibited and infused by the spirits of the dead who were buried there, placed back into the earth once they died. (this is also why the zemeni always choose to bury their dead in the earth, especially close to places like trees or rivers) they tend to bury family closest to their own houses as well so the spirits can watch over and see their family. they believe spirits are in nature such as mountains or caves or more.
since the spirits are connected with the land, the zemeni do their best to ensure that its never diseased and in good health. as a reward, the spirits give them good harvest and crop. similarly, they believe that any gifts given to them (so zowa power) is the spirits of the dead looking out for them, giving them something that allows them to help others and the community.
so tldr: in my headcanons, the zemeni belief system in zowa is inherently rooted into their ancestors, believing that the dead of their family have given them gifts.
in relation to jesper, this gets... complicated. leigh wrote him without any connection to his culture. he grew up shuttering off his feelings about his zowa identity and unfortunately grew to think of it as a curse and as a misfortunate rather than the gift that his mother thought it was. for him to think this way is an inherent rejection of his own culture, and jesper has many strides to take before he's in a place where he's content with it -- in the way i write him, he goes back to novyi zem to visit his da, then goes west to meet zowa teachers (one of which knew his mom). it's a frustrating few months, but it's a start of a community, one of the most vital things in zemeni culture, and it's a step forward.
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