Reading: A stopover Tacal

You are a passenger on a flight to the Middle East when

your plane develops engine trouble and is forced to make an
emergency landing in the unknown nation of Tacal. No one
on your aircraft has any knowledge of Tacalese religion,
customs, or history. The Tacalese are friendly and have
arranged for people to meet your aircraft on landing.

After disembarking, you and all the other passengers are taken to a long low hut that
is located near the terminal building.

Entering this hut, you find a dirt floor and bamboo walls
with no windows. At the far end there is an old man
dressed in colourful robes. He is wearing thick sandals
on his feet and is sitting on a high pedestal surrounded
by a circle of candles on the floor. Set back about three
metres from the candles are several other pedestals,
about one metre high.

On either side of the old man is a young girl. The girls have bare feet and are
dressed in knee length, loose-fitting robes. The girls are bowing so low to the
ground that their foreheads, arms, and hands are touching the dirt.

As you come in, the two girls rise and survey the group. They lead the men in your
group to sit on the vacant pedestals with their legs crossed. They return to the group
of women and motion for them to remove their shoes. After placing the removed
shoes over to a shelf on one wall of the hut, soles up, the women are then motioned
to spread out in a circle, sitting on the dirt just outside the circle of candles on the
ground in front of the pedestals where the men are
sitting.

The two girls then return to their position by the

pedestal of the old man and resume their very low
bow. The old man gestures for the women to bow
before him as well. Reluctantly the women obey.

After a minute the girls rise from their bow and the women are motioned to sit up.
The girls stand up and pick up bowls of green liquid. They move from pedestal to
pedestal bowing at each man before washing the soles of their shoes. Then they
bow again and proceed to the next man, repeating the performance. When this is
done, the girls replace the bowls of liquid and go to each of the women. In turn, they
gesture to each woman to stand. They kneel before each woman and caress their
feet. The two girls then go back to the old man and resume their bow. The old man
gestures to the women to also resume bowing. The bow lasts for about two minutes.
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After a couple of minutes, the girls get up and motion for the women to sit up also.
The girls then each stand and take a bowl of water in one hand and a bowl of food in
the other. They hold the bowl of water up to the Old Man, who dips his fingers in the
water and sprinkles it on the ground. Next, he takes a piece of food from the other
bowl and begins to eat, letting out a low moaning sound as he chews. He then
gestures for the girls to offer the water and food to the men on the pedestals. Each
man proceeds to dip their fingers in the water before taking a piece of food. They
utter a low moaning sound as they chew.

This done, the Old Man gestures for the girls to offer the food to the women. The
women are offered food but are not allowed to wet their fingers first. They are also
not allowed to make the moaning noise when they are eating, or any other sounds.
After feeding the last woman, the two girls again return to bow before the Old Man
on the pedestal and all the women are motioned to bow too. This time the bow lasts
nearly three minutes, before the girls sit up, motioning to the women to also sit up.

Then the two girls stand and pick up two decorated goblets filled with liquid, which
they offer to the old man, who drinks from each goblet. After
he drinks the girls wipe the rim and proceed to offer a drink to
all the men, wiping the rim of the goblet after each drinker.
The drink is then passed to the women, but the rim of the
goblet is not wiped after each of the women drink. When all
have drunk, and the goblets have been put away, the girls
once again resume their low bow. All the women soon bow
also. This time the bow lasts for five minutes.

Finally, the girls sit upright again. They then stand and go around the circle of
candles, lighting sticks of incense, filling the already warm hut with a thick, flowery
scent.

They then proceed to unroll a long fibre mat from

the Old Man’s pedestal to the entrance of the hut.
When the mat is in place the girls help the Old Man
down from his pedestal and follow him out of the
hut. They return after about five minutes and assist
all the other men down from their pedestals and
lead them along the fibre mat and out of the hut.
They then return to their original positions and once
again assume the bowing position, with the women
following their example.

After a minute the girls stand up and proceed to roll up the fibre mat. The women are
motioned to stand up and are led out of the hut, walking on the dirt. The girls hand
them their shoes as they leave the hut.

All the passengers reassemble in the airport terminal. The plane has been repaired
and you are soon on your way again. You start to discuss with each other your two-
hour experience in Tacal.

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Reading comprehension questions

1. What are your first impressions of the Tacalese culture?

2. What do you think the Tacalese hold to be most sacred? Why?

3. What kind of event, or ritual, did you just experience?

4. Which did you think was the dominant sex in Tacal? Why?

5. Why were the women made to take off their shoes?

6. Would you like to return for a longer visit? Why/why not?

Images from: https://steemit.com/story/@jenniferc/strange-perception

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