Kavandama

Kavandama is a fictional ceremonial term used in worldbuilding and speculative fiction to describe a communal ritual practiced by the imagined Kavandam people. The concept is typically employed to explore social bonds, reciprocity, and seasonal or political transitions within a fictional society.

In most renderings, kavandama unfolds as a public gathering in which participants form a circle or procession, sing or chant, and present symbolic gifts or services. The core activity is a structured exchange of tokens, crafts, and obligations that reinforces mutual responsibility rather than debt.

Its social function is to reinforce cohesion, document alliances, and provide ritualized means of conflict resolution. The timing often aligns with harvests, rites of passage, or treaty anniversaries.

Variants exist across fictional settings. Some versions emphasize generosity and feast days; others foreground initiations for youth or leaders. In many works, kavandama also acts as a narrative device to reveal character and social structure.

Scholarly discussion within fiction contrasts kavandama with real-world reciprocal exchange systems such as the potlatch or kula ring, using it as a fictional analogue to examine power, prestige, and obligation.

Origin and etymology are described inconsistently in texts; in-universe sources dispute whether kavandama derives from a Kavandamic language family or represents a later loanword. Outside of fiction, kavandama has no real-world attestations.