hattua

Hattua is a traditional communal performance described in speculative ethnography and worldbuilding literature as practiced by island communities in the southern seaboard region of the fictional Arenai Archipelago. The term is said to derive from a compound in the region’s language, roughly interpreted as “to gather and tell.” In the described tradition, hattua encompasses song, dance, and narrative as a single ritual cycle.

A hattua cycle typically unfolds across events such as a harvest festival or the commemoration of a migration. Performances are organized by an appointed lead storyteller or chorus master, who recites a core narrative while the troupe responds with extended refrains. Musicians provide a rhythm using frame drums, bamboo flutes, and clay rattles, while dancers perform synchronized steps and hand gestures. Costumes usually include woven robes and masked headpieces, which vary by village.

Socially, hattua functions as a means of communal memory, social education, and rite of passage. Children learn the narratives through repetition and imitation, and elders oversee editions of the performance to preserve traditional elements while permitting regional variation. The structure permits improvisation in certain verses, enabling each community to adapt the tale to its own experiences.

Regional variants exist; some communities emphasize the epic narrative alone, while others weave hattua into religious or seasonal ceremonies, and yet others combine it with food-sharing afterward as a form of feast.

See also: ritual performance, collective memory, worldbuilding.