KANASA CULTURE

 

Kanasa culture is based on the principles of family and sharing. In Kanasa society, the group is more important than the individual and this is reflected in Kanasan values in the lifestyle. Kanasans are very devoted to their families and their companies and it’s quite rare for them to divorce their spouses or quit their job. Unfortunately with today’s difficult economic times, many Kanasan employers (particularly the ones in the high tech industry) have been forced to lay off many hundreds and even thousands of workers. This obviously is against traditional Kanasan values as the employee of a company is seen almost the same as a family member.

 

Kanasans by their very nature are seen as very formal and polite by outsiders as respect and humility are very important to them. It’s the utmost cardinal sin for any Kanasan to boast about his or her accomplishments. Kanasans generally don’t talk about themselves in conversation but rather talk about other people or neutral subjects.

 

As stated earlier, the family unit in Kanasan society is very strong. It is not uncommon to have aunts, uncles, cousins and grandmothers sharing the same house or at least live in the same apartment building. Unlike in North America, Kanasa children live with their parents until they get married. Single men and women living on their own is virtually unknown in the society. If the parents die for some reason, then the children usually stay with the aunt and uncle or grandparents until they get married.

 

Education is very important to Kanasans. Education is compulsory until the end of high school and 90% of Kanasan children enrol in some form of tertiary education (either trades school or university). There is one university and one trade’s school on the island. The enrolment as you can imagine is quite small but the quality is quite good. The university has an agreement with the University of Western Australia in Perth, Australia to have certain courses over teleconferencing that are not available at the University of Kanasa.

 

Nature and the environment are also very important to Kanasans. The Kanasans have planted several stands of species of conifers on the rich volcanic soil outside of the main city but in general the only vegetation most of the island has are several of species of grasses and lichens. Kanasa also has one of the largest glaciers in the southern hemisphere. In fact, 27% of the main island is covered permanently by a sheet of ice which affects greatly the climate of the interior mountains making them persistently cold year round even in summer time. There were only elephant and bull seals living on the island when the Europeans first arrived. The Europeans almost drove both of these two species to extinction but fortunately they’ve been making a comeback in the last 50 years due to a ban on hunting these creatures.  Also, in the last several hundred years sheep, reindeer and rats have been introduced to the island which in many cases, have caused a lot of destruction to the native vegetation of the island. 70% of Kanasa’s plants are endemic to the island. Of most notable are the Kanasa cabbage which is a member of the same family as the European cabbage. There are many species of birds that visit the islands either consistently or occasionally. The King Penguin is most notable in the winter months (July to September) as many of them come ashore to breed. Frigate birds, sea gulls, puffins and other sea birds are constantly seen in and around the islands.

 

Kanasan food consists of a lot of seafood dishes such as various types of fish (tuna, cod and haddock). Vegetables are also a big part of the diet (carrots, potatoes and the Kanasan cabbage are the main staples here). Fruits are relatively rare and expensive but various types of wild berries grow on the islands such as raspberries, blackberries and blueberries that were brought to the island from North America. Fried King Penguin is a national delicacy and is usually eaten only on Easter and Christmas.

 

Most Kanasans are Christians with 90% of them proclaiming Roman Catholicism. The missionaries came in the 1800s and converted most of the population to Roman Catholicism. The remaining 10% are atheists or still follow the traditional Kanasan belief system of various Gods and Goddesses which was almost wiped out by the missionaries. It has made somewhat of a comeback now in the past 20 years particularly among young people who are interested in knowing their roots.

 

The Kanasan language has its ancient roots in the Austronesian family of languages such as Malagasy or Indonesian. Since they’ve been isolated for so long, most of the language has changed to the point where it’s virtually unrecognizable except for certain aspects of the sound system to other speakers of Austronesian languages. Kanasa was one of the few Austronesian languages to develop its own native script which it still uses today despite all attempts to romanize the language by missionaries and European traders. The Kanasan literature is highly revered among the Kanasan people and it has one of the highest number of books published per capita in the world. Literacy traditions are quite strong and the literacy rate has been close to 100% for quite a long time among ordinary people.

 

These are the main facts about Kanasan culture. If you have any questions about further information about Kanasan culture, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me.