The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender

Both Ty Lee and Toph wear tiaras at some point. Ty Lee wears one when she performs in the circus and Toph wears one while in disguise in the Fire Nation. Both of these tiaras are inspired by the front portion of the mongkut (มงกุฎ), a crown for women featured in traditional Thai dance, Thai theatre, and depictions of the Thai royal family. It’s fitting for Ty Lee to wear one, since she’s a performer in the circus, but Toph’s consistent choice in headwear leads me to think she’s secretly a bit of a theatre nerd.

That’s right, Cabbage Merchant gets TWO outfit analyses cause I say so. The sleeveless jacket that the Cabbage Merchant wears resembles a magua (馬褂 / ᠣᠯᠪᠣ ), a Manchurian riding jacket that was popularized in China and other Asian countries during the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911). Its original purpose was to protect one’s robes from getting too dirty during horse riding and other laborious activities. The tangzhuang (唐裝), which is worn on its own, is considered to be a direct successor to the magua. Considering that Zuko and Sokka wear tangzhuang, it’s actually pretty fitting that the Cabbage Merchant wears what’s essentially the old-timey version of those shirts.

So, as far as meta details go, we’ve learned that the Cabbage Merchant…

Wears old man clothes.

Can ride a horse, probably.

Simple meta for a simple man.

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Told you I’d have this one out before 2022!

Like with the Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom’s currency comes in denominations of copper, silver, and gold. However, unlike the island empire, typical EK money appears to be cast into a very uniform size and shape. This mold of a round coin with a square hole in the middle is known in Chinese as fāng kǒng qián (方孔錢) or “square-holed money”. This style of coin was used in China from the 4th century BC until the 20th century AD, over 2000 years. Other currencies based on this coin include the Japanese mon, Korean mun, and Vietnamese văn. Nowadays, these coins are primarily used for good luck charms and divination.

The “round coin, square hole” design is both practical and symbolic. From a practical perspective, the holes in the coins allow them to be strung through a thin rope, making them easy to carry and spend in large quantities. Instead of counting each coin individually, a seller could simply measure the length of a coin-rope to determine how much they were receiving. This technique was essentially the Imperial Chinese equivalent to the modern day coin wrapper.

From a symbolic and artistic perspective, the design alludes to the idea of Tian Yuan Di Fang (天圓地方) or “Round Sky, Square Earth”. As the name implies, the square hole represents the element of earth and the round coin represents the sky. The two symbols combined represent two contrasting ideas unifying to create a cohesive whole, the steady land in harmony with the ever-shifting heavens. I guess the ancient Chinese conception of planet Earth was sort of like a piece of paper floating in a dome or bubble.

Anyways, considering the symbolism behind the coin design, it’s a very appropriate form of currency for the Earth Kingdom. Essentially, the square earth centered on a round sky could reflect a nationalistic belief that their country is the center of the world. Certainly, the way Ba Sing Se is structured and ruled implicitly reflects this belief. It would also explain why the “Round Sky, Square Earth” motif shows up on other objects throughout the Earth Kingdom.

In Part 2, I’ll discuss the history behind the uniquely-shaped gold that Toph’s parents use to pay Yu and Xin Fu to capture Toph. Because of course the obscenely wealthy Beifongs wouldn’t pay using mere commoner’s coins…

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Kyoshi and the Kyoshi Warriors’ face paint is inspired by both Chinese opera makeup (liǎn​pǔ / 脸谱) and Japanese kabuki makeup (kumadori / 隈取). The color placement (red lips & heavy eyeshadow) remind me more of Chinese opera, but the eyebrows and lack of blending are characteristic of kabuki faces.

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Whereas everyone else's favorite foods required research and conjecture, Zuko's post mostly builds off what we see in the show. The foods Zuko likes are inspired by multiple real-life cultures. Links to recipes will be included.

Larou (臘肉) - Also called Lap Yuk in Cantonese, is cured pork belly aka bacon. According to the old Nickelodeon ATLA page, sizzle-crisps appear to be the Fire Nation's version of bacon bits. And, according to the official Avatar cookbook, sizzle-crisps are Zuko's favorite snack. He likes their long shelf-life and versatility, which are necessities for food meant to be stored on a ship. He not only eats them on their own as a snack, but uses them as seasoning for any dishes he considers under-seasoned and bland, which is most non-Fire Nation food. As such, he always carries around a bag of "sizzle crisps", like how some people always have hot sauce on their person. He likes his larou extra peppery.

Shaved Ice - A popular summer treat in many parts of the world, Asia included. In its most basic form, shaved ice is frozen water or milk, topped with a sweet syrup. Shaved ice brings back bittersweet memories for Zuko, reminding him of fun times spent at Ember Island with his family. Zuko's favorite flavors are guava and watermelon. He normally eats a pretty basic version in public, but will go all out with toppings when no one's watching.

Jook - Jook is the Cantonese name for rice porridge and the term Iroh uses when serving it to Zuko. Considering Zuko's tendency to push himself too hard, it's likely that the prince had a good number of bed-rest days during his banishment. As such, I think Iroh is quite used to preparing jook for his nephew. While Zuko initially didn't appreciate being "babied" (from his perspective), he comes to associate jook with his uncle's love for him. Rice porridge is eaten all over Asia.

Inihaw Na Bangus - Tagolog for "Grilled Milkfish", this is a popular fish dish in the Philippines. The milkfish is stuffed with flavorful ingredients, scored, and grilled over a fire. During the book 1 episode, "The Warriors of Kyoshi", Zuko is shown being served what looks to be this dish by his ship's cook. I feel that Zuko would have a love-hate relationship with this meal. He genuinely loves eating it, but it was also served to him very often, due to the availability of the fish while out at sea. Thus, Zuko went through cycles of eating it constantly, and then not even wanting to see it for months at a time. After the war, it became a meal he'd have about once a week.

Sea cucumber sashimi - As I mentioned in a previous post, "sea slug" is a more antiquated name for the sea cucumber. In ATLA, smoked sea slug is served as commoner's food, while parts of the sea slug are served raw to the wealthy. In real life, sea slug/cucumber is actually an expensive delicacy that's served raw in Japan and Korea. Considering Zuko's willingness to steal high quality food in Book 2, I always felt that he probably has a rather refined palette. "Sea slug" sashimi was probably the dish he missed most from the FN palace. He liked dipping it in soy sauce mixed with chili paste.

Tea - I'm sure we all saw this coming. Under Iroh's influence, Zuko comes to appreciate tea. While not the connoisseur that his uncle is, he does enjoy winding down with a mellow jasmine tea at the end of the day.

Right off the bat, let me just say that hypothetical calendars and alternative timekeeping is one of my favorite topics to talk about so this reply is going to be lengthy.

First off, everything we know about the calendar system in Avatar comes from the planetary calendar room in Wan Shi Tong's library.

The innermost ring indicates the number of months in a year (12), the second ring indicates the number of days in a month (30), the third ring indicates the different Avatar eras (16 shown), and the outermost ring showcases all of the animals of the zodiac cycle (12). For this reply, we're only going to be focusing on the innermost and second innermost rings.

According to the episode, the ATLAverse appears to have only 12-month years, so no leap year 13th month like the East Asian lunar calendar. There also doesn't appear to be any months with more than 30 days, judging by the number of days shown on the calendar. This means that the maximum number of possible days for an Avatar year is 360. So it's safe to say that there are probably no leap years like ours in the ATLAverse. I guess their Earth's orbit is slightly shorter and more suited for timekeeping than ours.

As for what each month would be called in the ATLAverse, there's a couple of options. One option is to simply call the months by order: First month, second month, third month, etc. This actually ties back to Avatar's Chinese influence, as that's literally how months are named in Mandarin. This is straightforward, practical, and doesn't require any complex etymology or extensive worldbuilding.

However, I also think it would be fun to weave motifs into the calendar. Since there's so much emphasis on balance and cycles, why not divide the twelve months between the four elements? I imagine these months would be referred to as:

The 1st, 2nd, & 3rd Water Month

The 1st, 2nd & 3rd Earth Month

The 1st, 2nd, & 3rd Fire Month

The 1st, 2nd, & 3rd Air Month

For example, a person might say "I was born during the first water month, in the year of the rabbit." Naturally, there would be plenty of superstitions and horoscopes related to the combination of birth month and birth year.

The show also canonically mentions weeks passing by, although they never specify the number of days in their weeks. In a previous post, I mentioned that government officials during the Qin & Han Dynasty were given a day off every five days to bathe themselves. I think this would be a good basis for a week in the ATLAverse, four days of work and one day of rest. Each working day would be named after a cardinal direction (East-day, North-day, West-day, South-day) and the resting day would be called "Center-day", paralleling a compass.

In short, an ATLA month would be comprised of 6 five-day weeks and a year would be made up of 12 thirty-day months; the days would be themed around the cardinal directions and the months would be themed around the four elements. I think this would be a good way of adding texture to the world of Avatar, without weighing the setting down with too much worldbuilding or cultural baggage.

...And that would just be the default "world" calendar that spirit libraries and world travelers and international organizations would use. I think each nation would probably have their own unique calendar tailored to suit their own cultural and seasonal needs.

I might make a few posts on what each nation's calendar system might be, if anyone would like to read that.

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In LoK's fifth episode, Bolin takes Korra to a Southern Water Tribe restaurant called Narook's Seaweed Noodlery. Judging by how thick and green the noodles are, they most closely resemble wakame udon noodles. Wakame, also known as "sea mustard", is a type of edible seaweed (kelp) native to Northeast Asia and udon is a chewy Japanese noodle made from wheat flour. Wakame udon noodles are made by kneading wakame paste into udon dough. The result is a vivid green noodle with a mild and savory flavor. This style of noodles is a specialty of Japan's Awaji Island, although you can also buy dried sea mustard noodles from Korea.

Since seaweed is a popular ingredient in both East Asian and Inuit cuisine, it makes sense to feature it in a Water Tribe dish. Since Kyoshi Island is inspired by Japan, my head canon is that the dish was introduced to the SWT by Suki. Since nations were able to more easily trade after the war, wheat flour became common enough for Southern Water Tribers to start putting their own spin on the dish, such as using species of kelp native to the Arctic. I'd like to think that seaweed noodles came to represent the SWT's post-war culture and prosperity.

I have a post about ATLA’s amazing cultural consultants here. Mike and Bryan were also able to visit China and take inspiration directly from its many historical and cultural sites as well. ATLA was a very collaborative work. From what I’ve read, it seems like the production had a decent number of Asian-American staff members, as well as possessing an overseas Korean animation team. Bryke worked very closely with the Korean team, even living in the country for a few months during the production of the pilot episode, and you can definitely see Korean elements in many details of the story.

ATLA is not a perfect work of cultural representation, but it’s a great example of “you get what you put in”. The cultural details that it gets right are because it sought out people immersed in those cultures. The Air Nomads and Water Tribe being so comparatively underdeveloped is very much a product of the creative team not reaching out to the peoples they were taking inspiration from.

So today I learned that many Inuit, Inupiat, and Yupik peoples did not historically eat capped mushrooms, despite the many varieties that can be found in the arctic. There's no singular, clear-cut reason for this aversion, but some arctic mushrooms can be hallucinogenic or cause gastrointestinal issues, so it's not an unreasonable food taboo.

Anyways, as a result of this aversion, the traditional name for capped mushrooms in many Inuit languages is pretty hilariously rude and specific:

Nunavik Inuktitut - Tunitinging ("Caribou Food")

East Greenlandic/Tunumiisut - Qivittoq Sopa ("Cannibal Ghost Soap")

Inuinnaqtun - "Shooting Star Shit"

Inupiat - Argaignag ("That which makes your hands fall off")

Yupik - Chertovysuhi Ushi ("Devil’s Ears")

Anyways, this led to the following scenario popping into my head:

i am sorry to say i fear its abandoned.

i thank everyone for the love and support that is still given to this fic. but i have lost contact with reikah the writer.

(last i have heard of them they were fine and playing a game)

i don't write. at least not this well like reikah did so i can't like pick up from where it left off. (i also don't know or remember entirely how the plot would have progressed just vaguely outline vise)

i do have though still drawings and sketches to this au i can post at a later date. because i do feel awkward answering asks without drawings here the design concepts i did for this AU.

ID in ALT texts

i have some more but they won'T be as coloured in as well as any previous artwork or these. mostly black and withe style.

but yeha this story had a happy ending for these two planed where zuko does change colour. you know like the black goldfish that get all colourfull once they are nursed back to health?

zukos design is mostly inspired by beta fish.

Unlike the rest of the Gaang, Sokka’s Fire Nation outfit is almost entirely Chinese-inspired. The capelet he’s wearing is inspired by “cloud collars” or Yunjian (云肩).

Fun fact, Sokka’s cloud collar is traditionally considered to be women’s fashion. Considering that Sokka would obviously be clueless about civilian clothing in the Fire Nation, the “inaccuracy” of the design choice can simply be written off as Sokka’s ignorance. That said, it is pretty funny that this is the second time Sokka has visited a new nation and ended up in traditionally female clothing.

Aang

Aang’s outfit is canonically a school uniform and inspired by Thai male formalwear. He’s basically wearing a posh boarding school uniform.

Katara

Katara’s design is inspired by the female folk-dance costumes of the Dai people, so I’m assuming her outfit would be something like a street performer’s outfit in the modern day.

Sokka

As I implied earlier, the cloud collar was historically a popular accessory with Chinese noblewomen. Meanwhile, sleeveless tangzhuang tend to be associated with martial arts; I’ve seen quite a few listings online refer to them as “Kung Fu Vests”. So quite a contrast in clothing choices. The modern-day equivalent would be walking around in a tank while wearing a pearl necklace… Which is apparently a thing.

Toph

Toph’s shawl-cape thing is inspired by the sabai (สไบ) worn by female performers in Thai ballet renditions of the Ramayana. Basically, a very fancy piece of clothing. The hairband she’s wearing also resembles costume jewelry. In contrast, her pants are Thai fishermen pants, which are about as practical and unfancy as you can get. In short, she’s basically wearing the modern equivalent to sweatpants with a tutu and a tiara. I imagine Fire Nation locals assume she’s just a very whimsical 12-year-old.

The fancy dress that we see Toph wearing in “The Blind Bandit” is called a heziqun (诃子裙). A hezi is a strapless garment, somewhat like a tube top, that is meant to be worn over a qun, a flowing skirt. The final component of the dress is the silky sleeves called zhai xiu (窄袖) or “narrow sleeves” (as opposed to wide, draping sleeves). A ribbon is tied under the bust to hide the seam between the hezi and qun, as well as to further secure the garments to the body. The long, thin scarf that you see wrapped around the arms and behind the back is called a pibo (披帛). Overall, combined with her glamorous gao ji bun, Toph’s home look would’ve been considered the cutting edge of fashion in late Tang Dynasty China. I really like the inclusion of the flower embroidery on Toph’s hezi, it really stays true to the style of these dresses.

This particular design actually has a very special place in my heart because it was the catalyst for the creation of this blog last year. I was so genuinely impressed by the historical accuracy of Toph and her family’s clothes and home that it motivated me to do further research on other elements of the show. I can honestly say that the deeper I dig into the series, the more I get out of it. I’ve learned so much from researching a children’s cartoon I used to watch as a teenager. ^_^;;;

If you’d like to see what heziqun look like in motion, click here and here.

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The bows of the Yuyan Archers are likely inspired by traditional Korean bows known as Gak-gung (각궁) or “horn bows”. As the name implies, these bows are constructed from water buffalo horns along with sinew and multiple types of wood. What distinguishes traditional Korean bows from their Japanese and Chinese counterparts would be their comparatively compact size and exceptionally reflexed (curvy) shape; even when fully drawn, the Gak-gung retains its distinctive “3″-shaped profile. The bows of the Yuyan Archers share all of these characteristics so it’s probably safe to assume that their designs take some inspiration from Korea’s rich history of archery.

And since I’ve just spent the past couple of weeks down the Korean archery rabbit hole, have some fun facts:

It takes over 1 year to make one traditional Korean bow. This is due to many parts of the bow requiring very specific soaking, drying, and heating conditions to be both strong and flexible. Click here to see the process.

One of the ancient Chinese characters for Koreans and other Northeastern peoples is “夷” (pronounced “Yí”), which is literally a combination of the characters for “big” (大) and “bow” (弓).

What really convinced me that the Yuyan archers are Korean-inspired is their ability to “pin a fly to a tree from 100 yards away without killing it.” This is similar to the mythological abilities of Chumo (추모), the founder and first king of Goguryeo, a kingdom that occupied the Korean peninsula from 37 BC to 668 AD. According to legend, his archery skills were so great that he could kill five flies with one arrow. I guess “flies = accuracy points” in ancient Korea?

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