Olllld sketches of costumes worn for an annual performance of "The Skinning of Lupine". Which takes place on the new moon closest to the anniversary of when the lupmish first came to Riverbed (and is very much colored by that context).
Lupine is the pseudo-historical first Lupmish (werewolf). "The Skinning" is a dramatization of how they (and by extension all lupmish) came to be. It's just the first --and most intense-- of many more stories involving them.
Thousands of years ago, a baby was born with the fur and face of a wolf, and out of shame it was left in the wilderness to die.
The midwife tasked with sending the baby to its death took pity on the poor thing and prayed for its safety*. The moon goddess took notice and raised the kid as its own. It taught it to live and hunt like a beast and named it Lupine. They lived happily this way for many years.
Eventually, the village that kicked them out began to encroach on their hunting grounds, leaving them with nothing to eat for winter.
Lupine goes into the village out of desperation to beg for scraps, but is met with empty streets. Suddenly, they're surrounded by hunters. With a single strike from the lead hunter's axe, they are skinned alive. Lupine screams**.
Lupine, bloody, runs away with pelt in hand and cries to the moon goddess about what happened. The moon is enraged at what the hunters have done to their child. It comforts them, sews their pelt back on, and promises that when the moon's face is full, Lupine can be a beast again.
The moon then breaks its sewing needle in half and gives the pieces to Lupine to be their fangs, ordering them to seek revenge. Lupine runs off to do just that***.
And that's how the lupmish came to be!
*The midwife was entirely omitted in earlier versions of the modern dramatization of the story, though the character predates it significantly. Since their reintroduction it's been traditional for them to be played by a child in adorable old person makeup, much to the joy of all.
**As previously mentioned, Auntie is usually the one playing Lupine. She's such a laid-back and jovial person normally it's always disturbing for the audience to hear such an anguished, blood-curdling scream come out of her.
***It varies year-to-year but usually the performance ends right here, and wraps up with a speech by the player of the moon that usually touches on the morals of the story like "don't be greedy" and "don't fuck with the gods" and hammering home the cultural importance and responsibility of being lupmish.
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theartofmadeline
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2087
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