This page describes one of the Devotopai (Rituals) of the Poku Saeruo Degonjo, and is meant to awaken a young person's latent Vit'taka (Plant Speech) abilities. This ritual is specific to the Tula species, though the Tuoro and even the Qakla may receive this ritual under circumstances which will be explained.
| Ritual name | yogate'ka |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Great Connection |
| Pronounced: | īōkh-ătě-kă |
The Yogate'ka ritual is one of the few cultural remnants of the Tula that dates back to the time before their conquering by the Qaktoro on the Otâgolisoy (Birth world).
Yogate'ka is performed for every Tula on their fifth birthday. Because all Tula are capable of some Plant Speech, every Tula youth is expected to receive it when they have reached their fifth year of life.
This ritual serves a dual purpose; the first is to awaken the young Tula's Vit'taka (Plant Speech) ability. The second is to instill a sense of physical and spiritual connection to the plant world, and to their Tula community. In this second aspect, the ritual is somewhat similar to the Qaktoro Baqnor (move from youth), though the Baqnor is performed on youths who have reached their sixteenth year of age. Note that a Tula, or hybrid, may undergo both the Yogate'ka, and later the Baqnor.
Most Tuoro are capable of plant speech. As many Tuoro are adopted into the Tula community, their youths undergo the Communion ritual. Qakla are only rarely capable of plant speech, and culturally, many Qakla endeavor to be a part of the Qaktoro community and actually hide their plant speech abilities for that reason. Still, parents of a Qakla may volunteer their child to take part in Communion.
All participants including parents (if they are choosing to participate), overseers of the ritual, and the recipient child perform the Oma fofipa (Making self clean). There is always at least one ritual overseer who is capable of the Telepathy ability of Plant Speech. Everyone in this ritual group then enters an enclosed space that has a collection of plants, including the Jodauvit (Think Plant). Each participant takes a piece of the Jodauvit and wraps the piece around their wrist. Once all have done so, participants who are capable of Plant Speech use the Sense ability to connect to the plants, and to sense the presence of each other through the plants. This portion of the ritual only requires the 'Sense' ability, which all beings with Plant Speech can use.
Parents, if present and capable of Plant Speech, or ritual overseers must verbally guide the 5-year old subject of the ritual through the process of connecting to the plants through Sense. As there is a chance that hybrid species like Tuoro or Qakla are incapable of plant speech, participants in the ritual must be sensitive to the possibility of failure. If the child cannot use Plant Speech, the ritual quietly ends. There is no inherent shame in failing this ritual, though some children and/or parents may be disappointed if their hybrid child cannot use Plant Speech.
If the child is successful in using Sense, then the next stage of the ritual begins. Participants who are capable of the Telepathy ability of Plant Speech form a telepathic bond with the participants through the plants. The participants share thoughts and feelings about various plant species, about the ways to use Plant Speech, and about the nature of Siamaka, the Great Divine.
It is notable that the Tula community often schedules multiple Communion events at around the same time, if enough children have reached their fifth birthday recently. In these cases, the Communion events connect not only to those within the individual ritual groups, but to the other ritual groups. Children capable of Plant Speech who passed their Communion together at the same time are said to have forged a 'lucky' bond with each other.
Some children become aware of their capacity to use abilities beyond Sense during this ritual. They may learn that they can use Greater Sense, Telepathy or Coax. Some, instead, develop these additional abilities later in their youth or adulthood.
The Communion typically lasts for half a Tui (hour), or approximately 32 minutes.
It is possible for a Tula or hybrid to learn Plant Speech without conducting the Communion ritual. These circumstances are rare, but may include scenarios where a child capable of Plant Speech has no Tula in their community who can teach them (ie, they are orphans among aliens). Alternately, some parents of hybrid children may not want their child to learn Plant Speech due to bigotry or cultural bias, but the child may end up awakening their ability on their own voluntarily, or even accidentally.