Xolkriśgir: Difference between revisions

'''Xolkriśgir''' (literally "colour fear" or "chromophobia") is a widespread superstition in many [[Coscivian]] cultures that {{wp|colour photography}} has damaging psychic or supernatural effects on its subjects. ''Xolkriśgir'' has created an enduring taboo against colour photography in [[Kiravia]] and, to a lesser extent, among Coscivian minorities in other parts of the world.

 

''Xolkriśgir'' was first documented in 21064 when Marcel des Vespasiennes, a [[Burgundie|Burgundian]] photographer and early pioneer of colour photography, visited [[Cities of Kiravia#Primóra|Primóra]] to demonstrate his technique to a meeting of the [[Hanoram]] Society of Gentleman Daguerreotypists. The audience was aware ahead of time that des Vespasiennes would be taking colour photographs and was, by all accounts, calm during his lecture until he displayed some examples of his work, at which point several members claimed to be ill and politely took their leave. Five members of the Society volunteered to pose for colour photographs after the lecture, which took several days to develop. None were known to have reported anything unusual during this time, though one of the subjects, a shipping insurer, never returned to the Society and went mysteriously missing several days later. However, when the first of the subjects, pipegrass merchant Rutilus Semperviren, was presented with the photograph of himself by des Vespasiennes, he began to scream uncontrollably. Semperviren was removed from the premises and treated with the highest-quality [[Daxia|Daxianese]] opium available, which succeeded in calming him, though after he emerged from his medically-induced trance he would continue to be laconic and low-affect until his death four months thereafter. Two of the other three subjects, according to their own letters and the accounts of their family members, were overcome with dread upon seeing their likenesses in colour. Although they retained their composure better then Semperviren, they suffered from "the most baleful night terrors" and acute lethargy for months, and underwent marked changes in personality and behaviour that appear to have persisted for the remainder of their lives. What would later become known as the classic symptoms of ''xolkriśtívandisuvantohābur'' presented most acutely in Xiaroskur Fordelorean: [to be continued].

How ''xolkriśgir'' manifests itself and how it is understood vary somewhat. Lonergan and McCall (2011) find that while some details of how people understand ''xolkriśgir'' are common to a particular demographic or geographic region, most appear to be idiosyncratic, suggesting that chromophobia should be approached not as a "folk belief" transmitted by oral tradition within a community, but rather as a modern mass-cultural phenomenon or protracted {{wp|moral panic}} that spreads and replicates itself through informally learned behaviour. Differences in how individuals believe the malign influence of colour photography "works" extend to its ascribed effects (e.g. whether capture of the face is the essential mechanism to cause deleterious effects, whether the subject must pose voluntarily in order to get psychically rekt), how it is accomplished (e.g. whether the act of taking the photo does it, or it needs to be developed), and its finality (e.g. whether the effects are permanent or can be abrogated by destroying photographs of the afflicted person or through any kind of folk-ritual).

 

There are multiple gradations of ''xolkriśgir'' in terms of how definite or vague one's beliefs surrounding colour photography are, and how dangerous one believes it to be. Toward one end of the spectrum, many believe that colour photography brings on death, {{wp|annihilationism|annihilation}}, or zombification. Others may not go as far, but still find it dangerous and unnatural and believe that it has some other less drastic and more vaguely defined supernatural effect on the subject. Toward the shallow end of the spectrum, a great many Coscivians who do not actively ''fear'' colour photography may believe it is in some way unhealthy, or at the very least find it unseemly or distasteful.

 

{{wp|Photographic print toning|Sepiatone}} photographs do not trigger ''xolkriśgir'', and ''xolkriśgiróx'' people are generally not bothered by colour photographs of inanimate subjects.

{{Infobox medical condition

|name            = Xolkriśtívandisuvantohābur

|synonyms        = <!-- or |synonym= -->

|image          = File:Gray ribbon.png

|image_size      = 200px

|alt            =  

|caption        =  

|width2          =

|pronounce      = ''impossible''

|specialty      = {{wp|tropical medicine|Subarctic medicine}}

|symptoms        = {{wp|Depersonalisation}}<br>{{wp|Derealisation}}<br>Self-negation delusions

|complications  =

|onset          = Rapid

|duration        = Months to lifelong

|causes          = {{wp|Colour photography}}<br>{{wp|Taboo|Cultural taboos}}

|risks          = [[Coscivian civilisation#People|Coscivian ethnicity]]

|diagnosis      =  

|differential    =  

|prevention      =  

|treatment      = Aqueous ethanol

|medication      =  

|frequency      = <!-- also |incidence= or |prevalence= -->

|deaths          = At least 70

''Xolkriśtívandisuvantohābur'', meaning "Colour-photographically induced catatonia" (a closer, but less medically accurate translation being "colour-photographically induced dementia") is a psychiatric {{wp|culture-bound syndrome}} that appears in reaction to awareness of colour photography, and is experienced exclusively by people of Coscivian cultural origin.

 

The psychological symptoms of 'classic' or 'typical' ''xolkriśtívandisuvantohābur'' include rapid-onset {{wp|psychotic depression}}, soon accompanied by {{wp|depersonalisation}} and {{wp|derealisation}}. The chronic stage of the condition is characterised by delusions of self-negation similar to many forms of {{wp|Cotard's syndrome}}, with patients believing that they themselves are dead or otherwise no longer exist. Somatic symptoms typically include chronic {{wp|fatigue}}, {{wp|catatonia}}, and loss of affect. Loss of appetite and some form of mutism are also common.

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''Xolkriśgir'' is strongest in rural areas of inland [[Great Kirav]], especially the Western Highlands, and in rural [[South Kirav]]. It is also quite pronounced in [[Koskenkorva]]. Its prevalence in overseas territories varies: It is quite uncommon in [[Sarolasta]], even among unmixed [[Kolakoskem|Sea Coscivians]]. In [[Sydona]], where much of the Austral Coscivian community is of Pelian heritage, it is generally weak but quite strong in certain rural pockets of Coscivian settlement dating from the Crusades. In Great Kirav, the prevalence and intensity of ''xolkriśgir'' show a strong positive correlation with distance from the ocean, and a weaker negative correlation with income, education, and population density.

Celtic-Kiravians, including long-settled Kiravian Celts, do not experience ''xolkriśgir'', and find Coscivians' susceptibility to it quite humorous. ''Xolkriśgir'' is less intense among [[Ĥeiran Coscivians]] than other Coscivian subgroups, perhaps as a result of prolonged cultural exchange and intermarriage with Celtic peoples. The prevalence of ''xolkriśgir'' among [[Urom]] communities continues to be investigated, and may provide some insight into the origins of the phenomenon. Urom tribes in the considerably Coscivised Xufur-Xafri-Meqav complex do experience ''xolkriśgir'', most likely due to cultural diffusion. The Wawa of Váuadra and the Wisaya of Sixua do not. Many Urom tribes of the West Coast and Western highlands, such as the Wod͡ʒagat, Pungōvak, and Varekthari, do not have colour terms in their native languages and may lack a cultural concept of colour entirely.

==Implications for Public Policy==

Official portraits of all [[Federal Stanora|Stanora]] Delegates are rendered in black-and-white as a matter of course. [[Andrus Candrin]] was the first Kiravian Prime Executive to embrace colour photography, in contrast to his immediate predecessor, Irasur Mérovin, who had stated on the record that colour photographs "''kúnta thá glixélnuir''" ("make [him] uneasy"). Candrin's successor, [[Adheritus Ilkashvar|Adheritus Ilkaśvar]], opts for his official photographs to be black-and-white, but permits colour photography in the [[Kroveniren Hall]] press room.