Learn Mando'a

Do you have any headcanons of Mandalorian culture? To you, what are some things you deem to be 'Mandalorian culture'? I'm going to be doing some research into aspects etc of the culture, spirituality/religion, and apply stuff to real life - I'll be compiling it into a Google document. I know I'm going to include the resol'nare for sure.

I do, sure. I'm not sure how in the weeds to get about things, there's a lot that can be said explicitly both in EU and disney canons before you even get to the headcanon part, and then it gets really wild. No two people are likely to have the same view on things, and what do you do when they have directly conflicting answers about things?

I created a Google site to collect links to information about the in-universe culture and Earth Mando realism. There's many more ideas out there, especially when you get into fan fiction, but these are my favorites.
https://sites.google.com/view/hibirarma ... ndo-droten

As for what to do with so many different ideas about what it means to be a Mando on Earth: First is to accept that, unlike in-universe, Mando realism will never be a unified culture because those who call themselves Mandos are too independent, too focused on personalizing their ideas of the culture rather than adopting someone else's ideas, too stubbornly firm that the only way is their own rather than seeking common ground. (I admit to being all of that most of the time!)

Ideally, those who call themselves Mandalorians would accept that no two versions of being a Mandalorian are the same and that we cannot change other people. Nonetheless, that should not stop us from expressing our ideas, explaining why they work, what our hurdles are, and discussing the ideas with other people to refine them. When those discussions no longer contribute to our growth, we should take a cue from the in-universe Mandos and move on.

Kandosii!! Ni copaani haa’taylir vaii ibic slana!
Not sure if this is something already being considered, but my first thought regarded food. I know we’re inclined in some capacity to think in terms of recreating dishes, but I think larger-scale research like this would benefit from honing in on flavor profiles. After all, a main tenant of mandalorian cooking is its flexibility, right? I also consider the vocabulary dedicated to specific flavors (i.e. hetikleyc) and how those might indicate cultural significance.
In my mind, from a more mando-realism perspective, this would be helpful in that it is more generally applicable than looking at the limited number of existing dishes in depth. Contributions could include how individuals have found ways to create and emulate those flavors in their own food.
What do you all think? Haven’t had much chance to work with this idea yet and I’m curious how others take it.

If Earth Mandalorian culture was more defined, and there were actual Mandalorian communities (even if they mostly existed online and only met once a year), then I could see branching out beyond the dishes that we know about in the source material.

I know of one group that kind of fits that description, but they do not follow the Resol'nare; perhaps they create recipes that reflect their version of the culture.

For the rest of us, re-creating those signature food items is one of the few activities that binds us together, that we can use to signal that we are a part of Earth Mandalorian culture (however otherwise nebulous that concept is).

Nonetheless, a few people have been inspired to create their own dishes (or give recipes a Mando spin). Here are links to a couple of sources:

• Raiiken's collection of fan-designed Mando recipes:
https://raiikensmandaloriancuisine.tumb ... masterlist

• Google search for recipes on the Mandalorian Mercs site:
https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3A ... 8.5953j0j9

If you (or anyone else) want to play around with ideas, here are some resources that might help you.

• List that I compile of Mando'a food words, mostly from the original wordlist: https://sites.google.com/view/hibirarma ... immur/food

• A few quotes from the source material about Mando food: https://sites.google.com/view/hibirarma ... discussion