Sarentu

The Saren­tu were a clan of tra­ve­ling sto­rytel­lers. The clan was foun­ded by Entu, the first Toruk Mak­to and for­mer Oma­ti­ka­ya mem­ber. They lived among dif­fe­rent clans as if they were one of them, lear­ning about each clan’s ways and some­ti­mes reflec­ting an outsider’s per­spec­ti­ve back to the clan. Respec­ted diplo­mats, the Saren­tu were often able to sett­le dis­pu­tes within and bet­ween clans.

Once a year, the Saren­tu left the clan they lived with to attend the Saren­tu moot—an annu­al gathering—where the Saren­tu would swap tales of their lives, rega­le their fami­lies with inter­clan sto­ries and peti­ti­on their elders to be allo­wed to eit­her stay in their cur­rent clan or go some­whe­re new. Child­ren of the clan were mark­ed with a small fami­ly sigil under one eye, making it impos­si­ble to hide who they were and dra­wing atten­ti­on from Na’vi see­king a sym­pa­the­tic ear whe­re­ver they went.

The Saren­tu were almost enti­re­ly mas­sacred by the Sky Peo­p­le during their moot in the Clou­ded Forest in 2138. The last known sur­vi­vors of the clan were a handful of child­ren abduc­ted by the Sky Peo­p­le; through them, the clan was able to live on as they relear­ned what it meant to be Na’vi. 

Faint memo­ries of ear­ly child­hood, sto­ries of their clan pas­sed to them from the sur­roun­ding clans, and the Saren­tu totems found across the land­scape all allo­wed the child­ren to recon­nect with their heritage.

In par­ti­cu­lar, the song of the Saren­tu kept their spi­rit alive.

Here is the tra­di­tio­nal song of the Saren­tu:

Awn­ga lu Sarentu,
Na’vi(yä) ayvu­rit peng,
Lay­ro, txur, txopuluke,
Lan­te ka kifkey,
Var awn­ga yivora’,
Nìt’i­luke emrayey.

 

Awn­ga lu Sarentu,
Eywa­ru si kìt(e)’e,
Var awn­ga yivora’,
Nìt’iluke emray­ey.

We are Sarentu,
We tell the sto­ries of the People,
Free, strong, fearless,
We wan­der the world,
We con­ti­nue to prevail,
We will sur­vi­ve forever.

 

We are Sarentu,
Ser­ving Eywa,
We con­ti­nue to prevail,
We will sur­vi­ve forever.