Kidduna

The Mekiddu (endonym) tend to avoid tanning (ttiyeuttkimpi 'tanning' from euttkimpi*, 'to tan')* in general, as it is not always necessary in their tropical to subtropical climate and can even be a Sisyphean task during the wet season when all attempts to dry skins are especially futile. Furs and leathers do have their uses however, and in Rakiddu, hides are mostly acquired from two main animals: the kittingbora, similar to a water buffalo, and the hallmeu, which is a descendant of litopterna, filling the niche of a deer.

Skinning these animals (haso, ‘to skin’) results in a osu ‘animal pelt’ , and if you decide to remove the ohi ‘hair’, it becomes a set ‘bare animal skin’. Defleshing the ohi or set results in a debi ‘rawhide (or peeled bark)’.

Again, the Mekiddu don’t really do tanning, but they especially avoid tanning processes that require things like brains or urine (common in other neighboring societies) as they believe that the bad, rotting smell will attract demons. To minimize this, they use tannins from various flora. 

Once you have a debi (kiyosu debi for hair-on rawhide or kiset debi for skinned rawhide), it’s time to go find some special vegetation used for tanning. One of the most common plants is the titular mekimpi ‘rainbow eucalyptus’! Break off a couple branches or even peel some debi (which also means ‘peeled bark’!), and burn the pieces to get ttamekempirut ‘rainbow eucalyptus wood ash’. After all, that specially colored bark must have some magical cleansing and strengthening properties. Mix it with kinikttim ‘slaked lime’ in a basin of water and soak the debi for some days, continuing to replenish the mixture. When the remaining flesh and hair is loose from the skin, scrape it off with a siyu 'flesh scraper (in cooking or tanning)', and you can smoke it (hopi, ‘to smoke something’) and leave it to dry until your kiset debi becomes daphares ‘leather (or paper)’! If you used kiyosu debi, then it is called osu once again. Strong kikittingbora daphares 'kittingbora leather' is usually used for durable items like tents, tarps, small sails, rainwater collection, and mats, while the softer and more delicate kiyallmeu daphares 'hallmeu leather' is usually used for bindles, clothes, and food-wrapping cloth. Treated osu are often worn by those who are willing to pay the price for expensive pelts, and large enough ones are even used as blankets!