Montagnards

The Montagnards (Moorish montañéses) are an ethnoreligious group whose members belong to several French-speaking Farrellite sects in New Andalusia. While they colonized the New World alongside other Alaxian French, with whom they share a language, the ancestors of the Montagnards emigrated from a different region of France than most other settlers and quickly quickly developed an identity of their own. As such, the Umayyad Caliphate in New Andalusia does not consider them to be "French" today.

History

Montagnard history begins at the end of the French Wars of Religion, when the triumphant Catholic League revitalized the French Inquisition and began active persecutions of the defeated Farrellites. Most went underground and became crypto-Farrellites, and over the next century most Farrellites in western France emigrated overseas.

• As society in Nouvelle-France stabilized, the Catholic Church (and with it the Inquisition) became a serious concern for the Farrellites. The more organized ones uprooted and moved inland, settling the southern Appalachians and the Ozarks, which earned them the nickname Montagnards (mountaineers.)
• The Ozark Montagnards came to the Yusuf I's attention while studying the sites for a capital on the mainland.
• Because of their church polity, the Montagnards proved impossible to tax, and were thus accorded none of the protections of the ahl al-dhimma. They were, however, subject to none of the traditional restrictions either - in particular the exemption and ban from military service. Thus, Montagnards were conscripted to FANA 30 years before any other Christians. (The right to military service was an important early goal of Reform.)

Religion and Lifestyle

Montagnard identity is ethnoreligious: they distinguish themselves from both voisins ("neighbors": other people who share their traditional territories) and cousins ("cousins": ex- or non-Montagnard Farrellites). Being a Montagnard is inseparable from being a Farrellite, in a number of very specific ways:

• Une peuple dure et orpheline: The Montagnards are "hard" Farrellites who deny the validity of any apostolic succession not in unbroken, unblemished lineage from Simon-Pierre Farrell himself. Because their ancestors lost their Farrellite succession (either before arriving in the New World or shortly thereafter), the Montagnards have adapted to life without one, making them also an "orphaned" Farrellite sect.
• Baptême du croyant: Unlike most Farrellites, Montagnards consider the baptism of children invalid. Most are baptized in adolescence, although some (especially those pursuing military careers) have been known to it for years.
  
  A Montagnard married to someone unbaptized, even someone seeking baptism, is regarded as "unequally yoked" and living in sin. In itself this rarely results in community discipline, but Montagnards living in sin are forbidden from participating in the Sainte-Cène or community meetings, although they may still attend. (Spouses, until and unless baptized, are forbidden from attending either.)
• Sainte-Cène: Montagnards rarely celebrate the Holy Supper, in part because their practice is to celebrate it using red wine, which has to be imported at considerable expense. (Replacing it with high-proof cidre de glace is extremely unacceptable under ordinary circumstances.)
  
  Unusually for orpheline Farrellites, the Montagnards strictly require the celebrant to be "husband of one wife." Remarried Montagnards are permitted to host a Sainte-Cène but not to officiate, and the owner of a chalice (extended Montagnard families often have several) customarily gives to an eligible male relative when he remarries.
• Lavement des pieds: Montagnards consider foot-washing a duty required of all Christians, and have a number of unwritten rules surrounding it. All Montagnard gatherings observe it on Holy Thursday, after the Sainte-Cène; it's customary for Montagnards who are estranged, living in sin, or returning from long absences to reconcile themselves to the community at this time.
  Before the founding of the UCNA, Montagnards were distinctive for practicing the lavement des pieds at weddings. The Montagnards' unexpected rise to prominence caused many other Alaxian Farrellite sects to adopt this practice as well.

Montagnards have a number of unique naming practices.

• The name "Toussaint" (All Saints; Farrellites object to the veneration of individuals) is, as with most other Alaxian French Farrellites, both common and unisex. Any convert with a clearly non-Biblical name can expect to be nicknamed "Toussaint" sooner or later.
• Montagnard families rarely repeat names across generations, but often reuse them within a generation, usually by giving a newborn child the name of a dead sibling. (This also happens after remarrying.) Recurring names are marked by the suffix -2ème/-3ème/etc. (spelled and pronounced "deuxième"/"troisième"/etc.)

Culture

Culture and cultural heritage

• Because the Montagnards came from a different region of France than other settlers, and actively resisted assimilation, their foodways developed separately from those of other Alaxian French. By 1745 Montagnard cooking was being recognized as a distinct cuisine; as our story begins there are Montagnard restaurants.
• The Montagnards brought over from Normandy was cidering. The most famous Montagnard ciderhouse is La Cidrerie of Medina Almogran, the namesake and unofficial headquarters of the UCNA's oldest political coalition.

Ideals

Relationship Ideals

I already have two children named Toussaint, it's not fair to my wife if she can't have two as well.

— traditional joke, source unknown

Montagnards are famous for having large families.

Author's Notes

One thing that bothers me about long-term alternate histories is that they rarely create new ethnicities. The Amish, for instance, date specifically back to 1693 and didn't become an ethnic group until a few decades later.
The Montagnards were an attempt on my part to fix this.