Through this system, any child that was eligible for the Hunger Games, i.e., between the ages of 12 and 18, could sign up for tesserae – a year’s supply of grain and oil for one person. However, tessera came at a price. For each tessera claimed, the person’s name would be entered into the reaping bowls for an additional time. Further, the entries to the Hunger Games were cumulative in nature. This drastically increased the chances of the person’s participation in the Hunger Games.
History Of Tessera
The name “tessera” comes from gold and ebony colored cube-shaped tiles that were used for decoration in Capitol homes and buildings before the First Rebellion. During the 10th Hunger Games, Coriolanus Snow was seen wearing recycled tessera tiles as buttons in his shirt. Tessera tiles most likely represented luxury, which the food ration was also supposed to represent.
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The concept of tessera was introduced sometime after the 10th Hunger Games. One set of tessera was equal to one year’s supply of oil and grain. The grain was unrefined, dark, and coarse, most likely prioritizing nutrition over taste. Eligible citizens could collect tessera on a monthly basis.
Tessera in the Districts
The nation’s wealthiest districts, i.e., Districts 1, 2, and 4, did not usually have much use for tesserae. Furthermore, these were career districts where volunteering for the Hunger Games was extremely common. Thus, the increased chances of the kids being picked as tributes in the Games also most likely made no difference in these districts.
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Citizens from poorer districts signed up for tesserae more often to supplement their food supplies for the year, thus, skewing the ratio of their chances of being reaped. District 12, the poorest district in Panem, saw the most sign-ups each year. Thus, for most of the poorer districts, signing up for tesserae spelled a death sentence. However, despite signing up for tesserae, most families still struggled to feed themselves, resorting to illegal methods of obtaining food.
Purpose of Tessera
Tessera was introduced to supplement the severe food shortage in the districts. It was also most likely introduced as a part of the Government’s propaganda to oppress and punish the districts for rebelling against the Capitol. Ironically, the increased chances of survival that tessera brought to the families also dramatically increased the chances of the person’s death in the Hunger Games as well.
However, the Capitol masked the dark underbelly of the food rationing system through strategic messages shared as advertisements across the country. For instance, one of these messages read, “We’ll have plenty to eat thanks to my tesserae, won’t we mother?” above a picture of a mother and daughter sitting in a kitchen filled with jars of food. Another popular advertisement that ran in the nation was of a woman holding several jars of food in her hands, with the words “I have plenty to eat, thanks to my tesserae” written above her head. These advertisements depicted the Capitol as a benevolent benefactor for the districts, while the real purpose of tessera was to subjugate the districts and bring them under control, all while providing a meager year’s supply of food.
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