Essay | Life of Mosuo People - Exploration (3)

"Guan Guan Jiu Jiu, in the river island, a graceful lady, a gentleman is very fond of Qiu" This is the most distant and simple love; "When someone comes, the gold hairpin slips out of the stocking, and he walks away in shame. Leaning against the door and looking back, he sniffs the green plum. "This is the innocent love of a girl; "I must be a kapok near you, standing with you as the image of a tree. The roots are tightly held in the ground; the leaves are touching in the clouds." This is a modern person. Stay together firmly...

In today's era, love has become fragile and worldly under various pressures. Many people's love withers in the corners of reality just after it has sprouted. On the banks of the beautiful Lugu Lake, the love of the Mosuo people is still beautiful, they still maintain their purity, and they still maintain the oldest and most primitive customs.

With curiosity about the Mosuo people, we walked into their homes to learn about their lives and loves!

It was raining lightly, and what greeted us was a Mosuo girl, born in the 1970s, with a clean and rosy face, no wrinkles or plateau red on her face. She stood by the car door with a smile on her face, clasped her hands and said "Dingbuljiake" to everyone who got off the car, which means good luck and good luck. We also answered her "Dingbuerjiake" in parroting!

The Mosuo people believe in Tibetan Buddhism, and colorful prayer flags are hung under the eaves of every house. My sister said: "We Mosuo people are not divided into ethnic groups. There are only Mosuo people, not the Mosuo tribe. We My ID card is Mongolian. We believe in Tibetan Buddhism, and the Mosuo people are very respectful and devout to the Buddha. I cannot take pictures of the prayer flags behind me because they all have scriptures on them. The Buddha cannot be desecrated, so the scriptures should be treated accordingly. We must also be careful when using flags. We have a sutra hall at home where Buddha is enshrined. In front of the hall is an incense burner that is half a person tall. Every morning after we recite sutras, we light pine and cypress branches in the incense burner because the ash of pine and cypress branches is white and very clean. You are also not allowed to take pictures. My grandma went to the mountain to do mountain walking and has not come back yet. Walking around the mountain every day is also one of the customs of us Mosuo people. After completing the mountain walking, we will burn pine and cypress branches in the incense burner on the mountain.

We Mosuo people generally do not allow outsiders to enter the village. Now that there is development here, the government has designated a few households that are open to outsiders. However, outsiders are not allowed to enter our living room and flower building. Please understand! Today I would like to invite you to enter my granny flat and take a look, and I will introduce our customs and habits! Please follow me. "

After the introduction, A-mei took us into the courtyard.

This is a two-story courtyard house, all built with wood, commonly known as a wooden house. The grandmother's house has three doors and no windows. There is a fire pit in the house. The fire in the fire pit represents the lifeblood of the family and cannot be extinguished. All important rituals and gatherings in the family are held in front of the fire pit. It was raining and chilly outside, but it was warm inside.

The Mosuo family is dominated by the eldest or most capable grandmother, who lives in an independent grandmother's house. Adult women live on the second floor, called the flower building. There are three flower rooms on the flower building, except for the A-mei in the flower room. , no one can enter casually, including grandma. The flower house has an external window for the entry and exit of married men. There is a staircase connecting the first floor to the entrance of the courtyard.

"We Mosuo people still maintain matrilineal social customs. All the fruits of labor are shared, managed by our village committee, and then distributed equally, regardless of men and women. Women are the most dominant among us, but we will not Look down on men, after all, they are the labor force." At this point, Amei smiled softly, her face full of confidence and pride.

She pointed to a high bed next to her and said, "Have you seen this bed? This is where grandma sleeps. How do you think she got up to such a high bed?" We looked at the bed and replied, " Take a stool and go up there!”

"No! We stepped on the backs of our descendants! The woman who lives in the grandmother's house is the most noble person and has absolute power in the family. We, the descendants, must be filial and respect her. Therefore, there will be a person in the house who will take care of her. Grandma’s daily life.” We felt a little weird when we heard this.

In some movies and TV dramas, I have seen slaves lying on the ground and the master riding on the slave's back, but this is the first time I heard about riding on the slave's back.

Amei pointed to the two pillars in the room and said: "Of these two pillars, one is a male pillar and the other is a female pillar. We will hold a 'coming-of-age ceremony' when the child is thirteen years old, and the girl is called ' The skirt-wearing ceremony is called "pants-wearing ceremony" by boys, which is what you call the coming-of-age ceremony.

The boy stands under the male pillar and the girl stands under the female pillar, stepping on the pig meat with her left foot and the grain bag with her right foot, symbolizing that there will be inexhaustible food in the future. The girl's grandmother took off her old linen gown, put on a beautiful gold-edged gown, a pleated skirt, an embroidered belt, braided her hair, and put on silver jewelry. The boy's uncle helped him take off his old gown, put on a new coat and trousers, put on a belt, a sword, and a silver bracelet with his name engraved on it made by his uncle himself. After completing the ceremony, the girl moves into the flower house in the flower house. This is a small world that belongs entirely to her. No one can enter without her permission. The boy lives in the thatched house with his uncle and brothers. The successor of the old grandmother is called Dabu. Haha, I am the Dabu of our family and will take over in the future. "Amei's face was filled with a smile and she spoke briskly and calmly.

She continued: "The paintings on the wall at home were painted by me, Awu, and the paint came from the mountains. Awu is still practicing in the temple. We here regard practicing in the temple as the supreme honor, which is a great thing! We rely on faith To control our words and deeds, we can keep our doors open at night and rarely hear quarrels among neighbors. The big family is very harmonious. Behind this door is the place where women give birth and where the old man dies. It is a place to pass through, so this gate is also called the "Gate of Life and Death." We Mosuo people practice cremation and scatter all the ashes on the sacred mountain. There are no graves in the village, so we also pay great attention to filial piety before death."

"You must be particularly curious about the walking marriage of the Mosuo people, right? Girls can participate in some labor and activities after living in the flower house. We work in the fields with the boys and dance around the bonfire. If we fall in love with someone during the contact, If I like this boy, I will give him a signal. At first, we will hook our fingers and dance together. If I like this boy, I will hook four fingers with him. Finally, I will scratch the palm of the other person's hand. If he also scratches my palm, then we will do it. It's time to start a relationship, but I can't tell him where I live yet. We usually have to get to know each other and get in touch with each other for a period of time. When I think the time has come, I will ask the boy to come to Hualou to meet me.

When the boy comes, he must bring three things: pig fat (to feed the dog), a hidden knife (to support climbing upstairs and through the window), and a hat (to remind family members not to disturb him). After the boy leaves in the morning, the girl will feel under the pillow to see if there is a silver comb. If there is, it means that the boy wants to grow old with me, and the girl will also give a flower belt to her brother. This is a token of love!

When we Mosuo people have walking marriages, men can only sneak into the woman's "flower house" by climbing through the window after dark (called "Mosuo" by Mosuo people) and leave before dawn ("suochu"), so it is called Mosuo. Why not go through the front door and take the stairs? This is to tell them that love is hard-won and must be cherished. We only rely on feelings. Unlike you who ask for a house and a car, what we want is a single-minded relationship.

During the day, we pretended not to know each other and did whatever we were supposed to do. Even your family didn’t know who you were getting married to. We were only together at night because we didn’t marry each other, so we all lived in our own homes. , take care of their families, so Mosuo people cherish the time together at night. We fall in love all our lives and are romantic all our lives. Nowadays, some of us get married openly and announce to everyone that we are a couple. When the families of both parties meet, the uncle of the family will hand over the man to the woman, which is called 'bring-in-law'. However, some couples do not live together, but return home. At home. After the public announcement, men no longer have to climb through the windows and can take the stairs into the flower building. "Amei took a sip of water and continued to talk carefully.

"What about your children? How do you know who the father is?" someone asked.

"When a woman is pregnant, she will notify the man. After the child is one month old, the man will bring his family and gifts to recognize him, but he will not take the child away. People here stay with their mother's family throughout their lives, especially girls. We don’t have the title of “Abba”, we only have uncle, and our children will be raised by our uncle. We must also honor our uncle until he is old.”

"Is there someone who has a falling out and doesn't want to get married?"

"There will also be cases where two people don't need to get married if their relationship isn't good, because others don't know who you are getting married to, so it won't be embarrassing even if you break up."

"Then how many people can you marry?"

"Normally, it's one person for life! We are very cautious about walking marriages. We will not be like some tourists who say they can go thirty times in thirty days a month. That is impossible!"

"Does the child's father provide him with living expenses?"

"No, we will raise our children by ourselves without asking for a penny from the other party, because the children are our own, not theirs."

"When the children are older and they all live at home, will it be too crowded? Can they be separated?"

"No, we are a large matrilineal family, we just want to live together. Our family has more than 30 people, and some families have more than ten people. Separating the family is humiliating and unfilial to the elders, and will be criticized by the villagers."

…

Everyone gathered around the fire pit and had a heated discussion with A-Mei. I walked out of the house gently and looked at the yard full of prayer flags again, feeling admiration and respect in my heart! This custom, which is rumored to be a mess by the outside world, is so beautiful and harmonious! In the civilized era of the 21st century, many families are constantly quarreling over various interests and violence continues. As a result, abuse of elderly women and children is common, and life is insecure. However, the Mosuo people on the shores of Lugu Lake still retain their ancient beautiful matrilineal family. They still have family harmony and social harmony here. They are worthy of being "the last red rose of the homeland of oriental matrilineal culture."

(To be continued, please continue to pay attention!)