Matriarchal Mosuo society: schoolgirl's big decision | SLICE

[Music] we're in the south of China on the border between Hunan and Sichuan where the flags flutter in the wind the sound of men's prayers floating over the foothills of the Himalayas it's here the gateway to the ancient Kingdom of Tibet that a people lives according to the seasons cut off from the outside world the Chinese authorities call these people the mossuo but they prefer their traditional name of Na will soon be 13. she's still a child but here that is the age when one becomes a woman since she was a little girl she's helped her mother work the fields she's been able to handle a machete in a sickle for a long time but she still has many things to learn no first you take the year you line them up correctly I understand you're not booking what I'm doing our Tremors in the last year of primary school in a few months her family will decide on her fate should you stay in the village to help with the daily tasks or go to town to continue her education in your opinion when you grow up what do you do in life projects and you're going to overfill your dreams okay yay tell us I'd like to be a school teacher and why do you want to be a school teacher I'd like to teach children so that once they're grown up they can leave the mountains very good give her a round of applause told us what she had in her heart she said that when she grows up she wants to be a teacher like me a teacher everyone respects teachers she also wants to leave the mountains look around us these mountains close Us in don't they if we want to change our lives what do we have to do leave the mountains I your teacher I hope that one day you fulfill your dreams and to do that what do you have to do study [Music] [Applause] [Music] a chairman her classmates pick up the pace [Music] despite their laughter the children know that it's not a good idea to linger on the road one night falls the spirits of the forests come out [Music] since the dawn of time the now women have been the heads of the Clans in air Chairman's family air chilakuo is the matriarch it is she who owns the land who administers the farm and who organizes work in the fields in this matrilineal Society she also decides who will inherit her possessions and she's chosen her chemer when the time comes sometimes ajia is a chema's grandmother age 70 she's the oldest member of the family ten members of The Clan live under the same roof all Bound by Blood Ties it's coming she's with ducha come on come in according to their Customs uh chema was raised by her maternal family her mother grandmother but also by her uncles and aunts good I'm done since marriage doesn't exist here even couples with sentimental ties are not allowed to live together and a father does not share daily life with his children his words can heal he knows the prayers and he can talk to the Dead He's The Garden of their Traditions responsible for the preservation of the clan Through the Ages his words carry weight and his views are respected among the na they say that the women are tougher than the men it is they who carry out the hard work if a chairman continues her schooling she will have to leave the mountain her mother would then have to do all the farming work alone there are four children in the clan the closest to achema is just one year between them and they're in the same class is happy to speak for her sister when necessary how's school going is the teacher nice is she taking good care of you yes she's nice and what's more she's the only one there our teacher has a good heart then work hard at school we like to study well but you tell us that we're too poor learn all that you can at the end of the year you'll have to come back we don't have any choice you should be prepared to work at home and don't think about leaving The Village at the end of the year you'll come back and work in the fields all right take care of the animals the dogs your aunts your grandmother take care of your uncles have some children and take care of them that's how life is foreign kilometers away at the foot of the mountain lies Lake lugu according to Legend the Gnar people were born from its sacred Waters yeah lamu is the oldest daughter of the clan she lives in the room with a husband and a young daughter on the shores of the lake at the age of 13 she decided to leave the mountains lamu has never been to school but through her contact with the town she has freed herself of certain traditions she married Sia and moved here with him I'll fetch some water so we can wash where's my jacket [Music] at the time their families were against this marriage but here is a man of character and there was no question for him of living anywhere with with his wife and daughter do you know if my towel is in the car no idea can you go and get it for me isn't this it what look here Sia is nearly 40. he comes from the plains he's seen the world change and he knows that the whole of China is undergoing a transformation together Sia and lamu have opened a small Grill Restaurant the Lakeshore they work there day and night and dream of buying some land to build their own house if all goes well they could then provide a home to a chema and her sister zuo malakuo for the past few years the shores of Lake lugu have been invaded by Chinese tourists in search of the Exotic thanks to these newly Rich City dwellers who arrive in the hundreds The Villages businesses are thriving as they prepare for the lunchtime rush and await the first customers all the conversation is about uh chema and her sister stop you're cutting it all right just remove the end a little more and it's fine what do you think they're going to do about the girls if they let them go to Junior High it'll only be every other week I don't understand her uncle jacquesis they say they are too old to carry on looking after the animals they could do it for another three years don't you think if the girls go to Junior High they'll have finished in three years they'll say that we young ones want to teach them how to live it's not fair they're wrong and when that's the case you have to tell them where I come from when an elder is wrong I don't mind telling them you have to tell them there's a big difference between people who are educated and those who aren't they teach us about tradition but it's up to us to explain to them about Modern Life in January the livestock have taken on their winter coats all of the Wind from the mountains is gusting it is still fine in the village the vacations continue the last Carefree moments for a chema no it's the fourth too bad in a few days a chema will celebrate a 13th birthday her initiation ceremony is scheduled for the day after New Year will make her officially an adult for the first time she will be allowed to wear the traditional skirt the symbol that she's come of age her aunt has allowed her to choose her costume herself to buy it she has to go to the Region's only Market which is in yongning by Lake lugu accompanied by her uncle Sona a chemer and her sister leave the mountains for the first time foreign it will take them a full day's walk to reach the town about which they have heard so much [Music] a chema is impatient she wants to see her big sister lamou whom she hasn't seen for a year and finally see the famous Lake lugu everything [Music] so if you're not too tired and you you're always laughing come on let's go you look really pretty dressed like that you can help me look after your niece we'll come back for New Year okay okay okay okay about take your drink go on in there [Music] have you eaten are you hungry go on go in would you like some grilled meat try some gizzard I'm tired it's too hot here taker hold her firmly she likes to stand up you don't even know how to hold a baby the afternoon is coming to an end erman's want to take a closer look at the sacred Lake origin of the Gnar people foreign next year if the Two Sisters go to Junior High this new setting would be part of their daily life [Music] once night has fallen the little streets throng with tourists [Music] for ochema who comes from a village lost in the mountains with no electricity or any road Network the light of the little town however weak Sparkle like a thousand fires we might wonder what they think of the official show that is supposed to illustrate daily life for the moshero to tourists from Shanghai and Beijing we live our whole lives near our mothers we're not allowed to leave our homes we are the stars of this show we climb the walls we practice walking marriages [Music] do you know what a walking marriage is yes it's for lovers and then with a woman [Music] it's the only matriarchal society in the world it's the only place where women are the clan Chiefs here the mountain bears the name of a goddess here the lake is called mother Lake here live the mosul people lovers sing love songs that come from the depths of their hearts their love lasts a whole lifetime they are unfailing Romantics the passage of time matters not their love is pure and remains engraved in history the ceremony to Mark the 13th birthday takes place in the mosul home the girl stands under the main beam under a dried Pig is where she swaps her child's clothes for her adult's costume before prostrating herself before the altar of her ancestors then before her mother her uncles her aunts and her grandmother dance were you again is she going to swing yes it's a swing she's going to swing right up she's going to come as far as us yes she'll go right over our heads you're kidding what do you think [Music] it is late and the girls are tired is this room all right for you you wanna clean yourself up help yourself it's for the face it feels nice you like it yeah afterwards put on a bit of that I've already got some on my hands come on take off your shoes and coats until there perhaps one day have their own room in Sia and lamu's house a chairman her sister are invited by a friend to enjoy the Comforts of a hotel room for the first time is it good it's good well go to bed are you warm enough yeah [Music] there's no sleeping late on the banks of the lake at dawn sear and lamu go to the market to the chemer [Music] motion yongning Market is the main place for trade among the many ethnic groups who live in the surrounding area people are the Yi pumi Bai meow and na rub shoulders in the marrow streets we'll come back to buy Provisions I'll just get some bit all right now go and find her costume foreign cucumbers Lotus roots Wilder farmed fish water chestnuts pigs Trotter coal fat or snapped a thousand kinds of noodle rare powerful smelling spices a chema is a little disoriented there's no time to lose they have to find a skirt a jacket a belt and a headdress for the ceremony I prefer the one that has fewer folds no one has too many are you sure you want the smaller one you're still going to grow this one has fewer Folds on which jacket do you prefer Which jacket yes which one do you like best both of them the purple one down there haven't you got a headdress at the house yes but we don't have a belt this is usually tenuan but I'll give it to you for five that's a good discount thank you thank you very much laughs before taking them back to the Village lamu takes her chairman and her sister to the other side of the lake to The Bridge of Love a popular tourist spot [Music] why does the Chinese wear our traditional clothes they wear ye or Nar costumes to demonstrate that they have traveled as far as here they wear our clothes and that gives them a souvenir we don't wear them anymore but they love them I think you have to pay there's one over there too in fact it's a business [Music] this New Year's Eve the clan is preparing to celebrate a chema's 13th birthday her uncle sones brought out the dried Pig carefully preserved for years which will be cooked for the celebratory meal azir the Dwayne overseas operations have made the journey from the lake especially for the ceremony come on let's go inside my little darling is here it's been almost a year since they came to the mountain isn't there any soap never mind I'll do without here use this while everyone is busy jexy the shaman uncle gets to know the latest addition to the Clown go to your mother's arms the first time Sia came up here he came to tear lemu away from her clan who were keeping her in the village to prevent their marriage since then they all think he's headstrong and he doesn't hold back from saying what he thinks about a chema and zurma lekuro's Future everything's different now back then we wanted to go to school but we were too poor we couldn't afford it nowadays we don't have as many money problems the children want to continue and you want to stop them that's not reasonable later on they'll be cross about that these days it's not easy to satisfy the children let them do what they want otherwise you're regretted it'll be tricky here if no one takes care of the animals you want the children to take care of you but later who's going to take care of them to stop their education to take care of you but what are they going to do when they're old they won't know anything they'll be forced to spend their whole life here exactly how will they get by they won't even know how to use a phone they know enough they can stop now you can never have enough education I never went to school and I survived are you kidding you can't compare it you and your sisters you can continue to work in the fields what difference will three years make for you not much but the girls can finish High School they can do what they want I just pity my sisters that's why I say all this the women in the family must continue working that will be tough for them but we have to improve the situation of the youth we have to think about future Generations if you maintain the tradition when they grow up they won't know anything they'll be like their mothers they won't make any progress the big day is finally here according to now custom when an old woman dies they place a young girl's costume in her coffin say that when she's reincarnated she has something to wear it's during this ritual dressing on the cusp of a 13th birthday that her chemer welcomes in the spirit of a deceased person lamu has been designated to help her dress I'll fetch a belt for the skirt it'll do that way you'll be bigger for your ceremony it's not a size that counts but she'll have to mature by the age of 13 you should be responsible it won't be long enough that's not right no the knot goes in front the skirt will drag push it in the back go and push go pray what do you do you address Heaven and Earth pray to heaven and ask the Earth to provide you with everything you need how come you don't know how to pray despite its lack of solemnity the moment is sacred it makes her Tremor an adult woman the ceremony continues in front of the altar of the ancestors which each family sets up in the room reserved for religious practices [Music] with hundreds of other faithful she will be blessed by the living Buddha a grand monk considered The Reincarnation of a master of Tibetan Buddhism somewhere his arrival is announced with great pomp any [Music] [Music] in the temple a chemma and the other children queue to receive his Blessing they press forward and hold up their card the scarf of bliss which they will keep for their whole lives another offering is made to Yaman Tarka and the other definities her chem is now considered the fully fledged member of the clan [Music] foreign [Music] s have gone by summer has arrived bringing with it torrents of rain which cut rivulets into the paths a chairman has obtained her education certificate and has returned to work in the fields this year the land has been generous the corn yield is good and the pigweed is flourishing but the working days are long and exhausting [Music] there we go the school year starts in less than a month at the same time as the first harvest the family will need all the Manpower it can get and her chemist Joe doesn't know what you will do it's almost over what are we going to do should we let them carry on or not our brother won't allow everyone to continue their education mom and us we'll stay here sitting staring at each other one of the girls must stay at home you're right one of the girls must give up [Music] we won't be able to manage with the livestock if we don't have at least one of the girls with us I think that maybe our teamer should stop if they both stop going that won't do let's let zoomo lakuo continue their schooling we're getting a little older every day we've got animals someone has to stay with us and I thought I'd teach her some things about housekeeping but we'll do whatever you think we'll do what you say will give up school on the shores of the lake things are moving fast the small town has grown further attractive residencies are springing up Sia and lamu have built a new restaurant [Music] while lamu tries to attract some business Sia entertains the tourists you're welcome I will sing the sparkling glass for you I hope you'll enjoy your stay alright [Applause] [Music] Sia and lamu's hard work has paid off they have left their room on the Lakeshore for a fine large house which they built themselves away from the hustle and bustle everything here is infused with calm but the conversations inevitably return to the future of the two young sisters doesn't school start again soon in a few weeks but it'll come around quickly now we have our house we can enroll the girls in the school here I have to talk with my family the sooner the better no one will say anything it's above all Uncle Jackson who has to be convinced will you let them continue their education otherwise what are they going to be able to do he doesn't have any education he doesn't listen to me they're too young to give up school we'll do whatever we can so they can study from here it'll work out I'll send them a message so they send down the girls they should come and see the house and visit the school haven't you finished painting the furniture yes but I still have to rub it down here [Music] on the pretext of an urgent need for a helping hand in the new restaurant lamu manages to convince haran to let her chairman zuarma lakuo come down to the lake again [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] foreign her chairman discovers that work in the town can sometimes be just as hard as that in the fields give that to the lady outside put your broom down there [Applause] [Music] [Music] thank you foreign [Music] between two services to help them Reach a decision Sierra takes her Chairman's Roma lakuo to visit the yongning junior high which he attended himself [Music] this is where he hopes to enroll them for the forthcoming school year and he's ready to take on full responsibility for organizing this you'd like to enroll them in our school is that right are they your sisters are you their Guardian yes I am we need a reference person that'll be me we must be able to contact you no problem take down my number I live just nearby if they study here they'll spend weekends at my place it's right near I'll let you show them around foreign look how tidy this bedroom is toothpaste toiletries everything's lined up on the table see how nice it looks later you'll be able to do the same will we sleep here oh yes there'll be several of you to a room but we don't yet know which room will be yours nor if you'll be together hello they want to come and study here next year they come from Sichuan they come from no from usiao normally they'd go to Junior High in Sichuan but it's a long way from where they live so they'd like to enroll here are they in the last year of primary school yes they pass their exams they're really small they look like they should be in fourth or fifth year no they've already finished later on once you're enrolled you can do all kinds of things Dance Sport everything which sports can we do you can do running competitions basketball or table tennis I'm not afraid of doing gymnastics I'm not afraid of dancing either before I was afraid of not knowing how to dance but I know traditional dances how did it go at the school did you like it yes do you feel reassured you'll have to work hard because the day after tomorrow we'll go and talk to your uncle if he tells you you don't need to continue with school tell him you do you have to insist Iran said I could continue really yes your continuing education and HMR must give up hers tell her if one of you continues you both should so yes tell her that if she wants you to continue without your sister you refuse she says her Duty will go to school in place of ertima did that your art comes out with some nonsense how can you replace someone education is for everyone if Dutcher goes to school it's for himself and if Gemma goes it's for her I feel sorry for you there's no choice you have to continue is terrified of the idea of being separated from her sister despite being a year apart she considers her as a twin and Canada envisaged such a separation foreign [Music] foreign to ease their anxieties lamu takes the girls boating on the lake for them it's an exciting new experience are you afraid I'm not scared of anything except the wind you're scared of the wind don't worry someone's rowing it'll be fine on TV I once our boat sink because of the wind there were lots of people on board they all drowned don't worry there are lots of people around us everyone's saying don't worry [Music] whatever [Applause] standing alone in the middle of the lake the island of xiwa wo is a horosite the temple which is found there does not welcome many worshipers we're a long way from the noise of the tourists on the frenzy of the restaurant thank you lamu didn't have the opportunity to go to school and she thinks her sister should not let this chance go by whatever happens she makes the most of the peaceful surroundings to talk to her Channel foreign don't want you to continue your education because you're very good at working around the house but Sarah and I will support you what do you really want deep in your heart do you want to continue yes are you sure yes at home when Uncle Jackie asked you if you wanted to stop going to school you said yes am I right well what did you tell him that I agreed why did you say that I thought I had to stop going were you afraid of his reaction grandmother said there was no point continuing with our education she said we are women and it was of no use grandmother told you that question to begin with when Sarah and I wanted to live together the whole family was against it they weren't happy they thought I was abandoning them that's how it was at the time but now they support us now they're proud of us if you study hard you'll be able to do some good things after Junior High you can go to high school and perhaps even to University what kind of work do you want to do doctor doctor that's what you want to do then you'll have to strive to reach your goal you'll have to work hard and do well [Music] thank you Tremors now made up a mind she wants to pursue her education but now she has to find the courage to explain this to the rest of the clan back in the mountains on the windy sodden track through the foothills of the Himalayas Sears car avoids the obstacles on its way and carries her chemer towards her destiny [Music] thank you after more than four hours drive they finally arrive [Music] sexy come and give us a hand L'Oreal come and fetch some things everyone take something help me out there jexy by the light of a hanging torch jaxi the shaman Uncle arrives everyone fears The Garden of traditions or nearly everyone sit down I'll fix the meal why are you home so late I wasn't waiting for the animals at the right place they didn't come did you lose the horses no I waited for them custom here dictates that one is never pressured into speaking but she is aware that a chairman does not dare to confront her uncle and as always he doesn't mind getting things started so are the two girls going to continue at school no they're going to stop there's no one here to go and fetch food for the pigs they're still young if you make them quit school they'll hold that against you later in life what will they have to hold against me they have to come back we didn't have an education we don't know anything the girls went to primary school that's enough primary is like not having been to school at all it's the same look at lemon she's been educated to primary level it's of no use to her we should just let them go to Junior High then later we'll see when I go to pray there's no one to look after the cows or work in the fields we won't be able to cope in a few years there'll be tourists you'll see that between people who have an education and those who haven't there's a big difference if a Chinese person asks you what you say when you pray you wouldn't be able to explain you don't speak good enough Chinese no it's decided the girls will stop and the boys will continue three years it's true it seems a long time but in reality it goes very quickly you know I just in any case we have to let them go to Junior High let them continue we let the children go to school and we leave the pigs in the sky is that it that's ridiculous for the Gnar a smile is sometimes used to hide emotions jaxi will give his answer once he's made up his mind despite the rain and the apparent calm the tension is palpable the uncle's decision affects not only the girl's future but also that of the whole clan to avoid thinking about it everyone keeps busy a chema is worried then suddenly urchilikuo The Matriarch decides to take matters in hand what have you finally decided regarding the girls for their schooling to look around you we are a big family and yet there are not enough of us to do the work some evenings there's no one to talk to yet we have a big house if it's all right with you I accept that they continue that's what we're going to do we'll let them carry on in school what can I do anyway after all those years of education I hope they will obtain some results if that's the case then it was worth it we'll see if it gets them anywhere if not it means we were wrong dreams of the new life that awaits her on the other side of the mountain The Garden of traditions Returns His prayers that is how life is in southern China there where the first slopes of the Himalayas start to rise up at the Gateway to the ancient Kingdom of Tibet where the flags whisper the prayers of man to the Gods [Music] [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: SLICE

Views: 99,660

Keywords: documentary, documentaries, shortdoc, shortdocs, slice, slicedocs

Id: NQHAeDFdBdQ

Length: 50min 34sec (3034 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 12 2023