"We're here at Lugu Lake!" After seven or eight hours of riding in the van, on the winding mountain road, I was so shaken that I got out of the car in a daze at the driver's shout. In front of you is a pool of sapphire blue lake with several small islands dotted in it, surrounded by lush mountain forests. "It's really like a paradise on earth!" I couldn't help but sigh. This was the first time I saw Lugu Lake in 2013. In 2022, I will return to Lugu Lake again. This time, I stayed for nearly a year. I went back and forth more than a dozen times and visited the Mosuo Museum and the Mosuo villages deep in the mountains.
Lugu Lake, located at the junction of Yunnan and Sichuan, has been a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural area since ancient times. The walking marriage custom of "men do not marry and women do not marry" is one of the traditional marriage methods of the Mosuo people. After men and women exchange love tokens, the man will sneak into the girl's room at night and leave before dawn. Walking marriage is not a one-night stand, the relationship must be one-on-one, otherwise it will be condemned by other villagers. When the girl becomes pregnant, the parents of both parties will sit down to discuss and officially recognize the relationship. The woman's family will hold a ceremony to celebrate the arrival of new life. It is not a wedding and usually the man will not be involved.
What seems like an open love relationship actually contains the ancient wisdom of the Mosuo people. Children belong to the mother's extended family and are jointly raised by "aunts and uncles". There is no economic interaction between men and women, and there is no need to discuss educational issues. This kind of relationship is purer than in modern society. The Mosuo people also have patrilineal families and marriages in which both men and women marry regardless of gender. The Mosuo People's Museum located in Dashuoshui Village is the best entrance to learn about this little-known ethnic minority from religious beliefs, marriage and family to social production.
Lijiazui is an ancient Mosuo village hidden in the mountains, a two-hour drive from Lugu Lake. Most people here still live in large matrilineal families, maintaining the tradition of men farming and women weaving. In Mosuo culture, every family has a "mother house", which is their reception room, living room, ceremony place, etc., and is a space that connects the entire family members. The mother house is distributed in a zigzag shape according to the yin and yang and the five elements. There are two pillars inside – the male pillar and the female pillar. It must come from the same big tree. The female pillar comes from the top of the tree, which represents the spreading branches and leaves; the male pillar is from the bottom, which means a solid foundation. When a new house is completed, the "Daba" will chant sutras and pray to the pillars, and the souls of both sexes will be attached to their respective pillars. If people traveling far away cannot participate in family sacrifices, the male and female pillars can represent them.
In the middle of the mother house is a fire pit, and the Mosuo fire god totem "Rambala" is usually hung above it. The Mosuo people believe in reincarnation. They have no graves. The fire pond is a place to worship their ancestors. They must respect their ancestors before each meal. In the mother house, you can deeply feel their view of life and death. You should be happy to die, and death is the beginning of another life. There are still many traditional Mosuo courtyard houses preserved in Lijiazui. Uncle Du Ji's house has a century-old scripture hall, and the murals on the walls are said to be nearly two hundred years old. There are various white symbols; the water mill at the entrance of the village is still spinning, and the old lady is sitting on the grass spinning slowly… Ancient and modern, primitive and civilized, slowly intersect here.
The road to Labo Township was not easy to walk, and there was hail on the way. It was even more difficult than the road to Lugu Lake. There are also many "Daba" in this small place located by the Jinsha River. Daba is a priest of the Mosuo people, which means "wise man, master". The Mosuo people believe in animism, and Dabaism is their primitive religion. The Daba Sutra records the Mosuo people's creation myths, future prophecies, and ancient rules and sayings that have been passed down for thousands of years. It can be called an encyclopedia of the Mosuo people. They will ask Daba to perform ceremonies such as birth naming, coming-of-age ceremony, new house completion, weddings and funerals, etc.
We watched an anniversary ceremony. At around eight o'clock in the morning, we followed the Daba to the ceremony leader's house. Daba sits on the main seat of the fire pit and prepares the sacrifices before the ceremony begins. He uses highland barley, salt and water to shape different dough puppets, representing gods, ghosts, animals, etc. Afterwards, the Daba is recited, and the scriptures used are combined according to the baby's birth date and the type of ceremony. The entire ceremony lasts for nearly three hours, including removing filth, worshiping ancestors, worshiping nature gods, etc. The elders of the family will also participate in it. They light butter lamps one by one, and the male elders blow conch shells. The purpose of the ceremony is to tell the five nature gods and ancestors that a new member has been added to the family, and pray for them to accept and protect the baby.
In this era of sweeping commercialization, there is still a small group of people on the banks of Lugu Lake, in the Daliang Mountains, and by the Jinsha River. Following the traditions left by their ancestors for thousands of years, they are still walking in marriage and maintaining close ties. of extended family relationships and a strong belief in the power of nature and ancestors. Why in this place? Why does this exist? Maybe it's worth you taking a look.
