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Thread: The beauty and the pain of being human. Images.

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    Default Re: The beauty and the pain of being human. Images.

    MOSUO WOMAN


    Last edited by Iloveyou; 11th April 2018 at 04:47.

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    Default Re: The beauty and the pain of being human. Images.

    MOSUO PEOPLE / WALKING MARRIAGES

    The Mosuo (one of the best known examples of matrilinear society) are a Chinese ethnic minority group of about 40,000 people who live high in the Himalayas, close to the Tibetan border. Officially classified as part of the Naxi minority, they are actually quite a different group, with different language, culture and religion.

    They generally live in large extended families, with many generations. Everyone lives within communal quarters, without private bedrooms or living areas (but women over 13 years old get the privacy of their own room.)

    Mosuo practice 'walking marriage', which basically means a woman may choose to take lovers from men within the tribe, having as many or as few as they please over their lifetime and couples do not live together or get married. Having multiple lovers and children by different men, does not carry a negative stigma. Romantic and family life are separated into different spheres by design.

    Traditionally, a Mosuo woman who is interested in a particular man will invite him to come and spend the night with her.

    "Their living quarters have a main entrance but every adult woman lives in her own small hut. The men live together in a large house. The door of every hut is fitted with a hook and all the men wear hats. When a man visits a woman, he hangs his hat on the hook. That way, everybody knows that this woman has a male visitor. And nobody else knocks on the door." (Interview with Ricardo Coler: nice and probably true story but the rest of what he's saying is rather stereotypical.

    While it is possible for a Mosuo woman to change partners as often as she likes – and in fact, having only one sexual partner would be neither expected nor common – the majority of such couplings will actually be more long term. She may maintain a longterm, monogamous romantic relationship with the father of her children but, unlike in the West, this is considered seperate from her role as mother.

    Even in long term pairings they will never go to live with the other's family, but continue to live with and be responsible to their own family. There will be no sharing of property.

    A father may have little or no responsibility for his (biological) offspring, his role is discretionary. If he does want to be involved with the upbringing of his children, he will bring gifts to the mother's family, and state his intention to do so. This gives him a kind of official status within that family, but does not actually make him part of the family. A father is not kept from developing a deep emotional relationship with his natural children. Though every man will share responsibilities in caring for all children born to women within their own family (sister, niece, aunt, etc.).

    So biological or natural paternity doesn't have great importance, but there are strong, lifelong bonds between the 'fathers' and the children within the own extended family (social paternity) - as all members of the family share in the duties of supporting and raising the children.

    There's a saying that "the biggest flying thing in the sky is eagle, the biggest walking thing on the earth is uncle."

    The result is a family structure which is, in fact, extremely stable. Think about it. Divorce is a non-issue, there are no questions over child custody (the child belongs to the mother's family) or splitting of property (property is never shared), etc. It is not uncommon for families to “adopt” outsiders into their family - to maintain gender balances, because another family has gotten too small to maintain its numbers, or due to orphaning of a child.

    One particularly important result is the lack of preference for a particular gender. In many other cultures, the female will join the male's family when she gets married - with the result that a couple with more daughters will lose them after marriage and have no one to care for them in old age. So there will be a strong preference for male children.

    A fake and perverted image of the 'sexual freedom' of Mosuo women has been portrayed by tourism operators and a thriving prostitution industry been established at Lugu Lake (though most of the 'Mosuo girls' who work in the brothels are actually girls from other areas, dressed like Mosuo women - and are a source of shame to real Mosuo.

    Tourism is booming, and the Chinese government is keen to market and monetise the Mosuo to Chinese tourists, even installing a toll booth charging $5 to enter the area from the newly laid main road. Curious and frisky visitors are lured in by the suggestion that the Mosuo women offer free sex – hotels, restaurants, casinos and karaoke bars have been built, and sex workers shipped over from Thailand dress in Mosuo traditional dress in the "capital village", Luoshu.
    "Arriving in Luoshu was a shock – it was tacky and not how I expected," says Locatelli. "
    "There were a lot of people asking for money: bar owners and prostitutes that are obviously not Mosuo – it's all geared towards male Chinese tourists."
    After talking to locals, Locatelli decided to move on to another village, Lige, in search of "real Mosuo". "I crossed the lake to another village and found them living in the same traditions they have done for 2,000 years – the people there were lovely, kind and living simple, happy lives. (Luca Locatelli)


    Interestingly enough, 'historically' the Mosuo had a feudal system in which a small nobility who practiced a patriarchal system - which encouraged marriage and in which men were the head of the house - controlled a larger peasant population.

    Would be more than interesting at what time / and by whom that patriarchal 'nobility-system' had started / had been imposed.

    http://insideoutchina.blogspot.co.at...lugu-lake.html

    http://insideoutchina.blogspot.co.at...gu-lake-2.html

    http://www.second-congress-matriarch...om/gatusa.html

    http://www.mosuoproject.org/myths.htm

    Books

    “ Leaving Mother Lake : A Girlhood at the Edge of the World ”   by Christine Mathieu and Yang Erche Namu   -- this is a very well-written biography of a Mosuo woman, Yang Erche Namu, who left her home to try to make it in the “big city”.   The book focuses a lot on her childhood, and reveals a lot of detail about daily Mosuo life and culture.

    “ A History and Anthropological Study of the Ancient Kingdoms of the Sino-Tibetan Borderland - Naxi and Mosuo ” by Christine Mathieu – written by the same author as “Leaving Mother Lake”, this is a scholarly anthropological work based on years of study of the Mosuo and Naxi cultures.   Not light reading, but tons of information for those who are seriously interested in the Mosuo culture.

    (please keep in mind that there's a lot of sweetish, ironical or stereotypical rubbish about them on the net)







    Last edited by Iloveyou; 17th December 2016 at 09:46.

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    Default Re: The beauty and the pain of being human. Images.






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    Default Re: The beauty and the pain of being human. Images.

    I'm willing to give up a lot of things, but I never would like to miss the smile of a stranger in the streets, a keenly interested gaze, curious, sympathetic, a helpful gesture towards a foreigner. Travelling without one's own car, without credit card and without language skills helps a lot.

    And I never want to miss an open, honest talk with a friend, feeling nothing else than interest, care, support and the desire to comprehend, to immerse in his/her world, as far as possible, to have a look behind the facade, allowing the other to see . .

    I've met an indigenous shaman whose accepting and loving way, whose singing and drumming led me securely through some darkness and I've met a Western 'shaman' (though I've no idea whether he would consent to this term or reject it . . )

    In other words: when it became clear that I would have an appointment with Grandmother Aya in Southern Ecuador, Bill invited us to stop by and say hello. He took us to the Quinua Forest in El Cajas National Park - altitude up to 4450m / 14600ft, 270 lakes and lagoons, 152 different species of birds, an enchanted forest of Quinua trees (Polylepis) which grow above 3300 m, the worlds highest forest, also known as paper tree because it constantly sheds its bark in thin layers to prevent parasites to grown on its trunk. One day I'll have to return, bring my sleeping bag and go on a hiking tour for days. That's a promise to myself.

    I thought photos will not do it justice, all one is left with is one's brain to process the beauty - and one's heart to keep it. So I didn't take any. Here are some findings from the net.














    Last edited by Iloveyou; 14th July 2017 at 12:37.

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    Default Re: The beauty and the pain of being human. Images.

    Last edited by Iloveyou; 10th June 2019 at 16:33.

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    Default Re: The beauty and the pain of being human. Images.




    The human heart cries out for help / the human soul implores us for deliverance /
    but we do not heed their cries / for we neither hear nor understand (Khalil Gibran)
    Last edited by Iloveyou; 30th March 2016 at 10:18.

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    Default Re: The beauty and the pain of being human. Images.
















    Last edited by Iloveyou; 28th April 2017 at 10:34.

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    Default Re: The beauty and the pain of being human. Images.

    A seven year journey from Ethiopia to Tierra del Fuego started in 2013. I'll join in here in Azerbaijan.
    __________________________________________________________________________________

    Trapped in the Loneliest Cafés in the World

    by Paul Salopek

    Sipping tea in Azerbaijan with victims of a 'frozen war' (near Oghuz, Azerbaijan)

    The tables stand by the roadside. All are empty. They are manufactured of plastic, made of tin. Bright oilcloth covers them. They hold: cheap saltshakers, sugar bowls, a dusting of black car exhaust. Their legs sink into mud. These are sidewalk cafés without sidewalks in eastern Azerbaijan. They are run by the homeless for travelers.














    Gyoychakh Huseynov fires up her bread oven, in Jalut, Azerbaijan. In a country rich in gas and oil, she uses scavenged sticks.

    "This was forest when we arrived," says Nemat Huseynov, 55, a café owner and the patriarch of a family of refugees from the Nagorno-Karabakh war. "We came here in buses. It was 1993. We had nothing. We chopped down trees. We lived in tents. Then we built shacks. Now we have a few sheep. We sell bread and tea by the road. This land isn’t ours. It’s borrowed."

    "I tell my children about home. It is high in the mountains of western Azerbaijan. It is beautiful. It has hot springs where we used to boil eggs. The air was clean. It was a rich place. There are gold mines. But my children don’t know it. For them it is like someone else’s dream. They only know this place, this road, this camp."

    "The day we ran away, I locked the front door of our house and hid the key under a stone in the garden,” Huseynov tells us. “That was 22 years ago. Maybe it is still there. "
    Last edited by Iloveyou; 5th October 2017 at 14:14.

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    Default Re: The beauty and the pain of being human. Images.

    sadness . .










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    Default Re: The beauty and the pain of being human. Images.

    . . and this:


























    now . . . did you ?
    Last edited by Iloveyou; 3rd September 2016 at 05:21.

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    Default Re: The beauty and the pain of being human. Images.

    I did now ... thank you



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    Default Re: The beauty and the pain of being human. Images.

    Eye candy ...







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    Default Re: The beauty and the pain of being human. Images.


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    Default Re: The beauty and the pain of being human. Images.

    We can choose to look into the sky, into the universe, the multiverse, the macrocosm, at the extended picture of what might be the purpose of humans, the influence, the impact that (wo)mankind might have on a large scale, throughout the cosmos - or we can look at one specific being expressing him-/herself at this very moment, despite of being locked in prison and being cut off from their full awareness of their own divinity.

    I find it such a meditative, healing experience to look in people's faces . . people who allow themselves to be seen. In real life too often we shy away, shut down (even among friends).























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    Default Re: The beauty and the pain of being human. Images.

    . . or look at us from outer space









    Last edited by Iloveyou; 28th April 2017 at 10:32.

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    Default Re: The beauty and the pain of being human. Images.

    I come from afar and I'll bring to the table what I have . .



    Iswegh Attay - I drank some tea

    Tuareg, Dogon, Fon . . what's in a name. It can mean everything and nothing.


































    Last edited by Iloveyou; 10th June 2019 at 17:02.

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    Default Re: The beauty and the pain of being human. Images.

    My favorite thread! Always either; brings a smile to my face, tears of joy or sadness in my eyes or a good belly laugh.

    Thank you
    Last edited by Basho; 11th May 2016 at 14:08.
    ISness is my business..

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    Default Re: The beauty and the pain of being human. Images.

    Quote Posted by Iloveyou (here)
    We can choose to look into the sky, into the universe, the multiverse, the macrocosm, at the extended picture of what might be the purpose of humans, the influence, the impact that (wo)mankind might have on a large scale, throughout the cosmos - or we can look at one specific being expressing him-/herself at this very moment, despite of being locked in prison and being cut off from their full awareness of their own divinity.

    I find it such a meditative, healing experience to look in people's faces . . people who allow themselves to be seen. In real life too often we shy away, shut down (even among friends).
    I really love this I concur
    ISness is my business..

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    Default Re: The beauty and the pain of being human. Images.

    Basho, now YOU brought a smile to my face, tears of joy in my eyes and a good belly laugh, all simultaneously

    Pictures are just flowing in all by themselves - it's the photographer's compassionate, though respectful gaze which I admire deeply.



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    Default Re: The beauty and the pain of being human. Images.

    Iloveyou

    That photo reminds me to wear my maroon robe again in public soon! Need to chip away at the tough guy mask I tend to accumulate living in a big city like L.A.
    ISness is my business..

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