Text/Rhetoric
The Mosuo people who live near the shore of Lugu Lake have always had a bit of mysterious color, whether it is "daughter country", "matriarchal society" or "marriage", the unique Mosuo style has always triggered people's desire to explore and discover.
Come back to Lugu Lake, like the mirror of the lake, the clear white clouds reflected in the lake and the red sunset still make me intoxicated.
But the most impressive thing about this trip was to see groups of Mosuo people carrying bamboo poles tied with prayer flags on the day of the Turning Mountain, to the goddess temple of the goddess of Gem, all the way to devotion.
I arrived at Lugu Lake on September 3rd, and the next day on September 4 (the 25th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar), which happened to be the biggest festival of the year for the Mosuo people, the Zhuanshan Festival. The first time I knew the word "turning mountain" was in the verses of Cangyang Gyatso, and it was only this time that I saw it with my own eyes.
The Festival of the Mountains stems from the Mosuo people's worship of nature, and the date is usually between the two solar terms of summer and white dew, which happens to be a critical period for determining grain production. On the day of the Mountain Festival, the Mosuo people will worship the goddess Gem, who is known as the highest protector of the Mosuo daughter country, and prays to the goddess to bless Qingji with peace and grain.
Early in the morning on the day of the Mountain Festival, I followed the Mosuo people from all directions all the way to the Mount of the Goddess of Gem. The road into the mountains is all country lanes, basically only enough for a car to pass alone, and the talent is blocked by the light of day, so I have to get off the car and go on foot.
On a small hill not far from the Temple of the Goddess, in the distance you can see a huge thangka 16 meters high and 10 meters wide, on which is a portrait of the goddess Gem. Riding a white horse, she holds a trident in her left hand and a flute in her right hand, appearing heroic and gentle. Under this giant thangka, the wise Dharma of the Mosuo people chanted the sutra to remove impurities and danced the dance of the gods and the dance of greeting the gods to pray for blessings. This is the special sense of ceremony of the Mosuo People's Mountain Turning Festival.
Along the dirt road, I followed the local Mosuo people all the way up to the temple of the Goddess, and the colorful prayer flags were wrapped around the highest place, which looked particularly beautiful under the reflection of the sun.
In addition to the prayer flag, the Mosuo people who go to the mountain will also carry a bag of grains, turn clockwise around the goddess temple three times, and throw the grains into the air while turning, praying for a harvest year of abundant grains.
These prayer flags carry the beautiful expectations of the Mosuo people for life in the coming year. The prayer flags are becoming more and more entangled, and it is difficult to walk upright. The locals guided me to make three clockwise turns according to their customs, each step carefully.
At the end of the worship of the goddess temple, I stood at the highest place and saw the Mosuo people who were picnicking all over the mountain. Families cook on fires in the wilderness, occupying an entire hill next to the temple.
This is the custom of the Mountain Festival and the epitome of the daily life of the Matriarchal Family of the Mosuo people. Most of the food is the mosuo people's homemade specialties, there are lump meat, pork belly, pig legs, pig enema, dingdang wine, Sulima wine, butter tea... Curious, I shuttled between each dish, holding up my camera and taking one photo after another. Every time the camera is focused on something, the hospitable Mosuo people will always ask you to eat with them, large chunks of meat, full of bowls of butter tea, without any strangeness.
I haven't been to Lugu Lake for ten years, and when I came ten years ago, I had to drive seven or eight hours from Lijiang. This time I met the Mosuo people's mountain festival, in addition to the natural beauty that does not need to be carved, in addition to the pure blue of Lugu Lake, the feeling in my heart is like a prayer flag hanging in the sky, which is colorful and gorgeous.