Journey's End (Classic Print)

Yading Valley, Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture: In the two years I spent making a documentary with the Mosuo, China’s last matriarchal society, I was both witness and participant in the social happenings that typically mark the course of the year of village life– plantings and harvests, weddings and births, and even the odd funeral. But it was while in attendance at the funeral of a young man who had died an untimely death that I witnessed the "daba”, Mosuo shamans who chanted and encouraged the spirit of the young man to undertake a journey that all spirits must take. They chanted without break an entire day-and-night, in hopes that his spirit would hear their cries and leave his home for the road.  According to Mosuo oral tradition, when someone passes away, their spirit must embark on a journey to the place of their ancestors. The path to this sacred location can be treacherous, and the spirits of the departed must overcome formidable obstacles to reach the valley where their an