Around a great lake in the mountains of Southwest China lives a matriarchal group called the Mosuo. As the Musuo people are part of the Naxi ethnic minority -- one of China's 55 ethnic minorities --, to date the matriarchal system is still practiced in some Mosuo villages. The mother enjoys the highest position in Mosuo families, hence the place's designation as the "kingdom of women."

The Mosuo people call the Spring Festival "kushi", which literally means the New Year. They spend the New Year offering sacrifices to their ancestors, earth and heaven. The Spring Festival is also the busiest time for local women.

The income of each family member is submitted to the grandma, who will redistribute the money among the family. About one month before the Spring Festival, the grandma will buy at least one set of new clothes for each family member.

Then the women will brew wine, extract oil, grind flour, husk rice, and prepare other things necessary for the Spring Festival. According to Mosuo custom, people should not use ropes in the first half of the first month; otherwise they will encounter snakes in the New Year. On the 24th of the twelfth month, women clean every corner of the house, get haircuts and give their children new clothes.

Mosuo women carry wooden buckets on their back to the river or spring at the dawn of the first day of the first month. The one who gets up the earliest and gets the first bucket of water will be blessed with fortune and good luck throughout the year. The gathered water is used for preparing breakfast. After the sun rises, mothers take their children along with other presents to visit the elders in their family.

(Author: Jeff)

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