Radical Feminism Resources on Nostr: LAOTONG, THE ANCIENT UNION OF TWO WOMEN. Laotong is a ritual practice dating back to ...
LAOTONG, THE ANCIENT UNION OF TWO WOMEN.
Laotong is a ritual practice dating back to medieval China and originated from Hunan (the region of origin of the Yao matriarchal civilization) and still lives today mainly in the LGBT community but not only. It provides for the making of a real contract between two women in the presence of an officer and guarantor of the ritual. The sacred and magical nature of this contract is due to the placement of a type of seal that, according to Chinese beliefs, guarantees the unbreakable bond. This contract enforces the union of the contractors, a visceral and at the same time spiritual union, stronger than the one between two sisters and two friends, specifically because almost always here Laotong is understood as a bond of friendship or sisterhood, and this is only due to the sad censorship of our heteronormative culture. "Lao" in Chinese, means "old" but also "ancient," while "tong" means "same," those who argue that "laotong" means "friendship" usually climb on mirrors to explain its etymology: "Laotong" would mean "old selves," although it's hard to understand what this expression actually means. But "tong" is just a prefix for "man" in the word "homosexual" (which is called "tongxi" in Chinese). "Laotong" simply means "ancient (bond) omo".
Probably the nature of this bond, in any case very strong, has always been varied, different from pair to pair, and knows all the possible nuances that a relationship can have, including the homosexual one in a narrow sense. After all, in Chinese history, homosexual unions of women are documented by many iconographic testimonies, so much so that if I have to think about the civilization that produced more images of female homoeroticism, I think about the Chinese one or better about its matriarchal substrate.
[Pictured: The figures of two Laotong women are attached to the Nu shu writing (on the right), which was often used for secret communication between the two women. Sometimes laotong women customized the Nu shu to make it even more secretive and exclusive than the couple. ]
Laotong is a ritual practice dating back to medieval China and originated from Hunan (the region of origin of the Yao matriarchal civilization) and still lives today mainly in the LGBT community but not only. It provides for the making of a real contract between two women in the presence of an officer and guarantor of the ritual. The sacred and magical nature of this contract is due to the placement of a type of seal that, according to Chinese beliefs, guarantees the unbreakable bond. This contract enforces the union of the contractors, a visceral and at the same time spiritual union, stronger than the one between two sisters and two friends, specifically because almost always here Laotong is understood as a bond of friendship or sisterhood, and this is only due to the sad censorship of our heteronormative culture. "Lao" in Chinese, means "old" but also "ancient," while "tong" means "same," those who argue that "laotong" means "friendship" usually climb on mirrors to explain its etymology: "Laotong" would mean "old selves," although it's hard to understand what this expression actually means. But "tong" is just a prefix for "man" in the word "homosexual" (which is called "tongxi" in Chinese). "Laotong" simply means "ancient (bond) omo".
Probably the nature of this bond, in any case very strong, has always been varied, different from pair to pair, and knows all the possible nuances that a relationship can have, including the homosexual one in a narrow sense. After all, in Chinese history, homosexual unions of women are documented by many iconographic testimonies, so much so that if I have to think about the civilization that produced more images of female homoeroticism, I think about the Chinese one or better about its matriarchal substrate.
[Pictured: The figures of two Laotong women are attached to the Nu shu writing (on the right), which was often used for secret communication between the two women. Sometimes laotong women customized the Nu shu to make it even more secretive and exclusive than the couple. ]