“大姨妈”——一些女人的福，另一些女人的祸

2017-05-06 冰清 译   冰清思语集

文章作者：Joanna Jolly

文章来源：BBC

图片来源：BBC

文章翻译：冰清

The landscape of Nepal is a geographical staircase, descending from snow-capped Himalayan mountains, through steep middle hills, to the lush flat plains of the south.In the middle step, in the remote far west of the country, life has changed little over the decades.

尼泊尔的地貌呈阶梯状, 从北部冰雪覆盖的喜马拉雅山脉延绵而下, 穿过陡峭的中部丘陵, 通往郁郁葱葱的南方平原。

在中间地带遥远的西部地区，几十年来，人们的生活几乎没有变化。

1.We have to sleep outside

我们必须睡在外面

For 18-year-old Ishwari Joshi, this means doing as her mother and grandmother did before her and leaving her home when she has her period.

对于18岁的女孩Ishwari Joshi而言,她步了母亲以及祖母亲的后尘——在生理期时被逐出家门。

The practice is called “chhaupadi” - a name for menstruation which also conveys the meaning that a woman is unclean when she is bleeding.

这种习俗被称为“chhaupadi”，字面意思为“不

可碰触”，但是代表了更复杂的涵义，指女人在流血期间不干净。

“The first time I had my period I was 15. I had to stay out for nine days,” she says.'We have to sleep outside'

“我的月经初潮是在15岁，被流放在外长达九天” Ishwari Joshi说，“我们没办法只能睡在外面”。

Ishwari's village Dhamilekh clings to an exposed hillside, commanding breathtaking views of high mountains and a low green valley criss-crossed by two rivers.

Ishwari 所在的村子紧贴在裸露的山坡上, 拥有风景如画的高山，低矮绿郁的山谷，以及山谷之间两条纵横交错的河流。

About 100 families live here, snugly squeezed together in three-storey, mud-plastered houses. Cattle sleep on the ground floor, families on the middle, while the top floor is used for cooking.

这里住了大概100多户人家，密密匝匝的挤在上下三层，灰泥筑成的房子里。牲畜栖息底层，人住二层，做饭在顶层。

When a woman starts her period, she has to leave this warmth for the seclusion of a specially built hut.

当女人生理期到来时，就必须要离开这个温暖私密，有生活气息的房子。

These are tiny spaces, shared by several families, without proper beds or bedding.

这是一些很狭小的空间，来自几个家庭的妇女可以共享一个小茅棚，茅棚里没有像样的床和铺盖。

When the women are isolated here, they can't cook, eat nutritious food, drink from or bathe in the village water source. They are forbidden from touching plants, cattle or men.

当女人被隔离到这里时，她们不可以做饭，不

可以吃点带营养的食物，不可以喝村里的水，不可以拿村里的水洗漱。不可以碰触庄家植物，牲口家畜，也不可以碰男人。

“It is said that if we touch a cow, they will not give milk,” says Ishwari's friend Nirmala. We've never seen anything like that happen, but our elders say we must not touch the cows.”

“据说我们一旦碰了奶牛，奶牛就不产奶了”，Ishwari's 的朋友Nirmala说，“这种邪门的事情从来都没发生过，但我们的长辈说我们就是不能碰”

Ishwari and Nirmala

Kalpana Joshi, 45, is resigned to her monthly stays in her “chhau” hut, a room little bigger than a crawl space beneath her village shop.

Kalpana Joshi，今年45岁，每个月都会如期拜访她的“小茅棚”，一个比地缝稍大一点的空间，在村子店铺的脚下。

“Nothing will happen,” she says, reassuring the younger women who fear attacks by animals and drunk men.

“什么都不会发生的，”她宽慰年轻女人，因为她们害怕睡在野外时被动物袭击或是被醉汉强奸。

A few metres away is the village toilet Kalpana helped build as part of a government drive to stop open defecation. It's out of bounds to her because it's believed she will pollute the water supply.

Kalpana的小茅棚就在村子公厕的几米开外，作为政府杜绝露天排便的项目之一，这个公厕的建设也有她的一份功劳。但是她对这个厕所也要敬而远之，因为人们认为女人的经血会污染冲厕的水源。

“We're not allowed to touch the toilet because it's the same water we use at home, We have to go to the fields far away from the house where nobody can see us.”” she says.

“我们不许踏进公厕，因为冲厕水和我们生活用水出自同一水源”，她说。 “我们不得不走好远到荒野外没人看到的地方解手。”

After for days in the hut, the village women bathe in a stream an hour's walk away and are “purified” with cow urine.

Only then can they return to normal life.

女人们在茅棚里待够数天等生理期结束后，要徒步一个小时到一个溪水里沐浴，并用奶牛的尿接受“洗礼”。

只有完成这项仪式才能回归正常生活。

They say chhaupadi is not enforced as strictly as it used to be, telling stories of mothers and grandmothers who were exiled during their monthly bleed.

But even this more relaxed interpretation of chhaupadi is too much for some.

她们说chhaupadi已经没有以前那样严格了，也讲述了她们的母亲们和祖母们在流血期间是如何被流放的。

即便已经如此宽松，但是在某种程度上还是很过分。

“I told my parents, 'I won't go, why should I?',” says 22-year-old Laxmi.

My parents got angry, but my brothers understood so they don't mind if I stay at their house,” she says. Laxmi knows her protest is unlikely to continue when she marries and moves into her husband's household, as is the tradition in Nepal.

If the family insists I have to sleep outside, I will have no choice, I will be forced to do it.” she says.

“我告诉我父母，我不去野外，我为什么要去？”22岁的Laxmi说。 “我父母很生气，还好我的哥哥弟弟们都很明事理，他们不会介意我留在家中”。但是Laxmi心知肚明，她的反抗仅仅可以在她的家里进行，一旦出嫁去了婆家，一切还是要遵从传统，因为这就是尼泊尔的传统。

“如果婆家人坚持要我在外面过夜，我也只能妥协了”，她说，“我没办法”。

2.Menstrual blood is a poison'

“经血是毒药”

In the evening twilight, the men in Dhamilekh chat by a fire in front of the village store. There's talk of the new road that reaches the village - a precarious, narrow rock path prone to landslides during the monsoon. The road was built to bring prosperity. But instead it has meant that village men can no longer earn a living carrying goods on their backs, forcing them to India and the Gulf states to work as migrant labourers. With so many men away, the women are needed more than ever to tend to the cattle and bring in the harvest. But the men still believe in the necessity, and power, of chhaupadi.

黄昏时分，村子店铺前面，男人们围坐在的篝火旁聊天。

他们谈论通往村子的那条新路--一条岌岌可危的、狭窄的岩石道路, 在季风期间容易发生山体滑坡。这条路修建的初衷是为了促进村里的发展致富，但也意味着村里的男人不能再依靠背扛货物谋生，而是被迫离开家园去印度和海湾国家去当外来劳力。

随着越来越多的男人外出务工，女人们比以往任何时候都变得重要了，她们既接触牲口家畜，也带来了庄家丰收。

但是男人们依旧相信女人生理期隔离的必要性和权威性。

“I used to get sick if my wife touched me during her period - of course I did,” says 74-year-old Shankar Joshi.

“有一次我老婆在生理期碰了我，我就生病了，确实是这样的”，74岁的Shankar Joshi如是说。

A younger man, Yagya, also thinks the tradition should continue, but for different reasons.

“In the old days, people might have said the gods get angry and that's why the practice was followed,” he says.

“But I believe it's more about keeping a clean environment and health and safety in the house,” he says, noting that village women only have cloth rags to soak up their flow.

“Menstrual blood is a poison,” he says.

一位名叫Yagya的年轻男士，认为应该沿习这个传统，但是不同于那位老汉的理由。

“在过去，人们可能会认为如果不执行传统上帝就会发怒”

“但我认为更重要的是这对于保持清洁的生态环境和健康安全的居家环境很重要”，他说，村里的女人除了用破布处理她们的经血再无计可施。

“经血是一种毒药”他说。

No-one can pinpoint exactly where the idea that periods are unclean comes from, but it is often attributed to Hindu scriptures. The villagers of Dhamilekh, like 80% of Nepal's population, are Hindus. They look for guidance to priests like Narayan Prasad Pokharel, who sees menstruation as sacred, but also dangerous.

没有人可以确切的指出，女人经期不洁的言论出自何处，但是往往被归根于印度佛教经文。

Dhamilekh的村民，就像整个尼泊尔一样，80%的人信仰印度教。教徒们寻求牧师的指引，就像牧师Narayan Prasad Pokharel所言，月经是神圣的，也是危险的。

“If the woman does not restrict herself, then the impurities that have been in her body could transfer to the man during sexual intercourse. That will result in terrible diseases,” he says. There is even an annual religious ceremony for women to atone for accidentally touching a man, or polluting their environment.

“如果女人在经期不严格限制自己，身体中的杂质就会通过性交传给男人，男人就会染上非常可怕的疾病”，他说。

更有甚者，一年一度的宗教仪式，专门供那些生理期不小心碰到了男人或是污染了环境的女人忏悔赎罪。

Chhaupadi may have its roots in religious scriptures, but it's become a widespread social practice. “There are some communities who do it because they put religion as a reason, but there are some communities that do it because they live in places where it's practised,” says Pema Lakhi, a development worker specialising in reproductive health.

“Chhaupadi”一词或许来源于宗教经文，但却最终普及成了一种社会习俗。专门从事生殖健康工作者Pema Lakhi 说“有些地方遵循这一习俗是因为他们的宗教信仰，但有些地方是因为生活环境所趋。”

In 2005, the Nepalese Supreme Court outlawed the practice of chhaupadi. But, especially in the remote far west of the country, traditions are slow to change.

And it's not just the men who think women should remain isolated during their periods. “You have to engage with the mothers-in-law,” says Pema Lakhi. “It's a power dynamic. They make sure their daughters-in-law do it because they had to do it.”

早在2005年,尼泊尔最高法院废除了 chhaupadi 这一社会旧习。但是,在遥远的尼泊尔西部地区, 传统文化的退幕非常缓慢。

不仅仅是男性认为女人在生理期要隔离，“婆婆更认为如此” Pema Lakhi如是说，“这是一种世代延续的监督力量。她们要确保儿媳这么做因为她们自己就是这么过来的”。

3.City girls 城市女孩

Hundreds of miles to the east of Dhamilekh's steep hillsides is Nepal's crowded capital, Kathmandu.Here children learn about menstruation at school and women can easily buy sanitary protection.But the taboos surrounding periods have not completely disappeared

Dhamilekh陡峭的山腰延绵几百英里外就是尼泊尔拥挤的首都加德满都。

在这里，孩子们在学校里可以获得科学的卫生常识，女人们可以理所当然买到卫生巾。

但是即使在城市，这种禁忌并没有完全消失。

Nirmala Limbu and Divya Shrestha are recent graduates in their early 20s.

“The rules didn't make sense to me growing up. My mother told me I was not allowed to touch plants, especially fruit trees, I used to keep on touching those plants - none of them died,” says Nirmala.

Nirmala Limbu和Divya Shrestha都是刚刚毕业20来岁的女孩子。

Nirmala.说“这个规矩在我这里行不通，我妈妈不允许我在生理期碰触植物，尤其是果树。但我经常会动动它们，没有一株死掉。”

For Divya, getting her period meant being banned from attending a religious festival.“I had prepared everything for worship and had worked all day and suddenly I had my period and everyone said we had to purify everything I had touched. It was really sad for me as a young girl. Why should I be called impure. It's a natural thing that every woman goes through. “She says.

对于另一个女孩Divya而言，生理期意味着禁止参加宗教节日。

“我已经用了足足一天的时间准备好了朝拜时的东西，但是大姨妈出其不意的光临了，然后所有人都说必须把我刚才接触到的东西清洗一遍。这真的让我很伤心，我只是个黄花闺女，为什么就认为我不干净。这是每个女人每月都要经历的事情，再正常不不过了。”

Nirmala and Divya

Nepalese society is changing. Although Nirmala and Divya faced some restrictions, they were mild compared with those endured by their mothers.

“When we had our periods, people seemed disgusted by us, They would keep us apart. We had to use separate plates, wear different clothes. Nobody could touch us,” says Divya's mother Sudha.

尼泊尔社会的传统文化也在慢慢发展变化，虽然Nirmala 和Divya依然面对着一些限制，但是和她们的母亲们相比，这种限制已经柔和了很多。

“我们那个时候，要是生理期来临，很遭人们的厌恶，住的地方被隔离，用的盘子被隔离，穿的衣服也要被隔离，没有人愿意接触我们”， Divya的母亲 Sudha说.

When Sudha gave birth to Divya, she decided that she could not put her own daughter through the same humiliation. “Even though my family were angry with me, I didn't listen to them. It was my decision,” she says.

Because of her mother's determination, Divya grew up largely without restrictions, believing she could live life normally during her period.

当Sudha生下Divya时，她就下决心，绝不能让女儿遭受和她一样的羞辱。

“虽然我的家人很反对，但是我并没有顺从他们，这是我的决定，”她说。

因为母亲的坚决，Divya的成长在很大程度上没有受到该禁忌的约束，她坚信她以后也不会受这种约束。

“It's built up my confidence,” says Divya.

“I've got a better education because of it - I have a better position in society.”

“这基于我的信念”，Divya说。

“因为不甘这种禁锢的摆布，我努力获得高等教育，让自己的社会地位有了很大提高。”

In Nepal there are now many girls like Divya who are not held back by taboos surrounding periods.

But Pema Lakhi, who runs a programme on reproductive health, says that even in the city, old attitudes can be hard to shift. I feel the biggest danger comes from educated women,” she says.

如今，尼泊尔有很多像Divya一样的女孩向这种社会戒律发出了挑战，不愿受它的禁锢。

然而可悲的是，即使是在大城市，那些旧观念也很难被转变。生殖健康项目的运营者Pema Lakhi如是说，“而最大的悲哀是来自那些受过教育的女人”

“It's the woman I can meet at a party in Kathmandu who tells me she doesn't go into the kitchen when she's menstruating.

“These are the women who are indirectly perpetuating all of this.”

“在加德满都的一次派对上，有位受过良好教育的女士告诉我，她生理期从不进厨房，这些女人实际是以一种委婉的方式延续着这一习俗”

4.Changing minds观念的转变

In the grasslands of southern Nepal, health worker Laxmi Malla is mounting a small, but determined, campaign to bring an end to chhaupadi.

在尼泊尔南部的草原地区，卫生工作者Laxmi Malla在开展一项规模不大，但却毅然决然的运动，旨在彻底推翻chhaupadi习俗。

On the plains - known as the Terai - the huts that women must sleep in during their periods are open-sided, with roofs made of straw.

It's not unusual to see three or four women sleeping in one small hut, using old clothing for bedding. There's no protection from monsoon rain, or the snakes that inhabit the long grass.

在尼泊尔南部著名的特莱平原，女人经期住的地方都是四周毫无遮挡，只有一个稻草做成的屋顶。

当你看到三四个妇女睡在这样的地方，用着非常破旧的衣服和铺盖，遇到季风降雨时得不到任何保护，遇到栖于草丛的蛇时无处可逃，这于外人来说是非常罕见的。

Laxmi works in the area around the town of Dhanghadi.

Here plenty of shops sell sanitary towels, but they are too expensive for the village women, who use balls of cloth instead.

“They wash, dry and reuse them,” says Laxmi.

“I teach them how to wash them properly - to leave them to dry in the sun to kill off bacteria.”

Laxmi在一个名为Dhanghadi的镇附近工作。

这里有许多商店卖卫生巾，但是对于农村的女人而言太贵了，她们一直用布团代替。

“她们将布团洗净，晾干，下次再用” Laxmi说。

“我教他们如何正确的清洗布团，告诉他们在太阳下暴晒可以杀菌”

Laxmi's advice on hygiene is readily followed, but when it comes to telling villagers to stop chhaupadi, she's faced angry resistance.

“We go door to door,” she says of her campaign which attempts to persuade families that the gods will not be angry if the old ways are abandoned. It's very difficult. People quarrel with us. They even curse. Most of the time we have to go to villages with the police.””

女人们听从Laxmi清洗布团的建议很容易，但是劝她们摈弃这一习俗却非常艰难，面临许多令人发指的阻力。

“我们挨家挨户，苦口婆心的试图说服她们，抛弃旧习俗不会迁怒上帝，但是太难了。她们和我们争吵，甚至诅咒我们，很多次在开展这项工作时我们都和警察一同前往。

But slowly, over the years, Laxmi has witnessed change in the rural communities she visits.

“People are no longer forcing girls to sleep outside,” she says.

“I think in our area, the practice of chhaupadi will stop in a year.”

然而，慢慢的，一年又一年，Laxmi目击了她所亲临的村子一点一点的发生着变化。

“人们已经不再强迫年轻女孩子睡在外面了。”她说。

“我想我们的这方区域，chhaupadi这一习俗终会有停止的那一天”

5.Breaking down the huts

摧毁茅屋

Back in the hills of far west Nepal, there has been another drive to end chhaupadi.

Over the past two years, the local government and NGOs have helped organise a campaign to tear down the huts in the village of Majhigaun.

Devaki Joshi owns the local shop and was part of the organising committee.

再次回到尼泊尔西部地区，另一股力量已经加快了chhaupadi的结束。在过去的两年里，当地政府和非政府组织联合发起了一场运动——摧毁Majhigaun村子所有女人的生理期茅棚。

Devaki Joshi在当地经营了一家店铺，他也成为了这项运动组委会的一员。

“In the old days, people didn't shower or wash their clothes so it was more unhygienic during periods - perhaps this is why chhaupadi began, But now at school they have a cupboard with sanitary towels for students” she says.

“在过去，人们不洗澡也不洗衣服，这种习惯尤其在生理期更不卫生，或许这就是chhaupadi习俗被推行的原因，但是如今在学校专门有向女生售卖卫生巾的专柜。”

But not everyone has accepted the change.

A few houses down from Devaki's shop, Chiutari Sunar sits outside with her mother-in-law.

“We still follow the same practices,” she says pointing to the space beneath the house where the buffalo are kept.

It's her new chhaupadi sleeping spot now her old hut has been demolished.

但并非所有人都能接受这种改变。

沿着Devaki's的店铺一直走，经过几户人家就看到Chiutari Sunar和她的婆婆坐在家门前。

“我们一直恪守这一传统，从来都没变过，”她说着指向房子底层水牛的栖息棚。之前她住的茅棚被政府捣毁后，又在水牛的棚舍里搭起了新的隔离区。

“In our house, when we are menstruating, we can't go inside at any cost, no matter what the government says. This is even more important to me than going to the temple.”

“在我们这个家，生理期来时，不管任何代价都要睡在外面，无论政府说什么都没用。对我来说，经期隔离比去庙里烧香拜佛都重要。”

Chiutari Sunar & her mother-in-law.

Even Devaki, who is enthusiastic about the success of her project, admits that some people may never accept the change. “We don't want to hurt the feelings of the older people like my mother, We still don't touch them when we have our period.”

即使是Devaki，虽然对她发起剔除旧传统取得的成功津津乐道，也承认有些人，永远都不可能接受这一改变。

“我们不想伤害诸如母亲一样的老一辈人的感情，我们依旧不能在生理期接触他们”。

Lila Ghale, the local head of the government department for women and children, says it may take another generation before chhaupadi is fully eliminated.

“We are working with everyone - men, women and even witch-doctors,” she says.

“Our culture is patriarchal and many women are illiterate which makes it hard to change things.”

And, changing attitudes is not just about telling people chhaupadi is bad.

Lila Ghale，当地政府妇女与儿童发展协会负责人说，chhaupadi习俗要完全根除，还需要下一代人继续努力。

“我们要和所有的人并肩努力，男人，女人，甚至巫医”

“因为这是一个男权社会，许多女人都目不识丁，这就让旧习的根除非常艰难。”

同时，转变人们的观念并不仅仅是告诉人们chhaupadi旧习的危害。

She wants Nepalese girls to celebrate their monthly bleed.

“Who says it is impure? It gives life. We tell women there is power in their periods,” she says.

“We tell them there's power in your blood.”

她认为，尼泊尔的女孩们应该为她们每月的流血事件而庆祝。

“谁说经血不洁净？是它创造了人类，我们告诉女性经血给了女人创造生命的资本，”

“我们告诉女性，你的经血里流着的是一种资本。”

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