Life in a matriarchal society - On this island women are in charge

In southwestern Guinea Bissau there are some islands where a very special people live, the Bissago. What is it that makes them so special? It is not the fact of living in balance and harmony with the spectacular nature that surrounds them, taking from the land or the sea only what they need to survive. Neither is their deep animistic spirituality, which marks their life with rites to acquire the knowledge of their ancestors. What makes them so special is that, in the Bissago society, the woman is the protagonist.

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