ARTE Distribution

In South Korea, the Gameunsa Temple Site is located far from the hustle and bustle of Seoul. Three Buddhist nuns live there and are determined to preserve the culinary traditions of this 1,700-year-old building.

In Asia, the charismatic abbess WooKwan Sunim is considered one of the best cooks in the world. The temple being located in the mountains, she cooks with what nature offers, starting with wild plants.  The result is a vital energy that benefits both the nuns of the Gameunsa Temple Site and the faithful.

Cannabis farming has a long tradition in northern Morocco: some 300,000 families have long made a living from growing the plant.

In the north of the island of Java, the village of Timbulsloko is sinking inexorably into the sea.

When camel milk helps Kenya's semi-nomadic communities.

Elders from the Pokot and il-Chamu tribes, erstwhile enemies, are working together to reintroduce giraffes to Kenya’s Great Rift Valley.

Hairdressing in Zimbabwe is traditionally a female domain. But recently more men are taking up the profession.

For centuries, the inhabitants of the Danish island of Læsø have covered the roofs of their houses with dried-out seaweed. 

In the most Asian part of India lies a singular state with a Christian majority, Nagaland. Here in the commune of Kikruma, a village situated at an altitude of 1,600 meters, every drop of water is a treasure. In these lush lands, life depends on an ephemeral phenomenon: the monsoon rains that only sweep the region between June and October.

Explore 10 of the world's most remarkable markets, from Mauritania's camel market to Mexico's esoteric bazaar, where tradition and culture thrive.

Let us meet the men and women who make these markets a place of commercial and cultural exchange. While the globalized economy leads to a standardization of tastes and consumption, going to a market allows you to dive immediately into a local culture, to meet its inhabitants, its food, its smells, its colors, its customs. An invitation to travel in the most beautiful way possible, to enjoy the abundant and varied riches of nature and meet people from different cultures around the world, who are the beating hearts of these markets. 

From India to the Bissagos Islands, discover the world’s last matriarchies through the stories of the women who run them. Each of the 5 films in this collection is an immersion in one of these societies, as seen through the eyes of a woman.

Every culture has its own rituals for dealing with the different stages that punctuate our lives (being born, growing up, seducing, bonding and dying). Each episode of this series will focus on two different cultures and their distinct or similar ways to deal with these issues. 

Being born, growing up, seducing, bonding, dying: this cycle of life is immutable. It is the very foundation of our condition as human beings, beyond culture. It leads us inexorably towards the end – after all, moving forward in life means moving closer to death, and from that point of view, living becomes a frightening adventure! This is why humans have invented accompanying rituals that help structure life in specific stages: the collective rites of passage from one stage to another provide individuals with a calmer perception of their mortal condition.
 

Meet those who, throughout the world, celebrate these life's transitions. Purification, isolation, pain, transformation of the body: every group has its own practices, beliefs and prohibitions that reveal its identity. By sharing these rituals with them, we gain an insight into their culture, their fears, their desires, their vision of life, their way of responding to “the difficult task that is growing up”.

It allows us to question our own anxieties and perspectives and reflect on the usefulness of these ritualized occasions. Today, our Western societies are becoming more and more emancipated from them: people are free to live out their love with whomever they choose, cremation is secular, and graduating is no longer a widely recognized official entry into adulthood. What do rites of passage teach practitioners? How do they help them move on to the next step? What kind of transformation does one undergo?

Fire dancing in Papua New Guinea or climbing to the top of the Ethiopian cliffs to introduce one’s child to God: this series reveals how some people today still practice rituals that structure their lives and become, beyond a simple social bond, a structuring force and a source of culture.

In societies that struggle to find their bearings, rituals - whether pagan or mysterious - are of particular importance when people are confronted with the unknown, illness, death, not knowing what tomorrow is made of. Rituals help organise chaos, warding off our fears and bringing to light the meaning in our lives.
Anthropologist, Anne-Sylvie Malbrancke, helps us understand and experience these moments with those who practice them.​