Round about the beginning of each year，the women of the Song Valley make a special pilgrimage （朝圣）into the oak（橡树）forests.
They hold a religious festival and plant seedlings（树苗）that will grow into new trees.And for the rest of the year they keep guard on the forests，banning cattle and goats，and regulating（控制）the cutting of grass and lopping（修剪）of branches.
To Western eyes it may seem a charming example of concern for nature.To the women themselves it is a matter of sheer（绝对的）survival.
For all over India the forests are falling，As the trees come down，there is nothing to hold the soil on to the land，or to stop the rains running straight off the mountainsides.Crop yields（产量）fall，water sources dry up，and fodder（草料）and firewood from the forests disappear.It is the women，who fetch the water and wood，and do most of the work on the land，who suffer the most.
Even in normal circumstances，the women carry the greatest burden.Indian women work longer hours than their men，and they get less to eat.They work for 14 to 16 hours a day——even when pregnant（怀孕的）.They work up to the beginning of their labor——and start again four or five days after delivery.
Women are the last to be fed in Indian households，eating only after their husbands and children have finished.So they receive much less of what they need than other members of the family.They have so much work to do that they often do not have the time to seek health care.They will not take the time to go until they are extremely sick，and then often do not have the strength to get there.
As the trees come down and the water sources dry up，women have to work still longer，andwalk still further.
Tired，overworked，under-nourished（营养不良的），unrepresented，powerless and unorganized，and the future，unless the present is greatly changed，promises only more of the same.

Why do Indian women plant new trees and look after the forests（）