Taiwan's Indigneous people

The Aboriginal Peoples of Taiwan have a population of approximately 500,000 or about 2.2% of Taiwan's 23 million people. Most of them have Austronesian roots, which originate from Madagascar in the west to Easter Island in the east and Taiwan in the north to New Zealand in the south. Some researchers have suggested that, the cause of the wide variety of different indigenous languages in Taiwan could be that Taiwan is the place from which the Austronesian peoples began a diaspora 6,000 years ago. The Taiwanese aborigines currently have a total of 14 officially acknowledged groups. (Some would suggest there is more or less than 14 tribes and it varies because some tribes got split throughout the years.) I would go further into details of 3 groups, namely the Tao (Yami) , Atayal and the Puyuma tribes.

Tao

This video clearly shows the uniqueness of the Tao tribe, their celebrations, the clothes they wear and the way they behave which is rather enthusiastic and rough.

The indigenous people of the Tao, also known as Yami ethnic group are residents on Orchid Island who are Austronesian, which is a division of the Malayo-Polynesian language family. Their ancestors shifted from Philippines approximately 800 years ago. The Tao ethnic group has a culture that differentiates itself from the other aboriginal tribes as they do not possess brewing skills and the custom of head-hunting and tattooing. They survive on fishing and growing taro and sweet potatoes. Their current population is about 5,000, and it is the only maritime ethnic group among the 13 groups.

The social organization of the Tao is that they do not have a clear social hierarchy, or chiefs. The Tao culture highlights bond formed by married couples that they perform rituals such as the Boat Launching Ceremony and House Completion Ceremony which are special occasions for the Taos. So the men would be building houses or boats while women would be preparing feasts of taro which are the key component for a successful ceremony.

The practice of fishing for flying fish has incredible ritual significance, their ceremonies and rituals include the Boat Launching Ceremony and the Flying Fish Ceremony. The building and carving of plank boats developed their rich material culture. The Tao regards boat-building as the sign of divinity and beauty. The flying fish ceremony is to encourage a bountiful harvest by calling the fish and sacrificing to the sea gods. Climax of the ceremony is the ritual scrafice of live chicken and pigs, animal blood is taken and offered to the ocean in return for good catch and safe passage.

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Fishing being one of the main activities of the Tao had caused the quantity of the catch to be the main attention in a Tao family. They have great expectations for the man who goes out fishing, and if he returns successful, he will be respected in the society. In 1972, transportation between Orchid Island and Taiwan increased, speeding up developments on the island, leading to the migration of youth to Taiwan. Orchid Island traditional economic system is influenced by the economic penetration from Taiwan and modern Tao people are more choosing to leave the island.

Atayal

The Atayal ethnic group consists of many groups with different languages, diverse customs and multiple identities. The unique trait to identify any Atayal is their facial tattooing custom.

An Atayal female’s household chores include feeding the pigs, growing millet and sweet potatoes, doing laundry, and cooking meals. An excellent daughter-in-law and a beauty approved by the spirits of the ancestors have to have the skills of yarn spinning, dyeing and fabric weaving. In traditional weaving, the elusive patterns are the assortment of diverse diamond designs. Red, yellow, pink and light green were the majority colours used with blue, purple and black being the minority colours used.

Atayal people got the nickname of being the “barbarians with tattooed-face.” The unique face tattoo design was to distinguish the Atayals from other tribes. A tattoo on a newborn’s forehead signifies that the baby was a human, not a beast. When a girl had her first period during teenage, cheek tattoos would be added to her face. When a boy passes the headhunting test, a tattoo would be given below his lower lip. A male would gain an additional tattoo after returing from a headhunting excursion carrying a head. Males without tattoos were considered a coward and got despised by the society. He would not be awarded the test of crossing the rainbow bridge after he died.In the Atayal tradition, females having a beautiful tattooed face represent beauty that all men desired, and could also cross the rainbow bridge after died. She would be the perfect woman in eyes of the tribesmen.


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Puyuma

The Puyuma ethnic group living in southeastern Taiwan is one primary branch in the Austronesian language family reaching to around 10,000 in population size. The King of the Puyuma received the title of “Great King of the Puyuma” from the Qing emperor, an imperial hat and the right to rule the aborigines of eastern Taiwan. Therefore the local male elders’ ceremonial dress, lonbau in Puyuma, sounds similar to the Chinese imperial dress, longpao as it is possible that this ceremonial dress was modified from the imperial dress.



Puyuma social structure is based on kinship ties. The smallest social unit is the family, then lineage, and the clan is the largest. There are Men’s Houses in every tribe, which is to make tribal decisions such as fighting with enemies. They have the Age System as well which acts as a mandatory military service structure.

The Puyuma’s theory of the paranormal is similar to animism that they believed that everything has an inner spirit. Puyuma shamans are females who practice a commanding witchcraft which is dreaded by the nearby Amis and Paiwan tribes. Shamans have the talent to predict, practice magic, and lead rituals. Witchcraft can be divided into magic of black to hurt people or white to cure people.
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The Shamans trying to heal someone, it is a very exhausting job and they generally suffer from serious eyesight problems and illness when they are old (Cauquelin J, 2004).



Many wonderful Puyuma modern music performers have contributed to making the Puyuma an outstanding group among Taiwanese indigenous peoples such as popular music singer A-Mei. Dance is another excellent feature of the tribe. Puyuma dance steps, dimadialw, had gotten highly praises in the Traditional Male Dance category of the 1993 National Art Festival.

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During the economic boom of the 1980’s, numerous Puyuma people shifted to urban areas in the north and south of the island to get jobs. But they have returned to their tribes to take on farming and other agricultural pursuits since the start of the 21st century.