Page 100 - 來學華語課本第五冊

Lesson 06 原住民族的祭典

英文課文 Text in English

Taiwan has 16 Indigenous Peoples. Because each has different traditional customs
and lifestyles, there is some variation in the way they express respect and gratitude to
heaven and earth, or to the spirits and gods. Take for example the Amis Malalikid Harvest

Festival, the Saisiyat paSbaki’ Ancestral Spirits Ceremony, the Bunun Malahodaigian Ear
Shooting Festival, the Paiwan Maljeveq Five-Year Ritual, and the Yami (Tao) Alibangbang
Flying Fish Festival, etc. These festivals or ceremonies not only demonstrate the ethnic

group’s respect for nature; they also contain ancestral wisdom, allowing their culture to be
passed down from generation to generation.

Each of the ceremonies or festivals of different ethnic groups has distinct
characteristics. What follows are brief introductions to several of them.

Amis - Malalikid Harvest Festival

The Amis Indigenous People are quite populous, and their tribal areas are large
in scale. They have so many kinds of festivals, of which the annual Malalikid Harvest
Festival is the grandest and most representative. The Malalikid Harvest Festival is held

by the Amis people after the harvest every year to thank heaven and earth. Starting from
July, each Amis tribe decides the date of the festival based on the time of the harvest, and it

generally takes place over one to seven days. As for the celebratory events, besides singing
and dancing, there are also foot-race, tug-of-war, and archery competitions. The Malalikid
Harvest Festival not only has religious and cultural significance; it also bolsters ethnic group

cohesion.

Saisiyat - paSbaki’ Ancestral Spirits Ceremony

In the culture of the Saisiyat Indigenous People, the belief in ancestral spirits is the
main force that protects ethnic group members and influences their daily life and fortune. If
a group member is traveling far from home, wine and meat will be used as a sacrifice to the

ancestors.
The paSbaki’ Ancestral Spirits Ceremony is held in spring and autumn. In spring,
it is during the sixth month of the lunar calendar after rice is planted; in autumn, it is in the

eleventh month of the lunar calendar when crops are harvested. The purpose is to worship
the deceased ancestors of the clan. The ritual of the paSbaki’ Ancestral Spirits Ceremony

is that the male head of the family dips his hand into the water in the sacrificial ladle and
touches the mouth of each family member to represent the ancestral blessing.

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