And Other Indigenous Peoples Bunun Tribe And Other Indigenous Peoples in Taiwan

Overview Motivation and Purpose Taiwan’s Aborigines Introduction to Bunun Tribe Aboriginal Activities involved in Crises Faced by Aboriginal Tribes Conclusion and Reflections References

Motivation The reason why we are interested in this topic is because our classmate, Savi, is a Bunun girl from Hualien. Bunun is one of the aboriginal tribes in Taiwan. What’s impressed us is that Savi has made a great effort to promote her culture by attending several aboriginal activities and winning competitions, which makes us curious and want to know more about her tribe and culture.

Purpose Savi has performed brilliantly by intro-ducing and promoting her Bunun tribe culture, therefore, our purpose in this project is to specifically explore more about her tribe’s history, culture, feature, customs, languages and simultaneously get to know more about other indigenous peoples in Taiwan.

Jia-Shin, with the name Savi in Bunun Language Savi won the prizes in the Taipei and island-wide aboriginal language speech contests.

Taiwan’s Aborigines

Taiwan’s Aborigines Sedig Saisiyat Bunun Thao Tsou Rukai Paiwan

Atayal Kavalan Truku Amis Sakizaya Puyuma Yami

Atayal Tribe Population: 83,000 Feature: Facial tattooing Over a larger area than any other aboriginal people Feature: Facial tattooing Tattoos on both men and women as a MARK of adulthood or honor

Truku (Toroka) Tribe In the mountain of Hualien, a subtribe Population: 20700 In the mountain of Hualien, a subtribe of the Atayal Feature: Tattooing Facial tattoos is a sign of adulthood. They used to hold animistic beliefs.

Amis Tribe On the plains, along sea shores, river banks, the Population: 138,000 On the plains, along sea shores, river banks, the largest population of all aboriginal tribes Feature: Harvest festival Generally held in every village in July or August

Sakizaya Tribe In Hualien County villages and urban areas of northern Population: 5,000~10,000 In Hualien County villages and urban areas of northern Taiwan Feature: worship ceremony Holding ceremonies to memorize ancestors and worship Palamal, the god of fire

Tsou Tribe Population: 6,500 Feature: Mayasvi festival In the west of the Central Mountain Range’s central section Feature: Mayasvi festival TO welcome warriors returning from their hunting and mark men’s adulthood

Paiwan Tribe Population: 65,000 Feature: Hereditary system In the south of the Central Range Mt. and eastern coastal mountain area Feature: Hereditary system Tattooing tribe once with class distinctions of chieftain, nobility and commoners

Rukai Tribe Population: 9000 Feature: Lily head ornament In the mountains on the southern tip of the Central Mt. Range Feature: Lily head ornament Given by the chieftain because of their bravery and chastity

Puyuma Tribe Population: 9,600 Feature: Rite and festival On the plains to the south of the Taitung valley Feature: Rite and festival Including adulthood ceremonies, warrior training and colorful sophisticated woven fabrics 

Yami Tribe Population: 4,300 Feature: Flying Fish Festival In the villages on Orchid Island, 78 kilometers to the southeast of Taiwan Feature: Flying Fish Festival Including the blessing of the boats, praying for a bountiful catch, fish storing ceremony ceremonies, etc.

Saisiyat Tribe Feature: Pasta’ai ceremony Population: 4,200 In the Northwest of the Central Mt. Range, in Hsinchu and Miaoli border Feature: Pasta’ai ceremony Worshipping negritos and receiving the returning souls in the full moon of the lunar October

Thao Tribe Sun Moon Lake in central Taiwan as an instrument to play Population: 500 Mostly on the banks of Sun Moon Lake in central Taiwan Feature: Pestle music Using the wooden pestle as an instrument to play music and entertain the tourists in Sun Moon Lake Area

Kavalan Tribe Population: 1,145 Feature: Tribe ceremonies Originally in Yilan area and now in Hualien and Taitung Feature: Tribe ceremonies Including victory celebrations, funerals and ancestor worship ceremony

Sedig Tribe Population: Over 5,000 Mostly in Renai Township of Nantou County Feature: Subtribe of Atayal Became Taiwan’s 14th officially recognized tribe in 2008

Introduction to Bunun Tribe

History of Bunun Tribe The last tribes to be "pacified" during the Known as the Vonum The last tribes to be "pacified" during the Japanese rule (1895-1945) Concentrating in mountainous regions of the Central Mountain Range Then being forced to migrate to lowland villages with small family units after resistance against Japanese

Nowadays Population: 39,000 Spreading to Nantou, Kaoshiung, Hualien and Taitung counties due to the massive migrations

The Best-known Feature Sophisticated polyphonic vocal music, also called Eight-part Harmonic Singing

Unique Polyphonic vocal music Japanese scholar Kurosawa Takatomo presented recordings of Bunun music in Paris in 1943. It has caught western ethnomusicologists’ attention.

Festivals in Culture Ear and planting Festivals

Ear Festival A rite of male adulthood and passage ceremony Holding between March and April Prohibiting women from attending Before the festival, every adult male would go to the mountains to hunt.

Planting festival Telling ancestry spirits of the planting and praying for dilas harvest in November and December

Customs Musical culture is closely tied to singing and dancing. Customs, heritage, festivals, rituals, daily life and living environment developed all involve singing and dancing.

Bunun Tribe Celebrities Famous pop singers & Golden Song Award Winners

Aboriginal Activities involved in

Winning the English Singing Contest Held in Taipei City Savi

Bunun language promotion Savi teaches our school students Bunun aboriginal language during Taiwan Heritage and Culture time on Friday through our campus announcement System.

Bunun language Learning Mihumisang = Hello Uninang = Thank you Sumanai = Sorry Tama = Dad Tina = Mom

Promoting Bunun aboriginal Culture in South Africa SAVI

Crisis Faced by Aboriginal Tribes

Crises Faced by Aboriginal Tribes Population decreasing and migration to other locations or urban areas Mountain regional exploitation and development Sinicized by Han People in Taiwan

Bunun Tribe in Siu-Lang, Hualien The Village set up aboriginal signs, sculpture poles to preserve Bunun Culture.

Flagstone Houses in Bunun Tribe Flagstone houses preserved in Bunun Villages

Conclusion and Reflections Should be proud of our own culture and promote it just like Savi does Increasing our respect to multicultures and their origins Profoundly understanding more about Taiwan’s aborigines in Taiwan, specifically Bunun tribe Should explore more about our own family backgrounds and roots

References I Yahoo: Google Wikipedia: 台灣原住民服飾介紹 順益台灣原住民博物館 行政院原住民委員會 http://tw.yahoo.com Google http://www.google.com.tw Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page 台灣原住民服飾介紹 http://formosa-force-games.blogspot.com/2009/10/blog-post.html 順益台灣原住民博物館 http://www.museum.org.tw/index.htm 行政院原住民委員會 http://www.apc.gov.tw/portal/

References II 台灣原住民史布農族史篇 台灣原住民藝術田野筆記 The History of Formosan Aborigines Bunun 台灣原住民藝術田野筆記 Taiwan Aboriginal Art : Field Study 台灣先住民腳印 The culture & legend about ten minority tribes