Abstract
This chapter focuses on myths and rituals linked to millet in different Taiwanese aboriginal communities; these stories and practices epitomise the way a given local community constructs a space–time to give meaning to the continuities and discontinuities governing its life process. Besides, millet culture positions aboriginal communities vis-à-vis both the Japanese and the Han state apparatus, helping us to approach local rituals from the viewpoint of evolving political and social conditions.
This chapter was previously published in Religion in Taiwan and China: Locality and Transmission, edited by Hsun Chang and Benjamin Penny (Taipei: Institute of Ethnology Academia Sinica), pp. 253–290. My thanks go to Chao Chung Chih 趙中麒, June Lee Li-chun 李禮君 and Claire Shen Hsiun-chen 沈秀臻 who helped me gather preliminary documentation. Olivier Lardinois SJ and Yves Nalet SJ communicated to me precious information and greeted me several times during the course of many years in their Atayal parishes of Hsinchu district. I am also indebted to two persons who, through different ways, gave initial impetus to this research: Nakao Eki Pacidal guided me through the Amis villages of Fata’an and Tafalong in 2008 and 2009, and Alain P. Bonjean shared with me his ethnobotanic knowledge as we continue to collaborate on a long-term comparative project on the religious and ritual dimensions of cereal cultivation.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
This species was clearly distinguished from Setaria italica known in Rukai language as beceng. See Liu (2000).
- 2.
Food Culture in Taiwan, http://taiwanfoodculture.net/ct.asp?xItem=66950&ctNode=2686&mp=1502, accessed 3 January 2014.
- 3.
People living in Hualien county call themselves Pangcah while the ones dwelling in Taitung self-designate as Amis. Early twentieth century Japanese ethnographers were the first to call the entire ethnic group Amis, which is now the only official designation.
- 4.
Yeh’s interpretation remains controversial. Debates around the Amis’ social organisation model go beyond the scope of the present article. We take it as a departure point because of the way it integrates analyses of male age-sets and of matrifocality. Integration into and promotion within an age-set took place during Ilisin, something that continues today.
- 5.
Kawas includes all kinds of spirits, such as deities, ancestors’ spirits and the spirits of plants and animals. Many Amis terms involved in “religious” phenomena are created on the basis of the term kawas.
- 6.
In traditional Amis society, a man marries into, and lives in, the wife’s home. Therefore, the husband normally has no special status in his family of procreation. However, males are responsible for public affairs such as fishing, hunting and fighting for the protection of tribal territory. As such, male elders enjoy the privilege of accepting the millet wine presented by younger family members.
- 7.
On the same day, the coming back of the men to the matrifocal house was accompanied by taboos concerning sexual contacts among husband and wife, the husband staying at the house of his wife’s lineage. Sister-brother relationships were on this day taking precedence over husband-wife relationships. Luo (2005:67).
- 8.
The Bunun people dwell in Nantou, Hualien, Taitung and Kaohsiung counties, and are divided into five subgroups.
- 9.
The debate on the political classification of pre-colonial Formosan societies goes beyond the scope of this article. See for instance Wei (1965) and Huang (1986). It is important to note that political organisation and millet culture were both influenced by tribes’ positioning on coastal, mountainous or intermediary territories.
- 10.
The Rukai’s territory corresponds to twelve different villages located in Pingtung, Taitung and Kaohsiung counties.
- 11.
The antiquity of the puabui rite is subject to disputes and its present character has probably been very much influenced by indigenous cultural tourism.
- 12.
Based on testimonies contributed by Olivier Lardinois and Yves Nalet, and observations in the field.
- 13.
The Sediq people consists of three sub-groups: Tkdaya, Toda and Truku.
- 14.
There are of course other ways to look at headhunting, its present representations and substitutions. In her case studies centred on responses to grief and rage, Yang criticises a “microcosmic view of ritual” and focuses on the way social and individual responses to bereavement interact (2011b:215).
References
Browning, T. (2009). The catholic church and the revival of the atayal sowing and ancestral spirits festivals in Taian Township, Miaoli County [Miaoli Taian xiang Tianzhu jiaohui yu Taiyazu bozhong jie, zuling jie fuxing]. Bulletin of Aboriginal Theology and Pastoral Work [Yuanmu niankan], 1, 27–31.
Cai, J. (2011). The innovational practice and management of millet cultural industry: A case study of Bunun community in the Hong-Ye village of Taitung [Xiaomi wenhua chanye zhi chuangxin shijian yu jingying: yi Taidong Hongye cun Bunongzu weili]. Tafalong: Tung-hua National University Master Thesis.
Campany, R. F. (2005). Eating better than gods and ancestors. In R. Sterckx (Ed.), Of tripod and palate: Food, politics, and religion in traditional China (pp. 96–122). New York: Palgrave, Macmillan.
Cauquelin, J. (1992). La Ritualité Puyuma (Taiwan). Bulletin de l’Ecole Française d’Extrême-Orient, 79(2), 67–101.
Chen, S. (2012). The change and daily practice of Caqovoqovolj Paiwan’s Cultural Ecology Knowledge in Aljungic Tribe [Nei wen shequn Anshuo cun Paiwanzu renwenhua shengtai zhishi zhi bianqian yu richang shijian]. Tafalong: Tung-hua National University Master Thesis.
Chen, Z. (2011). The use of plants in rituals and their symbolism: A case-study in the Wutai Village of the Rukai Tribe [Jiyi zhong de zhiwu yunyong jiqi xiangzheng: yi Lukaizu Wutai buluo weili zhi yanjiu]. Dalin: Nanhua University Master Thesis.
Chiang, B. (2000). Customary laws, kinship and beyond, a critical review of the cultural anthropological studies of the Austronesian people in Taiwan. In D. Blundell (Ed.) Austronesian Taiwan: Linguistics, history, ethnology and prehistory (pp. 201–245). Berkeley: Phoebe A. Hearst Museum with Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines.
Earth Charter Taiwan (2011). Restoration of the millet culture. Search of a Sustainable Future. Retrieved January 4, 2015 from http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/content/attachments/6/ECTY%20project.pdf.
Frazer, J. (1919). Folk-lore in the old testament: Studies in comparative religion, legend and law. London: Macmillan.
Fuller, D. (2009). The forgotten oil millet of Taiwan. The Archaeobotanist, May 15, 2009. Retrieved January 4, 2015 from http://archaeobotanist.blogspot.com/2009/05/forgotten-oil-millet-of-taiwan.html.
Furuno, K. (1945). The ritual life of takasagozoku [Takasago-zoku no saigi seikatsu]. Tokyo: Sanseido.
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York: Basic Books.
Hu, T. L. (2011). Paiwan shamanic chants in Taiwan: Texts and symbols. Shaman, 19(1–2), 5–29.
Huang, Y. K. (1986)Taiwan Aborigines’ Two Social Types and their Meanings [Taiwan tuzhe de liang zhong shehui leixing ji qi yiyi]. In Y. G. Huang (Ed.), Proceedings of Research on Taiwanese Aboriginal Society and Culture [Taiwan tuzhe wenhua yanjiu lunwenji] (pp. 3–43). Taipei: Lianjing Publishing.
Huang, S. W. (2008). Coin and healing ritual among the amis in Taiwan: State, images of others, and socio-cosmic order in early 1930s Iwan. Journal of Ritual Studies, 22(2), 23–35.
Huang S.W. (Ed.) (2009). An investigation of the aborigines in Taiwan: Vol. 2 [Amis Kiwit, Tafalong, Fataan, and Coast]. Taipei: Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica.
Hunt, H. V., & Jones, M. K. (2006) Pathways across Asia: exploring the history of Panicum and Setaria in the Indian subcontinent. Paper presented in the International seminar on the ‘First Farmers in Global Perspective’, 18–20 Jan 2006. Lucknow, India.
Inkster, I. (2011). Anthropologies of enthusiasm: Charlotte Salwey, Shinji Ishii, and Japanese colonialism in Formosa circa 1913–1917. Taiwan Journal of Anthropology, 9(1), 1–32.
Jing, R. H. (1995). Selection of Oral Literature from the Rukai Village of Ta-Nan in Tai-Tung [Taidong Danan cun Lukaizu kouchuan wenxue xuan]. Taipei: Publications of the Graduate School of Chinese Literature of Chinese Culture University.
Ju, S. (2013). Millet makes a return to Taiwan. Taiwan Panorama. Retreived January 7, 2015 from www.taiwan-panorama.com/en/show_issue.php?id=201360206118E.TXT&table=3&cur_page=5&distype=text.
Lardinois, O. (2008). Theological and pastoral reflections on shamanism in the catholic indigenous communities of Taiwan. In O. Lardinois & B. Vermander (Eds.), Shamanism and christianity: Religious encounter among indigenous peoples of east Asia (pp. 231–247). Taipei: Taipei Ricci Institute.
Lee, Y. (2012). Divided dreams on limited land: Cultural experiences of agricultural bio-energy project and organic farming transition in Taiwan. University of Pittsburgh, PhD thesis.
Lincoln, B. (1986). Myth, cosmos, and society: Indo-European themes of creation and destruction. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Lin, H. S., Liao G. I., Chiang C. Y., &Chang S. B. (2012). Genetic diversity in the foxtail millet (Setaria italica) germplasm as determined by agronomic traits and microsatellite markers. Australian Journal of Crop Science, 6(2), 342–349.
Liu, C. H. (2000). Study of Traditionally Useful Plants in Tarumak Tribe, a Rukai Village in Taitung, Taiwan [Taidong xian Beinan xiang Lukaizu Damake buluo chuantong youyong zhiwu zhi diaocha yanjiu]. Journal of National Taitung Teachers College, 11(1), 29–60.
Liu, P. C. (2011). Encounters with deities for exchange: The performance of kavalan and amis shamanic chants. Shaman, 19(1–2), 107–128.
Loa, L. S. (2014). Amis youth stop foreign performers. Taipei Times, August 10 2014. Retrieved January 4, 2015 from www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2014/08/10/2003597082m.
Long, B. (1946). The paiwan myth of creation [Paiwanzu de chuangshi shenhua]. Bulletin of the Department of Ethnology & Sociology National Cheng-Chih University [Bianzheng xuebao] 3, 21–23.
Lu, H., Zhang, J., Liu, K. B., Wu, N., Li, Y., Zhou, K., Ye, M., Zhang, T., Zhang, H., Yang, X., Shen, L., Xu, D., & Li, Q. (2009) Earliest domestication of common millet (Panicum miliaceum) in East Asia extended to 10,000 years ago. PNAS: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(18), 7367–7372.
Lu, Y. L. (n.d). Researching Taiwan aboriginal culture from millet-related myths and traditions [Cong xiaomi shenhua chuanshuo tantao Taiwan yuanzhumin wenhua]. Retrieved January 4, 2015 from http://www.gec.ttu.edu.tw/image/doc/TTUGEC_Journal/6th_02.pdf.
Luo, S. F. (2005). Distinction of sex, hierarchy and society: The ritual cycle of the millet in the amis of tolan [Xingbie chubian, jiexu yu sheshui: Dulan Ameizu de xiaomi zhoukan yishi]. Taiwan Journal of Anthropology [Taiwan renleixue kan], 3(1), 143–183.
Macherel, C. (1985). Le pain et la représentation sociale des processus vitaux. Identité alimentaire et altérité culturelle: Université de Neuchâtel, Recherches et travaux de l’Institut d’ethnologie, 6, 213–230. Retrieved January 4, 2015 from hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00460407/fr/.
Ogawa, N., & Asai, E. (1935). Collection of legends of Taiwanese tribes in native language [Gengo ni yoru Taiwan Takasago-zoku Tsutō]. Tokyo: Toko Shoin.
Pacidal, N. E. (2012a) An amis place and historical writing as a performing art. In S. Peschek (Ed.), Die indigenen Volker Taiwans: Vortraege zur Geschichte und Gesellschaft Taiwans (pp. 103–121). Vienna: Peter Lang Verlag.
Pacidal, N. E. (2012). The face of the Inbetweener: The image of indigenous history researcher as reflected in Seediq Bale [Zhongjianzhe zhi lian: “Saideke Balai” de yuanzhumin lishi yanjiuzhe yingxiang]. Humanitas Taiwanica [Taida wenshi zhexue bao], 167–197.
Pacekele, R. (2012). Millet’s Homecoming Journey [Xiaomi guixiang lu tiaotiao]. Renlai Monthly [Renlai lunbian yuekan], 92, 10–13.
Rudolph, M. (2006). Ethnic revival, and the reappearance of indigenous religions in the ROC: The use of the internet in the construction of Taiwanese identities. Online-Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet, 2(1), 41–53.
Rudolph, M. R. (2008). Performances as authenticating practices: Cultural representations of Taiwan’s aborigines in times of political changes (Vol. 14). Berlin: LIT Verlag.
Simon, S. (2012a). Sadyaq balae! L’autochtonie formosane dans tous ses états. Québec: Presses de l’Université Laval.
Simon, S. (2012b). Politics and headhunting among the formosan Sejiq: Ethnohistorical perspectives. Oceania, 82(2), 164–185.
Tian, Z. (1993). The life rituals of the Taiwanese Bunun [Taiwan Bunongzu de shehui jiyi]. Taipei: Taiyuan Publishing House.
Vermander, B. (2016). Wheat and religion. In A. P. Bonjean, W. J. Angus, & M. van Ginkel (Eds.), The World Wheat Book, Vol. 3 (pp. 1437–1515). Paris: Lavoisier.
Wei, H. L. (1965). Tribal organization and authority systems of taiwanese aboriginal society [Taiwan tuzhu shehui de buluo zuzhi yu quanwei zhidu]. Journal of Archaeology and Anthropology, 25(26), 71–92.
Wu, R. S. (1996). Tradition et transformation: le pasi but but, un chant polyphonique des Bunun de Taiwan. Paris X: Ph.D.
Yang, S. Y. (2011a). Cultural performance and the reconstruction of tradition among the bunun of Taiwan. Oceania, 81(3), 316–330.
Yang, S. Y. (2011b). Death, emotions, and social change among the austronesian-speaking bunun of Taiwan. Southeast Asian Studies, 49(2), 214–239.
Yeh, F. C. (2008). From Past to Present: The cultural changes through the alcohol use, ancestor worship and the social orders among the Amis in Falangaw [Cong chuantong dao dangdai: shilun malan ameiren de jiu, zuxian jisi, shehui zhixu bianqian]. Taitung: National Taitung University Master Thesis.
Yeh, S. l. (2012). The process of kinship in the paternal/fraternal house of the austronesian speaking amis of Taiwan. Oceania, 82(2), 186–204.
Yeh, S. l. (2013). Pig Sacrifices, mobility and the ritual recreation of community among the amis of Taiwan. The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 14(1), 41–56.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Vermander, B. (2021). Rituals as Local Knowledge: Millet and the Symbolic Subsistence of Taiwan’s Aboriginal Populations. In: Shih, Sm., Tsai, Lc. (eds) Indigenous Knowledge in Taiwan and Beyond. Sinophone and Taiwan Studies, vol 1. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4178-0_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4178-0_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-15-4177-3
Online ISBN: 978-981-15-4178-0
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)