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The Return of the Immortal Paiwan
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13244 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
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10 / 1987 |
4,692 Words |
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Bien Daniel Chiang
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When they meandered toward to ocean from the Southeast Asian mainland, some Austronesians arrived at the island of Formosa (Taiwan) as early as the third millennium B.C. Their migration continued during the thousands of years that followed. Scholars estimate that by 1500 B.C., communities of Austronesians had already settled in Indonesia, the Philippines, Melanesia, and Taiwan. These early inhabitants of Taiwan can further be classified into about twenty subgroups, or "tribes," according to dialect, custom, social structure, and ethnicity. By the end of the nineteenth century, almost all the tribes living on the plains were fully assimilated by the many Chinese immigrants who had settled there since the middle of the seventeenth century. Nine tribes that live either in the mountains or on the eastern slope of the central mountain range, the Chungyang Shanmo, have maintained their ethnic identities. Of these nine tribes, the Paiwan is the third most populous. They number about fifty-five thousand and occupy the southern part of the central mountain range, living in approximately seventy villages ranging from a hundred to a thousand members each.
The Paiwan, however, disagree with this account and explain their history with their own legends. According to these legends the tribe arose from Mt. Djakalaus. In some versions, a half-man, half-god descended from the mountain and became the ancestor of the Paiwan. In other versions, a god created the first Paiwan men and women. In all versions, the Paiwan established their ancestral village at the foot of the mountain, located to the north of their territory. Places around Mt. Djakalaus are known as paumaumaq (homeland). Areas to the south and the east are called pavuavua (new territories), with the river Likiliki and the Central Mountain Ridge serving as vague boundaries. Genealogical records support the notion that the local people have a long history in the region. Surveys of villages conducted by the Dutch in the mid-seventeenth century show that the eastward and southward migration must have been accomplished before Dutch colonization (1624-61).
This intra-island migration is a significant event in Paiwan cultural history. Stories depicting the "hiving off" of one village from another constitute a major part of the people's oral tradition. Virtually all natal villages retain some sort of ritual and political superiority over their derivatives, but this superiority is often challenged.
Political frictions notwithstanding, the Paiwan still identify themselves with the sacred Mt. Djakalaus through numerous village pedigree. The levelevegan (five-year ceremony), a major ancestral cult, emerged from the migration. According to legend, the entire Paiwan civilization comes from Mt. Djakalaus along with the souls of the deceased. Every five years they come down from the heavenly peak to visit all the villages built by their descendants, who are responsible for greeting them with a series of magnificent ceremonies. These divine visitors journey along the early migration route where the villages were originally built. Consequently, each village holds the ceremony based on when it hived off from other settlements. For example, village A is an ancient settlement in the area of Mt. Djakalaus from which village B is hived off; village C, in turn, is a derivative of village B. The time order of the five-year ceremony will be A-B-C with intervals of several weeks between ceremonies.
Paiwan's privileged founding fathers
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