According to Puyuma tradition, when a teenage male reaches puberty he should spend half a year, every year until marriage, preparing to be a man. In the past, teenage boys from the Puyuma Aboriginal villages would leave their families to live and study together under the watchful eye of an elder. The exercises, mostly aimed at perfecting their hunting ability and house building skills, were necessary requirements of becoming an adult and providing for one's family.
At the end of their half-year training, the young men would return home and take part in one more test: the ceremonial slaughter of a monkey. In addition to the Harvest Festival held at the end of the summer, the Monkey Festival is organized and attended by the entire village. Although it has been modified greatly over the years, the ritual is still of major significance to the Puyuma and it is also open to the public.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BEINAN TOWNSHIP
The songs and dances during the ceremony are the same as those used traditionally to simulate the behavior of a monkey. The major difference in the ritual comes after the singing and dancing when the boys come to the center of the circle and use spears to stab a monkey to death. After the persistent lobbying of animal rights groups, real monkeys are no longer used in the ritual killing and in their place are grass dolls. After the killing ritual is re-enacted, another rite is performed to mourn the spirits of the monkeys.
Visitor involvement in the ceremony is left up to the discretion of each individual, said Shu Jan-mei (
A week after the boys return from their manhood training, a three-day Hunting Festival takes place when the men retreat to the nearby mountains.
Visitors do not normally attend the hunting excursion but there is a ceremony open to the public honoring the men upon their return home. The women and children serenade the men as they enter the village and treat them to a showcase of song, dance and food.
The Hunting Festival is a joint celebration with several of the villages taking part. It will be held in front of Beinan New Station in the Cultural Park on Dec. 31.
Dec. 31 also marks the Burial Festival for village ancestors and is followed by New Year's celebrations on Jan. 1 and 2 to give thanks to the gods in anticipation of an abundant summer harvest. Marked with singing and dancing competitions, Shu said this is the liveliest of the winter festivals.
The Monkey Festival begins tomorrow morning at 6am and continues until mid to late afternoon. There are 10 villages throughout Beinan Township, Taitung County, that will be performing the ritual and each is open to the public.
Public transportation, however, will not be available and it is recommended to rent a scooter or hire a taxi for the day, depending on how many villages one wishes to visit. The Nanwang village is a five-minute walk north from the train station.
Event Information:
What: Puyuma Monkey and Hunting Festival (
When: Dec. 18 to Jan. 4
Where: Beinan Township (
Cost: Free
Contact: For more information in Chinese contact the office administration in Beinan at (08) 9381368. For further details in English and Chinese on places to stay and where to eat in Beinan and Taitung city check online at http://tour.taitung.gov.tw.
Getting there: (Taipei to Taitung):
By air: More than 20 daily flights to Taitung with Far Eastern Air Transport and UNI Airways Flight (approximately 1hour). Shuttle service to Taitung's new train station provided at airport.
By rail: Three express train services daily between Taipei and Taitung (6 hours). Now a train service available from Taitung to Beinan New Station (approx. 30 mins.), although it is possible to rent a scooter or hire a taxi from Taitung.
This month the government ordered a one-year block of Xiaohongshu (小紅書) or Rednote, a Chinese social media platform with more than 3 million users in Taiwan. The government pointed to widespread fraud activity on the platform, along with cybersecurity failures. Officials said that they had reached out to the company and asked it to change. However, they received no response. The pro-China parties, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), immediately swung into action, denouncing the ban as an attack on free speech. This “free speech” claim was then echoed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC),
Exceptions to the rule are sometimes revealing. For a brief few years, there was an emerging ideological split between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) that appeared to be pushing the DPP in a direction that would be considered more liberal, and the KMT more conservative. In the previous column, “The KMT-DPP’s bureaucrat-led developmental state” (Dec. 11, page 12), we examined how Taiwan’s democratic system developed, and how both the two main parties largely accepted a similar consensus on how Taiwan should be run domestically and did not split along the left-right lines more familiar in
As I finally slid into the warm embrace of the hot, clifftop pool, it was a serene moment of reflection. The sound of the river reflected off the cave walls, the white of our camping lights reflected off the dark, shimmering surface of the water, and I reflected on how fortunate I was to be here. After all, the beautiful walk through narrow canyons that had brought us here had been inaccessible for five years — and will be again soon. The day had started at the Huisun Forest Area (惠蓀林場), at the end of Nantou County Route 80, north and east
Specialty sandwiches loaded with the contents of an entire charcuterie board, overflowing with sauces, creams and all manner of creative add-ons, is perhaps one of the biggest global food trends of this year. From London to New York, lines form down the block for mortadella, burrata, pistachio and more stuffed between slices of fresh sourdough, rye or focaccia. To try the trend in Taipei, Munchies Mafia is for sure the spot — could this be the best sandwich in town? Carlos from Spain and Sergio from Mexico opened this spot just seven months ago. The two met working in the
RSS