With a dozen tribes divided by language, custom and land, understanding Taiwan's Aboriginal community can be a daunting task. A trip to the Taiwan Aboriginal Culture Park and Sandimen Township where it's located can help get your understanding started.
The park is located on several hectares of land in northern Pingtung County. Sandimen has long been a popular escape from hot summer weather for the Pingtung population, but the park in the hills above the township has in recent years undergone renovations that have turned it from an Aboriginal reservation to a place focused on the preservation of Taiwan's 12 native cultures.
But wait, there are only 10 official tribes in Taiwan, right?
Official tribes, yes, but there are others, and the park goes to great lengths to dispel this and other misunderstandings about Taiwan's Aboriginal community through exhibitions, events and activities that both teach and entertain.
Here, for instance, you'll learn about the Thao Aboriginals of Nantou County. Long thought to be a subgroup of the Bunun or Tsou tribes, the Thao in fact have their own distinct language and customs. Several years ago they were granted "official" status by the government.
Many Aboriginals and anthropologists say 12 tribes is itself incorrect and point to the differences in language among various tribes.
The Rukai, for example, while sharing many customs among its different subgroups, has five distinct dialects that are mutually incomprehensible. The different Tao villages of Orchid Island, as another example, while considered the same tribe, were traditional enemies who often fought one another.
Visitors to the park first encounter a slate stone village at the park entrance that houses a museum, craft shops and cafes, but the heart of the park lies along a road that leads to its interior. A dozen open-air buses, each decorated with the markings of the various tribes, take you to permanent-display villages built to resemble actual villages.
The structures look much the same, but you'll discover that the tribes' customs vary greatly. The Saisiat, for example, are the only tribe that bury their dead under the dirt floor of their homes. The Atayal, Saisiat and Paiwan tribes are the only ones that practiced facial tattooing, and their methods were much the same: using a hammer and awl to punch tiny holes in the skin that are then rubbed over with charcoal.
The buses also take you to an auditorium where authentic Aboriginal songs and dances are staged each weekend.
Around Sandimen
But if an Aboriginal theme park isn't your style, a trip to Sandimen Township is still worth your time for the artists' village across the Ailiao River. Here you'll discover several craft shops whose proprietors supply the souvenirs available at the park's gift shops. The difference is that, while everything at the park is made to mimic Aboriginal tradition, the Sandimen Artists' Village lives that tradition.
One such shop, Dragonfly Bead Art Studio, continues the tradition of crafting glass beads worn by members of the Paiwan tribe -- beads that still have profound significance and meaning among the tribe's members.
According to legend, a pregnant woman built a fire and set a pot on it to boil millet. The steam from the pot was so hot it forced the sun away from the earth. It so upset the sun to have to part with the earth's company that it shed tears. The tears fell to earth and crystallized into glass beads. A peacock prince found the beads and painted on them an image like his plumage to give as a gift to his young love. She was forever captivated with the beads and the prince that gave them to her.
Stories like this accompany each of several types of traditional beads crafted by dozens of artisans at the Dragonfly studio and names are given to each of them: The "tears of the sun" bead, or luseq nua qadaw, is worn by someone to alleviate the pain and sorrow of missing a loved one; the green, red, black and yellow patterned cadacadaqan, or "bead of the earth," signifies power and wealth; makacaingaw, or the "bead of the limbs," signifies the wearer's intelligence and spirit.
Anthropologists believe the earliest glass beads in Taiwan were trade items that originated abroad. Many Aboriginals believe their ancestors made the beads themselves. Either way, they came to be among the most valued items in Aboriginal society, alongside knives used in hunting and ceramics used for cooking.
Not only do the patterns of individual beads have distinct meanings, but the order in which they're strung also signifies the wearer's rank in society. Long ago, glass beads could only be touched by the tribal chief.
Besides the dozen traditional patterned beads, the artisans at Dragonfly also craft wildly imaginative beads that are everywhere in the store and adjacent cafe. Visitors to the studio can even craft their own beads over the open flames.
"The studio was started 22 years ago not only as a way of giving the several skilled Paiwan artisans a place to work, but as a way of spreading the understanding of Paiwan culture beyond Sandimen," said the studio's manager, E-kes (
They've succeeded on both counts, employing nearly two dozen Paiwan artisans working to fill orders from Japan and Europe. But they're still not too busy to teach visitors how to craft a bead of their own.
Getting There
From the Pingtung train station, board a bus to Sandimen Township. The bus will stop in town before continuing up the mountain to the Aboriginal Culture Park. An excellent alternative on sunny days is to rent a scooter adjacent to the Pingtung train station. The scooter shop can supply you with a map of how to get to Sandimen. The artists' village is located across the Ailiao River from the township proper, making travel between the cultural park and artists' village difficult without transportation of your own.
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