Lawa Toyu, the last Atayal elder with a traditional facial tattoo, passed away early yesterday morning after her health deteriorated since being hospitalized in January with pneumonia. Doctors said that the cause of death was multiple organ failure.
Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Icyang Parod expressed his condolences and said that the council would help with the funeral.
Despite Miaoli County records showing that Lawa Toyu was born in 1923, her fellow villagers said she delayed reporting her household registry information by five years.
Photo: CNA
Atayal facial tattoos were recognized in 2016 by the Miaoli County Government as a cultural asset.
The county collaborated with Lawa Toyu and Chien Yu-ying (簡玉英), another Atayal elder, to make the documentary Marks of Glory — The Facial Tattoos of the Atayal (榮耀的印記─泰雅文面).
Lawa Toyu became the last Atayal with facial tattoos after Chien died early last year.
The tattoos represent the purity of the tribe and are a mark of coming of age or bravery. They are also believed to allow the spirits of the deceased to cross the Rainbow Bridge to join their ancestors.
Miaoli County Councilor Huang Yueh-e (黃月娥), an Atayal, said that facial tattoos for Atayal women also meant that they knew how to weave and were “eligible to marry.”
The practice was stopped during the Japanese colonial era, Huang said, adding that with the passing of Lawa Toyu, “I feel that part of my culture is lost.”
While Lawa Toyu recognized that she was one of the few remaining from a bygone era and the cultural significance of the tattoos, she did not wish for her children or their children to undergo the process, because it was painful.
In the documentary, she said the process took an entire day and her face bled and became swollen.
“We are those who have truly lived by the Atayal traditions. The younger generations who can write must record this tradition, do not forget... Once we are gone, there will be no one else with facial tattoos,” Lawa Toyu said in the film. “Without written history, our Atayal progeny will become indistinguishable from the Han people.”
Following Lawa Toyu’s passing, Lin Chi-mei (林智妹), a Sediq who lives in Hualien, is said to be the only Aborigine with a traditional facial tattoo in Taiwan.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS