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.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS