A group of young Aborigines in Hualien plan to impress visitors with a romantic Valentine's festival on Thursday and Friday.
Three years ago, a group of young Amis organized their first Valentine's festival to extend the tribe's rich tradition of romance, said Ado Kayting Pacidal, the organizer of the event.
"We Pangcah [Amis] have a lot of love songs, stories and romantic traditions such as the lover's bag," Ado said.
The lover's bag, called alofo in the Amis language, is a traditional hand-woven bag that plays a critical role in Amis courting.
"During the harvest festival, a girl takes a betel nut with her and ask the man that she likes to give her his alofo," Ado said, "and if he likes her as well, he would accept the betel nut, put it in his alofo, and give the alofo to the girl."
Because of the straightness of the betel nut tree, the nuts symbolize the uprightness that a good man should possess, Ado said.
As the Amis didn't have a traditional celebration for lovers, the organizers felt the need of establishing one.
"We've always celebrated the Lunar Valentine's Day and the Western Valentine's Day, never our own," Ado said. "We didn't feel as emotionally attached to those celebrations, so we wanted to create our own," she added.
That dream has become a reality.
The first Amis Valentine's festival was such a success that it will be repeated on Thursday and Friday for the third consecutive year.
Tradition was certainly the key reason why a remote village on the eest coast called Makuta'ay, or Gangkou Village (
"We believe Makuta'ay was the place where our ancestors disembarked when they first arrived in Taiwan several thousand years ago," Ado said.
In fact, Makuta'ay was only one part of a larger ancient community called Cepo, which gave the festival its slogan: "Whoever comes to Cepo, I love you."
Although the event will feature the tribe's traditional love songs, an authentic Amis dinner and Valentine's gifts, it offers more than just a festival.
"We don't expect a lot of visitors," Ado said. "What's more important is to create a collective community consciousness among villagers."
The event will be held on Feb. 22 and 23 in Gangkou, Fengbin Township (
Shuttle buses will be available for visitors at the Hualien train station.
Due to the limited capacity of the village, reservations are recommended and can be made calling (03) 879-1350.
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