Bunun Aborigines in Taitung County yesterday protested against the Council of Indigenous Peoples’ (CIP) request that they cancel a traditional hog-catching contest during the annual Ear Shooting Festival.
The issue also triggered a war of words between Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Kung Wen-chi (孔文吉), a Sediq Aborigine, and Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬).
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Bunun Ear Shooting Festival in Yanping Township (延平) yesterday, Yanping Mayor Hu Jung-tien (胡榮典) criticized the council for asking him to cancel the contest.
Photo: CNA
The Ear Shooting Festival is the most important Bunun festival and involves traditional religious rites and archery practice for boys who are not qualified hunters.
The name comes from a ritual in which the men display their archery skills by shooting at the ears of river deer, mountain goats and other animals caught in a hunt held before the festival.
Hu told festival participants, who came from Taitung, Pingtung and Nantou counties, that the council had called him on Wednesday night, asking him to cancel the contest because the Legislative Yuan had told it that the budget for the festival would be permanently cut for any township that holds a hog-catching contest during the festival.
Hu said the council’s job is to protect Aborigines and it should not ask for the event to be canceled.
Bunun community members, elected representatives and mayors w attending the festival responded by shouting: “Defend our traditional culture, the Council of Indigenous Peoples minister should resign!”
Traditionally, a Bunun man must be able to catch a hog that he raised himself and take it to his future bride’s family to propose marriage.
However, Kung said that it was not the council, but the legislature, that proposed banning the hog-catching contest.
The KMT lawmaker said Lin had been the one to propose slashing NT$50 million (US$1.6 million) from the council’s budget, a proposal that was aimed at banning hog-catching at the Ear Shooting Festival.
However, Lin rejected the accusation, saying that she has always supported Aboriginal cultural events and never said anything against the festival or threatened to cut the budget for such festivals.
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