Cultural characteristics of aborigines

According to the research and analysis of anthropologists, the cultural customs of aborigines, such as roof truss construction, fire enclosure, eat areca, tattoo, leather clothing making, and wheel dance, are similar to the traditional South Island culture. In the past, most indigenous people used traditional farming and hunting as their main modes of production. Since the 1980s and 1990s, the aborigines living near the flat land have approached the lifestyle of the Han people, but the maintenance of tribal organizations still exists. Bunun people have patriarchal clan system; Ami nationality belongs to matriarchal system, and tribal leaders have important authority and responsibility; For example, Kay and paiwan have aristocracy and dualism.

In addition, aboriginal music and handicrafts are also quite distinctive. Lu Kairen's pottery pots and glass beads make carving art, Bunun's leather clothing making technique, and Zou's leather rubbing technique. The multi-metal reed harp of Atayal and Taroko, the multi-voice chorus of Bunun and the free counterpoint polyphony chorus of Ami are its musical characteristics.

The cloth commonly used by aborigines is self-woven "fan cloth", which is made of ramie. Adult men wear bright waist skirts and women wear long skirts. They like to use chicken tails and bird feathers as headdresses. The indigenous people have the custom of tattooing, which still exists today, but the tattoo pattern is more and more hidden.

The aborigines attach great importance to the belief in the ancestors' gods, and believe that the ancestors' gods living in the mountains will protect their people from a bumper harvest. Each ethnic group has its own unique festivals, such as the Bunun's Ear Shooting Festival (praying for a bumper harvest with arrows) and the Millet Festival; Xia Sai people hold a short spiritual festival every two years, a flying fish festival for Dawu people and a five-year festival for Paiwan people. In addition, the important ceremonies of the northern and southern nationalities include sea sacrifice, monkey sacrifice for men and weeding for women. Nanzou people think that the ancestors attached themselves to the collected shellfish, so they have sons to sacrifice shellfish; Zou people have war sacrifices and harvest sacrifices.