Real people: Atayal legends and Sedek? Bell spirit

Taiwan Province aborigines generally refer to the people who lived in Taiwan Province Province and its surrounding islands before a large number of people from Chinese mainland coastal areas immigrated to Taiwan Province Province in the17th century. Linguistically and culturally, it belongs to astronomers. The aborigines were called "Fan" in the Qing Dynasty and "Gaosha" in the Japanese occupation era. After the National Government came to Taiwan, the aborigines were divided into "mountain compatriots and plain compatriots". In order to eliminate discrimination among ethnic groups, 1994 changed the Shan nationality to "aborigines" and later further called "aborigines".

Austronesian language family refers to the ethnic groups distributed in Indo-China Peninsula and Indian Ocean and Pacific Islands in Southeast Asia. This vast sea area and island extends to Easter Island in the west of South America in the east, Madagascar Island on the east coast of Africa in the west, Taiwan Province Province in China in the north and New Zealand in the south. Including Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, New Guinea, etc. , is the most widely distributed ethnic group in the world, mostly concentrated in Southeast Asia, with a total population of about 200 million. Due to the vast geographical coverage of Austronesian language family, the differences in natural environment and the historical evolution of thousands of years, a rich, unique and diverse Austronesian language culture has been formed. According to anthropologists' research, Austronesian culture has the same characteristics, including burning farmland, elevated houses, keeping a distance from the ground to avoid dampness and snakes and insects; Eat areca is good at weaving baskets, weaving, hunting and fishing. The northernmost part of Austronesian ethnic groups is Taiwan Province Province. There is a lot of evidence that the Austronesian people in Taiwan Province Province and the Austronesian people in Nanyang Islands have been in contact for thousands of years, and they are not isolated peoples. At present, there are about 40,000 to 50,000 aborigines in Taiwan Province Island (including Lan Yu Island), accounting for only 0.05% of the total ethnic population of Austronesian languages in the world? One to one correspondence (0. 1 1%). Although the population ratio is very low, many archaeological studies believe that Taiwan Province Province occupies a key geographical position in the process of the origin and migration of ancient Austronesian languages to Nanyang, which should be the origin of the ethnic diffusion of Austronesian languages thousands of years ago. Today, while other South Island ethnic areas are influenced by Muslim, Christian and Catholic civilizations, the aborigines in Taiwan Province Province have relatively maintained and passed on their unique cultural customs.

It is likely to migrate and spread from Taiwan Province Province to other places.

As we all know, most of the past history of Taiwan Province aborigines is not recorded in writing, which leads to a series of problems that are almost unsolved. For example, what is the migration of Austronesian languages (aborigines) in Taiwan Province Province? When did Austronesian languages come to Taiwan Province Province? Where did the Austronesian language family in Taiwan Province Province come from? It was not until more than 300 years ago that there were some written records, especially in the Dutch period (1624- 1662), and some Pingpu ethnic groups in Taiwan Province Province had more detailed and reliable records. In this section, we will discuss the immigration origin of the oldest ethnic group in Taiwan Province Province (Atayal). When it comes to the migration origin of the Atayal people, it is extremely important to talk about the spread of the whole Austronesian people, because the Atayal people are closely related to other Austronesians. The author wants to describe the origin of Atayal migration in ancient times from the basis of linguistics (Li Rengui's works).

In recent years, there are two important scholars, one is the linguist Robert Blust, who published an article in 1985, arguing that the ancient Austronesian nationality originated in Taiwan Province Province and spread from Taiwan Province Province. Bai's argument is based on these two foundations: first, the languages in Taiwan Province Province account for three of the four branches of the entire Austronesian language family, so the languages in this area are the most diverse and probably primitive settlements; Secondly, the latest and most comprehensive language materials show that the animals and plants that ancient Austronesians came into contact with in their daily lives all existed in various landforms and climates on the island of Taiwan Province Province. The origin of ancient Austronesians is probably in the temperate zone, not in the tropics as Cohen said. This view is now believed by more and more people. 199 1 In July, archaeologist Peter Bell-Wood published an article in Scientific American magazine, which completely adopted this view. He concluded that the Austronesian people started in Taiwan Province Province about 5,000 years ago and spread in seven stages. The ethnic distribution of South Island is from Taiwan Province Province to the south, east and west. The latest ages are Madagascar (about 700 A.D.) and New Zealand (about 800 A.D., and some people think it was in A.D. 1000- 1200). According to a book written by Norwegian scholar Otto Dahl (199 1), the Austronesian language family of Madagascar migrated from South Borneo. Austronesian languages began to spread from Taiwan Province province about 5,000 years ago, and the spread time was not long. It only took about 2000 years to expand to such a vast area as today.

Weeding is a resistance to oppression.

In the literary world of Taiwan Province Province, there is a very famous aboriginal myth story, that is, the Atayal's "shooting at the sun", which has been guiding this ethnic group's social thought for many years and is unique. We also saw the artistic creation efforts of the aborigines, which gave them a brand-new life and gave them the opportunity to express themselves deeply again, and to interpret the historical and cultural significance of the Atayal people at that time and in modern times with different styles, different works and different interpretations.

This ancient story of the sun shooting at the sun says, "In ancient times, there were two suns in the sky, one of which was much bigger than the present. Therefore, the weather is very hot, plants and trees are dying, and rivers are about to dry up. Crops can't grow at all, and the two suns take turns to bask in it, day and night, and people's lives are miserable.

People discuss that if one of the suns is not shot down, future generations may not live in peace or even become extinct. So the three warriors volunteered to photograph the next sun. The three men carried a lot of dry food, each with a baby.

However, the journey to the sun is so far away that they planted the citrus seeds they had eaten on the ground along the way to make it grow. Day after day, year after year, they have gone through a long and arduous journey, but they are still far from the sun. And all three became weak old people and died one after another. At that time, the babies were all grown up. Carry on the old man's legacy and move on.

One day, they finally reached the sun, so the three men discussed and prepared to shoot when the sun came out the next day. Early the next morning, three people ambushed in Taniguchi, waiting for the moment when the sun came out. Sure enough, the three men pointed the arrow at the center of the sun, and hot blood poured out from the wound of the sun. One of them was covered in blood and died on the spot. The other two were also burned to death and fled in panic.

On the way home, they saw that the citrus they had planted before had grown very tall and full of fruits. When they returned to the village, they had become white-haired and hunchbacked old people. Since the shooting, there are no longer two suns shining in turn in the sky, but there are days and nights. The moon we see at night is the body of the sun that was shot to death. 」

We can know from the story that this story directly and strongly announces to the world that the collective will of a racial group and the culture of collective grass planting have been officially launched indefinitely; That is to resist the oppressor to the death until the evil forces of the oppressor are eradicated. On the other hand, we should strongly convey to the Atayal people and their tribes that as Atayal people, we should cherish the so-called "collective weeding" culture with our lives, so as to teach future generations to read and recite the history of "collective weeding", and let the children of the tribe understand the beautiful traditional history and culture of the Atayal people in the past and further cherish their own ethnic group and inheritance. Maybe some people don't agree that this story is a kind of "collective weeding" culture. Although there are only three "protagonists" in the story, plus three babies on the back, we must point out that these three "protagonists" bear the will of all Atayal tribes and their people and are the representatives of the whole tribe. Their mission of shooting at the sun (weeding) is by no means a personal act, but the whole will of all Atayal people. The "three babies" represent the fighting spirit one after another, and the persistent mission and spirit of not giving up until the goal is reached. On the other hand, the significance of the "three protagonists" and "three babies" described in this story is symbolic, which means that shooting the sun is the story of all Atayal people, not just one or two people in the tribe. The blazing sun affects the entire Atayal tribe and even the whole world. Therefore, when the Atayal people are oppressed or bullied, the story of shooting at the sun has the cultural significance of "collectively planting grass" from the spirit and emotion of the Atayal people.

Tattoos are the key to spiritual and cultural inheritance.

There is a story of the Atayal people: "In ancient times, many young women suddenly died one after another for unknown reasons. This phenomenon shocked and frightened every Atayal people, but they couldn't think of a way to save them. One night, a girl in the tribe had a dream that God appeared in front of her and told her that if she wanted to escape the disaster of death, she had to get a tattoo on her face. The next day, she told all the people who fell in the dream the instructions of the gods, but because no one knew the method of tattooing, she was still at a loss.

At this time, a very clever man in the tribe came up with an idea. He drew a picture on women's clothes with burnt pine charcoal and taught it to all women in the tribe. Then he stabbed his face with a fine needle according to the picture, and then painted it with black smoke, so that it would never change color. Strange to say, since Atayal women tattooed their faces with needles, no girl died suddenly for unknown reasons. Since then, the custom of tattooing on the face of Atayal people has become a common practice and has been passed down to this day. "

We can see that contemporary anthropologists often use the analysis and principles of cognitive linguistics, and then explain the correlation between material and cultural patterns and fabric patterns through the use of metaphor concepts, and further interpret the meaning behind their ethnic groups, that is, the so-called culture and cosmology. From the metaphorical expression of cultural patterns, the cultural system interpreted in this way can spy on the world view behind ethnic groups.

When the story of the Atayal people describes, "... dreaming that God is clearly in front of her and telling her that if she wants to escape the disaster of death, she must get a tattoo on her face", the interpretation of this cultural system, if applied to the literature and culture research of the Atayal people, is a more appropriate metaphor interpretation. The explanation of "tattoo and tattoo" has different and diverse meanings in different ethnic groups. There are generally recognized totem beliefs and national arts, and there are also negative values given to tattoos. For example, China people give criminals a "face" to set an example for the world, and different nationalities have different understandings, interpretations and explanations. In the traditional tribal society of the Atayal people, the literary outlook has been endowed with higher significance. From the cultural context of Atayal's humanistic outlook, this paper explores Atayal's world view of "from primitive to primitive". The Atayal people's worldview analyzes the cultural system behind metaphor layer by layer through a set of metaphorical concepts. The cosmology from the origin to the origin means the concept of "where people's lives come from and go back there after death", and the Atayal's "literature and culture" plays a very key role in the process of life going back and forth.

Only real people can return to their ancestors.

The legend of the Zuling Bridge in Horn Utoux:

Hawngu utux of the Atayal nationality is called Rainbow Bridge, Lingqiao or Soul Bridge, which tells that after death, one's soul must pass through Lingqiao. The bridge of the gods is a bridge for the soul to walk. When people's souls want to cross the Shenqiao, there will be ancestors guarding the bridge and checking people's hands at any time. If a person is a hero who is good at hunting or has cut off many heads, his hands will leave red blood marks; If a woman is good at knitting, her hands will be covered with thick cocoons. Therefore, only tattooed men and women who are good at hunting and weaving can pass the examination and successfully cross the bridge of the gods and stay with their ancestors. The loser will fall under the bridge and be swallowed by a big crab under the bridge.

Every Atayal should know that the censorship system of Shenqiao is all kinds of life disciplines and livelihood skills that Atayal people have learned from primary school. Boys learn from their fathers physical training, building houses, partying, dreaming, archery, hunting and defense, and weeding; Girls learn housework from their mothers, raise children, pick hemp yarn, weave and knit, raise livestock and so on. Those who fail in training or don't study hard will be ridiculed as yan qbuli, mngray or kinyayan hikun, meaning "like ashes", "stupid" and "withered elbow". The Atayal people live with dignity, have a good reputation, are blessed by Meng Zuling, and all people go all out to win honor, which also forms a special individualism.

Tattoos are called patas or ptasan in the Atayal language. This totem pattern comes from the rainbow in the sky. The Atayal people call it hawngu utux (bridge of ancestors or gods). Rainbow is the only way for Atayal people to reach Utusan, the hometown of ancestral spirits. After crossing the rainbow, they can meet their dead relatives and live together forever. Therefore, the myths and legends of Zulingqiao are often told by the elders in the tribe and often sung in ancient songs, suggesting that the Atayal people's world outlook is not reincarnation, but through this life and the afterlife.

Taillard people's "Song of Rainbow Bridge" goes like this:

Sila, Sila, Silamlu Haungu Utoux, Seymaga Kaya Le Cartas, Raaba, Raya.

"Aras Wayay ru Gasil su," he said,

Cyux Lmayliq tari Mkaraw Kya，Lkawtas na Tayal。

You said, if you don't agree, I won't agree.

If you're not here, you're not here,

Sheila, Sheila, Hiramlu Horngu Utoux. Cila，Cila，Cila mlu Hawngu Utux

The main idea of the lyrics is this:

Let's go! Let's go! Go to the bridge of the gods (the bridge of ancestors), where my grandfather, father and mother are waiting;

Take the thread and thread you spun, and let's weave the bridge of the gods (the bridge of ancestors);

Our grandfather, climbing there, let's weave the Atayal bridge of god (the bridge of ancestors).

Don't be afraid, big fish and other aquatic animals won't devour us, with integrity and justice,

We came to the bridge of the gods (the bridge of ancestors).

Let's go! Let's go! Go to the bridge of the gods (the bridge of ancestors),

On the other hand, the Atayal people's outlook on life is from eternity to eternity. It takes utux as the core, the rainbow as the bridge and the spiritual tower to connect the world, connecting the spatial relationship between Atayal people and utux into "the relationship between two different spaces and the same society" (Li Yiyuan, Min 52). The Atayal people call it the rainbow of Zuqiao, which has the following important cultural implications:

1. When we return to the spiritual world, we must first pass the important checkpoint ── Zulingqiao, where there are judges waiting to judge us. This is the only way to Zuling's hometown. On the Rainbow Bridge, when our ancestors met us, we used the patterns on our faces to identify them and see if our patterns were the same as theirs.

2. Remember the rules of Zuling Bridge, only those who have tattooed can pass, and the dead who have not tattooed will be thrown into the bottomless abyss under the bridge by the judge and never turn over.

3. The old songs of Zulingqiao, which are constantly sung, directly sang our parents and relatives. They are all at the other end of the rainbow, waiting for us to go back.

4. Weaving of Zuling Bridge. The deceased relatives often tell us that they will go back to the hometown of Zuling Bridge first, weave rainbows for us there, and then pick us up after weaving.

From this point of view, Atayal people will one day look at the Hongugutux rainbow (ancestral bridge) in the sky and look back on their life, from birth, growth, aging, disease, death, and finally return to utuxan, the hometown of ancestral spirits, and understand where people come from. Go back? What is the origin, end and return of life?