Historical legends of the Atayal people

Jing Daole Yishou and Shashan Rongji's Tale of Shengfan recorded the story of the Atayal people about the rainbow: in ancient times, there was a great man named Butanawe, who was the ancestor of the society. He used kindness and prestige, so the community respected him like a god. On his deathbed, he said to the community, "When I die, I will become a red soul and appear on the side of heaven to protect you." Say that finish soon died in print. Sure enough, there are beautiful things, like bridges in the distant sky. That's a rainbow. Now we regard the rainbow as auspicious, and we like it because of this. When the rainbow appears, you will certainly hear some kind of sound, which is the joy of Butana Wow.

Rainbow is a bridge to God (Hogg Wu Xuan Tuohu). There is even a legend that if you use your fingers at will, your hands will fall off.

The Atayal people's understanding of the rainbow and the development of the legend of Hongguhun (Shenqiao) should be discussed together with the ancestral culture of the Atayal people after their death. It is not difficult to find that the standard for the soul to return to the ancestral spirit is that Atayal men need to be able to headhunters and women need to be able to weave. Based on this, Atayal people must be trained since childhood, hoping to teach an honest, brave, disciplined Atayal (real person) who respects their ancestors.

The legend of hongutux is as follows:

The Atayal hongutux is called Rainbow Bridge, Bridge of God or Bridge of Soul. It is said that after the death of the Atayal, his soul must cross the bridge of the gods. The bridge of the gods is a bridge for the soul to walk. When a person's soul wants to cross the bridge of soul, 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.

The censorship rules of Shenshen Bridge are 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 work hard to continue their studies will be ridiculed as masaw qbulit, emputut or mdngu hiqur, 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. There are three legends of Atayal megaliths, which are related to the birth and reproduction of Atayal ancestors, and are described as follows:

(A) Atayal ancestors

Beginning in Taikooli, two men and goddesses descended from the sky and came to a huge rock on the top of the highest mountain in Taiwan Province Province. The rock immediately split in two and became the eight search halls. Ershen named it Pinsebukan, which means the land of ancestors. Since then, a man and a woman, Er Shen, have lived here. One day, the male god said to the goddess, "our residence has been built, and it's time to have a baby." The goddess smiled and nodded happily. So the two men and women closed their eyes, but their hearts couldn't. Soon, their lips and teeth met and something went wrong-not on the way to having a baby. They tried many methods, but they couldn't have children. At this moment, a fly flew in and landed in the private parts of the goddess. Er Shen this just suddenly enlighted, the original male and female bodies can and cannot be combined, and the places that can be combined are all in secret private parts. After some efforts, they got the skills of having children, embarked on the road of husband and wife, and gave birth to children. This is the ancestor of human beings. (Atayal Quchi Society)

(2) Rock strangers

Once upon a time, there were no humans in this land. One day, a big stone on Pinsebukan Mountain suddenly shook and then split in two. After a while, a man and a woman came out of the rock, and finally a man came out, but neither a man nor a woman.

The last person born from the rock said, "give me a bath!" " ! Then everyone can live forever! However, a couple born before didn't believe that this would happen, and they didn't know that people would get sick, get old and die, so they didn't promise to give him a bath. Disappointed, the young man jumped back to the original big stone and said to them, "Since you don't give me a bath, you will get sick, get old and die." . Many unfortunate things will happen in your life! "Speaking of which, the big rock that split in half was closed again, and the man disappeared into the rock. From then on, everyone will experience aging, illness and eventually death as he said. (Yang Kim Village, Nanao Township, Atayal)

(3) Born from rubble

Once upon a time, there was a big stone, which was "Bang!" A loud noise split in two at the same time, and two men and one woman came out of it. All they can see is forests and wild animals. One of them felt that spending time in the forest was really boring. He said, "I hate living on the ground!" " "So he got into the cracked stone. It was too late for another couple to stop him. A man and a woman left on the ground think it is better to reproduce human beings.

The man said, "What should we do to breed human beings? First, the woman climbed into the saddle of the mountain, spread her legs and let the mountain wind blow into the room, but she was not pregnant. Later, the two thought: Maybe men and women will get pregnant and have children after mating, but they just don't understand. They tried nostril and ear piercing, but they couldn't finish mating.

One day, a fly came unexpectedly and stopped in the woman's room. When the man noticed the fly, he was inspired and said, "This is a hint from God. Now I know what to do. Therefore, mating with women is smooth and satisfying.

Soon, the woman's body changed, her stomach became bigger and bigger, and finally she gave birth to a child. My parents are very happy. More and more people were born later. It became the Atayal people today. The ancestors of the Atayal were born from rocks. The Myth of the Origin of Tattoos in Martas of Atayal Nationality

Although the Atayal nationality is widely distributed and the national system is complex, the tattoo custom is implemented in all Atayal tribes without exception, which shows the importance of tattoo custom in Atayal culture. However, there are different versions of the legend about the origin of tattoos, which can be roughly divided into four categories:

(1) Biography of floods and intermarriage

This story describes that people died one after another to avoid the flood, leaving only a pair of brothers and sisters. In order to reproduce with her brother, my sister put black charcoal on her face and pretended to be an outsider, thus deceiving her brother. The version of this story is circulated among the Atayal Zoole ethnic group, and there are similar legends in various departments of the Sekolek ethnic group. (This story is taken from 1908, Maledagwen, the leader of Mabihao tribe in the northern group of Atayal people in Taian Township, Miaoli County.

(2) the legend of intermarriage between man and beast

This story was recorded in the first volume of Ushinosuke Sen's "Fan Zulu of Taiwan Province", which was collected by Ushinosuke Sen in Lin Xiu Township, Hualien in the early 20th century and has not been circulated so far. Describe an ancient leader, because his daughter is disabled, with a lot of jewelry and a dog drifting at sea. After they went ashore, the dog foraged in the valley every day to support the hostess. One day, the dog suddenly told the hostess that her efforts were not rewarded and asked to leave. The hostess told the dog that a woman with a tattoo would marry the dog, which soon came true.

(3) The legend that the ancestors of Stonehenge intermarried with their close relatives

According to the Investigation Report of Lost Trace, there was a huge stone near Pinosovakanu (now Baishishan Peony in Nantou County) in ancient times. When the huge stone broke, two brothers and sisters were born. In order to reproduce, my sister lied to my brother that there was a woman near the boulder who could marry her. She also painted a face like an outsider with coal ash, and the descendants were all from Sedeke. A similar legend has been circulated in the Zeaolie system of the Atayal nationality, but its birthplace has been changed to Papa-Waga of Daba Mountain.

(D) The original China identity legend.

The fan survey report "Shaji Family Part II" is taken from the legend of Tausepan (the Daoze Group of the Sedek people). In ancient times, because of overpopulation, the resolution divided people into two parts. Some of them were moved, and the number of people was judged by the size of the shouts. But the people who left deliberately kept silent, making the people who left feel that there were not enough people, so they kept separating people. Finally, far more people leave than stay. Those who stayed found themselves cheated, decided to use tattooed faces as a sign to distinguish isolated Han people from those who stayed, and vowed to cut off the heads of Han people who had not tattooed faces for generations. This is the origin of the differences between Yuan and Han. Legend of Atayal children becoming eagles

Once upon a time, when the Atayal ancestors, the eagle was also changed. Although they don't like being eagles, they become eagles because they don't get the love of their parents. When the eagle was human, his mother often bullied him.

One day, the mother told her child, "Go outside and sweep the floor. I'll give you an ornament to wear when you're done! However, when the child finished sweeping the ground outside, he said to his mother, "Mom! The floor is swept, please give me accessories to wear! " Mother said, "Your work is not finished yet! Now you fetch water, and I'll put jewelry on you! The child went to fetch water and said to his mother, "Mom! I got the water back! 」

Mother replied, "Your work is not finished yet! Now you go to collect firewood, and I'll put the jewelry on you. The child picked up the firewood and said to his mother, "Mom! I got the firewood back! Give me the ornament you are wearing! 」

Mother replied, "Your work is not finished yet! Now you go and clean our bed, and we'll give you the decorations when you're finished. After the child cleaned his parents' bed, he said to his mother, "Mom! The bed has been cleaned! Please give me the jewelry you are wearing! 」

At this time. Mother said, "Your work is not finished yet! Now you go and clean the toilet. I'll give you an ornament to wear when you're done. The child cleaned the toilet and asked his mother for accessories, but he still couldn't get them.

On the contrary, the mother said to the child, "I'm lying to you, saying I want to wear ornaments for you." Actually, I want to train you! Look! How good you are at work now! Disappointed and angry, the child said, "Good! You lied to me. You will regret it! 」

When the child finished speaking, he went to the warehouse to get the ornaments he was wearing and wrapped his body with feathers. Then he said to his mother, "You all bully me. Look! Look at me! I'm leaving. Father walked out of the house and looked in the direction of the voice. The child turned into an eagle and flew to the roof.

When the children saw their parents coming out, they said to them, "Even if you take out a lot of ornaments to save me, I can't go back. He said, "But it's not that you can't see me. In the future, I will fly and stop on the roof. You can keep the chickens outside and let me catch them and eat them! Later, chickens raised by Atayal people were often taken to the roof by eagles to eat. It is said that there once lived a giant named Luce. No matter how high the mountain is, it takes two or three steps to reach the top, and no matter how big the river is, it can be crossed in one step. If you open your arms at the top of the mountain, you can hug any mountain. He often knocks on the house with his fingertips to play tricks on people and animals. The day after the storm, the stream rose and people couldn't cross the other side, so he replaced the bridge with a penis to let people cross. Women can safely walk from penis to the other side when borrowing money; When a man borrows a ferry, his penis often swings around and sometimes knocks him into the river.

When the Atayal people go hunting in the forest, Harrous will first listen to the hounds' driving sound with the ears of the big hijab, and then smile to show that he knows where the prey has fled and wait behind the tree like an Oracle. When the panicked beast focuses on the hounds behind him and only smells the horrible smell of himself, Harrous always catches the prey easily. The Atayal people excitedly came to the place where the trap was placed and could only watch with disgust.

What really made the Atayal people unbearable was that when the game of teasing men into the river no longer satisfied Harus, he turned to teasing women. When the man was away, the giant Lv Si stretched out something between his two strands, like a soft snake winding into the house and quickly got into the woman's skirt. Sometimes the friction mud bypasses the house and pretends to be like the twine of a woman who knits clothes; What's more, at night, he would secretly hide under the bamboo bed under the reflection of the stars and moons until he left contentedly.

The anger of the Atayal people is unspeakable, but Lv Si is so huge, cunning and flexible that the people can't help it. One night, the wise man dreamed that a rolling, burning and scorching sun was running towards the tribe that was about to be burned. The dream woke up at this moment, and it gave the wise a miraculous understanding, that is, planning to kill the giant Harrous.

The wise man said to Harrous, who was lying on the riverbed, "To show our awe, we decided to respect you as a giant and offer sacrifices to you." Harrous thought it was a good idea. He said without shame, "How are you going to respect me? 」

"You will know soon," said the wise man, waving his white hair of wisdom. "Every time we hunt, we will give you the biggest and fattest beast. As long as you lie in the valley, close your eyes and open your mouth comfortably and peacefully, you can enjoy the fat prey. " Good, you are a considerate old man. "Ha lu company happy response.

The wise man looked down at the movement of the shadow and estimated that the red-hot stone on the mountain would be as running all the way as the sun in a dream. The old man quickly said, "Great giant Harrous, you can enjoy your food now, so open your noble mouth!" " 」

Harrous then quietly closed his eyes, relaxed his limbs, opened his mouth, showed his greedy tongue, and let out the rhythm of nature in his ear. He heard the murmur of the stream, and the Atayal people on the mountain shouted, "The biggest and most beautiful mountain deer is Luo Lai! 」

When Harrous took his first bite of "delicious food", Atayal people could still see his last smile. Then, he opened his frightened eyes, and another hot hard object ran into his mouth. The previous hard object has rolled down his throat. It took three months until Harus was burned into a pool of charcoal coke, and the black charcoal coke was completely washed away by the heavy rain day after day.

Since then, the Atayal people have repeatedly made gains by collectively hunting in the mountains, and no one has taken shortcuts to make everyone busy in vain. From then on, everyone can share the deer they hunted. Thanks to the elders who designed to kill the giant at that time, the great harm was finally eliminated skillfully, and the people of the tribe lived a stable life from then on.