tAiwAn
MIAOLIHSINCHUAs the sun sets, a vanguard of
boys enters the ceremonial grounds,
shouldering large V-shaped objects
covered in colourful plastic streamers
and bells. They bounce up and down
to set a beat while seated onlookers
look towards the line of approaching
Saisiyat tribespeople. As they begin
to flood into the grounds, rocking
their bodies as they step in time with
the jangling bells, their haunting
singing – energetic, but mournful –
rises in volume.
The line of people is connected by
intertwined arms – each hand crosses
the body of the person adjacent to them
to grasp the hand of the next person.
They are dressed in the traditional
blood-red clothing of the Saisiyat tribe
with matching headbands. The end
of the line is brought up by men and
women whose backs are adorned with
mirrors and rows of metal tubes, which
clink together as they sway.
The Saisiyat
The Saisiyat are a Taiwanese ethnic
group who live in the northwestern
area of Taiwan in and around the cities
of Miaoli and Hsinchu. There are only
about 7,000 Saisiyat today; many were
absorbed into Han Chinese culture.
They are comprised of around 17
clans. Pasta’ay is the most important
traditional rite of the Saisiyat tribe, a
sacred ritual held once every two years
deep in the mountains of Wufeng, with a
large one held every 10 years. The ritual
is in remembrance of the passing of a
Taiwanese pygmy “short black people”
whom the Saisiyat exterminated. The
festival is held around the 15th day of
the 10th lunar month, at the end of the
harvest season, and lasts over four days
and three nights.