Aboriginal livelihoods

The livelihood of Taiwan's aboriginal people includes mountain and field cultivation, hunting, gathering, fishing and rearing, etc., and each ethnic group has its own emphasis due to different natural environments. For example, the Yamei of Orchid Island emphasize both farming and fishing, while mountainous areas such as the Taiya, Saisaixia, Bunun, Tsou, Paiwan, and Rukai emphasize hunting and farming, while the Amis and the Peinan of the eastern part of the island, located in the plains, focus on farming, with hunting, fishing, and gathering as their secondary activities. Aboriginal peoples are raising livestock and poultry, the ancient raising of pigs, dogs, chickens, and later imported cattle and sheep and other livestock, dogs for hunting, pigs, chickens for rituals, but mainly for food.

(I) Shantian sakken

Taiwan's aboriginal farming methods vary slightly from tribe to tribe, but the differences are not great. The mountainous tribes mainly grow millet in shantian sakken, while those who live in the plains cultivate rice, and the Daguo of Orchid Island cultivate water yams. In terms of farming techniques, except for the Dawu, who have irrigation pipes, all the ethnic groups were engaged in the siu ken style of farming before the introduction of paddy rice farming by the Han Chinese. On the selected land, trees and weeds are cut down, dried and then set on fire, and then the whole land is sown without fertilizers after the burning and a variety of crops are mixed together, and then left fallow for four to five years after the land is exhausted, and then siu ken is carried out after the land recovers after a few years and the land is used in this way on a rotating basis.

The main tools used in farming are knives, digging sticks and hand hoes, and millet, sweet potatoes, taro and corn are the main crops. Women are the main agricultural workers, and most of the important festivals of the year are related to the process of sowing, growing and harvesting millet.

(2) hunting

Hunting is the second only to farming in the aboriginal society in the way of livelihood, is a man's work, hunting can be divided into individual hunting and group hunting two kinds of personal hunting, personal hunting more in the mountains during the farm leisure time hunting, group hunting is organized, by the kinship group clan, or **** sacrifice groups, more in the festival or celebration held before and after the prehistory of the prehistory for the rituals during the **** enjoy. enjoy.

Hunting methods are trap hunting and weapons hunting, trap hunting in the prey in and out of the installation of traps, weapons hunting with bows and arrows, javelins, muskets and dogs to assist in the pursuit of prey, prey to the mountain pig, deer, kiang, goats, hares, beavers. Flying squirrels, etc., is the main source of meat food for the clan. Hunting is a dangerous work, the clan regarded it as a sacred activity, so they have to observe many taboos and have witchcraft rituals to pray for peace and more prey.

(3) Gathering

The Aboriginal peoples commonly gather products of nature to supplement their main mode of production. In addition to food, the gathered materials are also used for construction, medicine, utensil making, trading and witchcraft. The range of products collected is very wide, including plants, animals and minerals, and the collectors can be young or old, and the time of collection is not seasonal, except for certain things.

Each tribe has different kinds of gatherings depending on where they live geographically. For example, those who live on the coast collect various kinds of seaweed, shellfish, small animals on land, wild vegetables, and salt made from seawater, while those who live in the mountainous areas, such as the Atayal, collect animals and minerals from the mountains. In short, traditional Aboriginal gathering is a supplement to daily production to enrich and supplement their daily needs.

(4) Fishing

Among the traditional production methods of Taiwan's aboriginal peoples, fishing is more important among the Dawu, Amis, and Shao. The Dawu have developed a fishing-based livelihood culture due to their surroundings by the sea, and all aspects of their lives, calendars, and social organization are closely related to fishing, as well as many taboos and religious rituals.

The aboriginal people living on Taiwan Island have a certain fishing area for each tribe, which is ****enjoyed by the tribe or kinship groups, and outsiders are not allowed to cross the boundary. Fishing tools include bow and arrow, harpoon, fish net, fish chrysanthemum, and also the dry fishing method of blocking the river to catch fish, and the poisonous juice of poison ivy is also used to poison the fish by pouring it into the river when fishing collectively.