Customs of the Alpine tribe (thank you for your help, urgent!)

This is an ancient ethnic group. Due to the oppression of the reactionary ruling class over the generations, the development of the Gaoshan society has been slow, and some of them are even in a primitive state now, still living in poverty. According to records, during the reigns of Emperor Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, a sea ban was imposed, forcing the inhabitants of the southeastern coastal areas of China to move to the mainland and forbidding them to have contact with the people of the coastal islands. As a result, the Gaoshan people, who were isolated overseas, had a different development process from the people on the motherland. However, they are still inextricably linked to the mainland in terms of their ethnic origin, culture, production and life, and from the former Qing Dynasty onwards, they gave up their original family name of "Fan" and changed it to the same family name as that of the mainland immigrants. They have their own language and customs, and live collectively in places called village communities, each of which consists of a number of different families and clans. These village communities, each occupying a certain amount of land, cannot be invaded by outsiders.

The Alpine people generally live in plank houses with thatched roofs, while some have roofs made of bark, slate or bamboo. The Yami people who live on the island of Lanyu in Taitung, to this day, still use the method of digging a hole in the ground to build their houses, where the interior is much lower than the ground level, and the earth dug out and piled up around them becomes the walls of the house. They eat taro and sweet potatoes as their staple food. Most of the men usually wear a "dingzhi belt" around their waist, and the women only wear a square piece of cloth around their chests and waists. With the development of Taiwan's tourism industry, Orchid Island has become a tourist area in Taiwan, and some of the Yami people have gotten rid of their ignorance, backwardness and unkempt habits.

The Gaoshan people have great respect for the elderly and also love to drink. Since they often engage in hunting activities, they are particularly fond of their hunting dogs, just as the Han Chinese people value their plowing oxen.

The Gaoshan people also have traditional culture and art, and are particularly fond of dancing. The famous pestle and mortar music is a kind of folk song and dance that they have refined from their life practices.

The Gaoshan people are divided into many branches according to the distribution of the areas they live in and the differences in their languages. In addition to the Pingpu, who have long since settled in the plains and integrated with the Han Chinese, the Gaoshan people are divided into ten major groups, including the Taiya, Saisiat, Bunun, Tsou (Cao), Paiwan, Rukai, Amis, Peinan, Yamei, and Shao. With more than 400,000 people, accounting for 1.7% of Taiwan's 23 million population, they are a disadvantaged group, but represent the most typical expression of Taiwan's local culture. The first six of these ten major ethnic groups live mostly in mountainous areas where farming is not possible, the Amis and Peinan live on the eastern plains, and the Yami live on the island of Orchid Island in the Pacific Ocean. Accordingly, for a long time, these ten groups have been collectively referred to as the Alpine people, which does not seem very appropriate, but it has been used for a long time and has become customary.

Like other ethnic minorities, the Alpine people have their own unique customs.

Festivals and Customs

The Gaoshan generally have two main festivals each year, the Sowing Festival and the Harvest Festival. The latter is particularly large, almost equal to the Chinese New Year. Families slaughter livestock, brew wine, make cakes, etc., sacrifice to ancestral gods, drink and make merry, and generally continue for about 10 days. They especially worship their ancestors; they believe in the immortality of the soul, that everything has a soul, and that there are good and evil souls. When they go out, they hang calamus in front of their chests, and when they walk at night, they put ashes on their foreheads to avoid evil spirits from getting close to them. Disease with thatched leaves, chicken eggs, animal teeth caress the affected area. There is also a general superstition about signs and divination, often based on signs to determine the behavior of things. Such as eclipses, lunar eclipses, comets, chickens, dogs, long howling, snakes out of holes, birds and small animals across the road, people were poisoned hanging, wrestling, sneezing, etc. are bad omens. Children's heads were not to be touched. Women's spades, kitchen utensils, looms, etc. and men's bows and arrows, agricultural tools, weapons, etc. are not allowed to touch the opposite sex.

Female power is high

The grassroots social organization of the Takayama people is the "She", and a number of She's are gathered to form a tribe. In some clans, women have always had more power than men, and the legacy of a matriarchal society has been preserved. Most of the elders, priests and even chiefs of the tribes are women, who are in charge of the communal affairs of the tribes. In the Amis and Yami tribes, after marriage, the husband gives his wife almost all the most delicious food and goods for her enjoyment. Women not only enjoy the treatment of masters at home, but also have a higher social status than men.

Fine Clothing

The clothing and costumes of the Gaoshan compatriots are most striking. Their clothes are mainly made of hemp and cotton, and vary from region to region. However, the men generally have undershirts, short coats, shorts, bandanas, leg wrappers and shawls, etc. The women wear sleeved or sleeveless clothing. Women wear sleeved or sleeveless carcasses, aprons, pants or skirts. Women also like to lapel, sleeves, headscarves, aprons embroidered with beautiful designs.

The Gaoshan men and women like to go barefoot, and both men and women love to wear headdresses, earrings, bracelets, anklets, necklaces and so on. The Paiwan men's crowns are even more complicated and beautiful than the women's crowns. The Amis love to wear thin strips of color-lined lace on the sleeves, collars and hemlines of their clothes, half-waisted skirts and black cloths around their waists, or make headdresses or earrings out of leopard's teeth, hair, shells, copper, silver and antlers to dress themselves. Taiya and Saisiyat men, often in the forehead and under the lips with tattoo ink, become the blue mark. The tattoo is a longitudinal stripe about the size of a pinky finger. Women's trail face (with a needle in the face of the complex pattern of color) are from the cheekbones on both sides of the face to the corner of the mouth, forming a "V" shape. A woman's face, fine lines and wide, for the noble; lines thick and narrow, is the average commoner.

People in the body tattooed black Alpine race is more common, which the Paiwan and Peinan people have tattoo custom. Peinan and Amis living along the east coast, some men also have a habit of burning scars. The Paiwan and Amis like to use bird tail feathers as decoration. The Paiwan often use two or three eagle's tail feathers and stick them on the top of their leather hats. The Amis use the tail feathers of pheasants, the white ones, more than 20 of which are arranged in a fan shape on the head as a headdress. The Atayal and Paiwan like to wear ringed hats, some wear wreath hats, bowl-shaped rattan hats, bearskin banners and so on. Part of the Yami and Amis people, but also often wear a dugout hat, the use of wood, hollowed out, become a hat, used to shade the sun, rain.

The Gaoshan compatriots go out, whether traveling, hunting, fishing, market, etc., almost all carry a net bag, which has become a custom; Paiwan part of the women dress up to go out, often hanging on the shoulders of a long foot belt, hanging down to the knees. Men also tend to have shawl cloth bags when they go out, to hide betel nuts and other paraphernalia. The Atayal and Bunun love to hang bags made of leather.

Nose-pointing etiquette

The Yamei people on Orchid Island sometimes use a peculiar etiquette, the nose-pointing etiquette, which has been practiced since ancient times, when they receive guests from outside the island. After the guests come ashore, the elders of the tribe, in the midst of the crowd with torches in their hands, gently rub the tip of the guests' noses with their own noses in a kind and gentle manner for a moment before delivering their welcome speeches as a sign of their friendly feelings towards the landed guests.

Beautiful "pestle song"

The Alpine people are sincere and bold, and they are generally good at singing and dancing. They have their own beautiful folk songs, ancient ballads and myths and legends. Musical instruments include the mouth qin, bowed qin, bamboo flute and nose flute. Whenever there are festivals, the compatriots gather to sing and dance. Among them, the "Pestle and Mortar Dance" is a folk dance with a unique style. Women gather around a stone mortar and pound rice with a long pestle, which makes a resounding sound when it is pounded on the stone, accompanied by rhythmic singing and graceful steps, making the dance simple and moving.

Betel Nut Interest

Taiwanese compatriots love to eat betel nut, and Gaoshan compatriots love to eat betel nut even more, especially the older ones. If friends or guests come to the house, inviting them to eat betel nut is regarded as a good way of hospitality. They believe that the betel nut tree is the evergreen tree and the betel nut fruit is the evergreen fruit, which is the embodiment of preciousness and good fortune. Offering it to an old man shows respect and wishes him a long and healthy life. Give it to the girl to show her love, wishing her a happy love life, beauty and harmony; give it to the young man to congratulate him, wishing him a strong body, hard-working and courageous. Giving it to a guest is to welcome him and wish him good health and all the best. Therefore, the villages of the Alpine tribe are often built in the evergreen betel nut grove, with the intention of seeking its shelter and eliminating disasters and diseases. Every year when the betel nut is ripe, they climb up the tall betel nut tree and pick the fruit, cut it into small pieces with a belt knife and dry it. Then they go to the beach to find oyster shells, calcined by fire and ground into fine powder, which is the "spice" when eating betel nut. They also like to use a kind of leaf known as the wilted plant wrapped in oyster ash and betel nut together to chew, so that eating more flavorful. It is said that in addition to the effect of insect repellent, betel nut also has the role of dental care. Because often eat betel nut, their mouths are dyed red, especially young girls, lips like a layer of rouge, more graceful, charming and attractive.

What's more interesting is that betel nut has also become a love object for young men and women of the Gaoshan ethnic group in the early Taitung County area of Hualien County. According to the Amis custom, 'every year at the end of summer and fall, a lively and grand "basket meeting" will be held. It is regarded as a festive event for young Amis men and women. They pursue pure love and happiness through mutual interaction at the meeting. Whenever the 15th of August comes, when the moon is the fullest and the brightest, the beautifully dressed Amis girls, one by one, carry delicate and elegant small rattan baskets and come to participate in the "basket meeting". These baskets are carefully woven by the girls' mothers. In order to pray for the happiness of their daughters, many beautiful patterns are woven into the baskets. These motifs have many different meanings, from good luck to love and happiness. At the beginning of the basket party, the head of the tribe first gathered the young men and girls to the betel nut grove and blessed them loudly, wishing that every young man could find his sweetheart, gain love and happiness, so that the tribe could remain prosperous and strong. After the blessing, the young men cheered loudly and scrambled to the betel nut trees to start picking betel nuts. Tall betel nut trees, usually more than ten meters high, smooth skin, and no branches, to climb up is not easy. At the same time also stipulates that when climbing the tree belly can not touch the trunk, which requires the young man to have a strong physique and stamina. This is in order to maintain the strong physique of the nation and take a method of survival of the fittest. At this time the girls are gathered together, one side of the loud shouts, for their own sweetheart cheer cheer, one side and female companions quietly commented on the young man's athleticism and bravery. And the lads were all climbing very hard at this time, all of them wanting to show their skill in front of the many girls in order to win their favor. When they climbed to the top of the tree, they quickly picked betel nuts, put them into the beautifully embroidered hanging bags on their backs, and quickly slid down to run towards the girls. When the girls saw the young man running towards them, they laughed and ran away. However, the young man had already secretly chosen the girl of his choice, so he chased after the girl of his choice. In this way, the girl ran in front, giggling like a silver bell, the young man in the back, panting and happy. When the young man caught up with the girl, the betel nut into the girl's basket, at this time the girl will slow down, smiling and carefully surveyed the chaser, if found that they are not the young man in the eyes of the young man, will apologize with a smile, swing body, shrugged his shoulders, the basket of betel nut out of the shaking, laughing, jumping and running away. If it is their favorite, they will stop and hold hands, talking in a low voice, confiding in each other their feelings of love. If the two sides are in love, the girl will take out her own carefully embroidered purse, given to the young man, in order to express their sincere feelings, and then they go into the betel nut grove, hand in hand, to tell each other their feelings, to express their own pursuit of pure love and the desire for a happy life. Such activities often go on all night until dawn.

"Cage" rendezvous

In some of the mountainous areas of Taiwan, the village, bamboo and thick forests, you can often see the construction of a chic independent hut, which is the alpine young men and women at night to talk about love, rendezvous "cage! This is the "cage" where young men and women of the Alpine tribe talk about love and have a secret meeting at night. When the girl grows to fifteen or sixteen years old, become a pavilion, delicate and charming young girl, her parents will be carefully constructed for her a hut - "cage", let her live alone, which means that the girl has grown up, can participate in adult activities, can also make boyfriends. She was ready to participate in adult activities and to have a boyfriend. The "cage" became a place for young men and women to talk about love and communicate with each other. Whenever the night covers the earth, the moon rises from the treetops, the cottage is immersed in a quiet, young girls and young men, the heart is like a storm in the sun and moon pool like the ups and downs, eagerly looking forward to that exciting and unforgettable moment.

Living in the "cage" of the girl, early light up the pine lantern, will be the fire of the fire pit burned brightly, holding their breath, waiting for the arrival of the sweetheart. While the alpine tribe's mada (young men) changed into clean and neat clothes, dressed like a groom, taking advantage of the moonlight, quietly to the "cage" to come. According to the traditional rules, to the "cage" to meet the girl Ma Da is not allowed to knock on the door, that is considered rude, incapable, the girl will look down on, will never open the door. See the beloved girl near at hand, but no chance to meet, can really be a lifelong regret. But this is not difficult to defeat the witty and clever Ma Da, only to see him take out of his arms small delicate mouth piano in the mouth, the hand gently strumming, so a burst of melodious sound of the piano, along with the wind, drifted into the "cage". The sound of the piano is to tell the girl, Ma Da has come. Asada around the "cage", the mouth of the qin played one song after another, but the "cage" door is often still closed, on the one hand, out of the girl's shyness, on the other hand, is also the girl in the intention to test the Asada. Of course, Ma Da is able to withstand this test, he will not be discouraged to drum up enough energy to play the mouth harp over and over again. The pleasant sound of the piano struck the girl's heartstrings. The girl finally opened the door and welcomed Mada into the house with a smile on her face.

"Cage" in the fire fire, reflecting the girl and Maada's face, they sat around the stove, one side of the barbecue peanuts and taro to eat, the other side of the soft talk, and each other to express the pursuit of true love. With the deepening of feelings, the heart of the passion of the fire as more and more hot, Ma Da will not be able to release the throat, with a low and majestic voice, pouring out the girl's adoration; the girl with the watery eyes looking at Ma Da, also sang with deep emotion. The two sides of the song and I, the song of the two hearts tightly linked together.

This kind of meeting usually lasts until the first time the cock crows, they have to break up. At this time, Ma Da often from the heart of the head out of betel nut to the girl, the girl will be carefully embroidered smoke purse to Ma Da, both reluctant to wave goodbye. After a period of time "cage" meeting, men and women are in love with each other, you can tell both parents, the marriage is finalized.