In many fairy tales, a handsome prince and a beautiful princess fall in love, get married and live happily ever after. For Taiwanese Aborigines, the romantic love between a warrior and a tribal princess can also be the basis of a romantic story, although it comes with a little extra effort.
Chen Chin-yu (陳靳豫) and Lai Chien-yi (賴謙誼) met each other when they took part in the “Aboriginal Ambassador Princess and Warrior Competition,” an annual event organized by the Taitung City Government which started in 2007.
After entering the competition, Chen, an Amis Aborigne, began to date Lai, a woman from the Paiwan people, and their relationship blossomed sufficiently for the young couple to decide to marry.
Photo: Huang Ming-tang, Taipei Times
After registering their marriage at the local district office, they officially became husband and wife, at least in the eyes of the law.
Keen to follow traditional Paiwan customs, Chen has to wait until March next year before going to Lai’s house and taking her away as his wife. This is because Lai is a Paiwan princess and her family has ruling royal status in the local community. For a man to marry a Paiwan princess he has to carry her away on his back, and so must have the physical strength and stamina to manage the task.
Lai’s home is on Chinchen Mountain (金針山) in Taitung County’s Taimali Township (太麻里).
When he visits next year, Chen must carry Lai from her home and down the mountain for 3km to a ceremonial wedding site at Dawang Elementary School.
“According to Paiwan tradition, the groom must carry the bride on his back from her parents’ house to the site of the wedding ceremony,” Lai said.
“The groom must place both of his hands behind his back so the bride can kneel on his palms while being carried. This is the traditional way to do it,” she added.
“From my home to Dawang school is about 3km and is downhill all the way. As it is easier to carry someone uphill than downhill, it is a real challenge for my husband,” she said. “However, it should not be too hard for him because he serves in the military and is used to heavy physical exercise.”
Chen, who is enrolled in the air force’s officer training program, said: “We perform routine physical workouts everyday and I’m getting good training for my strength and stamina. If I keep this up until next year, I should be able to successfully complete my most important mission — to carry my wife to our wedding.”
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS