Amis activists in Hualien County have blocked a performance by members of a minority ethnic group from China’s Guangxi Province set for next week’s Ilisin ritual in the villages of Fata’an and Tafalong after challenging the county government, accusing it of disrespecting and humiliating the Amis Aboriginal culture.
“The Ilisin is the most important, the most sacred and the most serious religious ritual of the year for us Amis, and while we may invite people from our sister villages to attend the ceremony as guests, they may watch, but they may not take part in the ritual or in the dance,” said Nakao Eki Pacidal, an Amis born in Tafalong who now lives in Fata’an. “If people who are also Amis, but are from a different village are not allowed to take part in the ritual, how would we allow people from another country to be in it?”
She said the Amis have a very village-oriented culture, with each village considered a separate entity.
“The Ilisin ritual is held to express our appreciation and respect to our ancestors; of course others who don’t share the same ancestry would not be allowed to take part in the ritual,” she said.
The dispute came after the county government arranged for the Guangxi group to take part in the Ilisin in Fata’an from Thursday to Saturday and the Ilisin in Tafalong from Friday to Sunday.
The announcement immediately upset younger residents of the two villages, who together started a campaign against the arrangement, saying that it is disrespectful and humiliating to the ritual.
In addition to not wanting an outside group to perform, Namoh Nofu, also a native of Tafalong, said that traditionally, the date and the activities in an Ilisin would be decided through a ritual similar to divination.
“The county government or the township office has no authority in deciding the dates on which we should have our Ilisin; not even our tribal leaders could make the decision on their own,” Namoh said.
After the younger residents voiced their concerns, the tribal leadership in Fata’an quickly called a meeting and decided to reject the county government’s arrangement early last week, saying that they would not welcome the Guangxi group in their Ilisin, Nakao said.
However, the campaign was not as smooth in Tafalong initially.
“Tafalong is more conservative and the tribal politics are more complicated there, so it’s not as easy for the young people to persuade the tribal leadership to change a decision,” Nakao said. “Especially when Hualien County Councilor Yang Chin-teh (楊金德) is a native of the village and he may need to give full support to Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi’s (傅崑萁) policy decisions in exchange for Fu’s support for him in the county councilor election in November.”
However, Tafalong leadership decided yesterday to call off the Guangxi group’s participation.
“The young people in our village say that they feel disrespected if the Guangxi group takes part in our Ilisin and we accept their opinion,” said a tribal leader, Tu Wen-chao (杜文昭), via telephone. “We therefore decided that we would not welcome the participation of the Guangxi group in our Ilisin.”
Nakao welcomed the decision, but added that if the county government still insisted to have the Guangxi group in the Ilisin on the day of the ritual, “we would not rule out the possibility to resolve the problem in a violent way.”
Namoh said this is not an isolated case in which the county government has attempted to turn Aboriginal cultural events into commercial or tourist “products,” and said that similar disputes might happen in the future, if county officials do not change their mentality.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
RSS