For people wanting to mark New Year in an interesting setting, attending the cultural events organized by Taitung’s Puyuma Aborigines could be an option.
Puyuma villages in the middle of this month began holding a series of celebrations, including the Vasivas (少年祭), Mangayau (大獵祭) and Pubiyaw (羌祭) ceremonies, which are collectively called the annual festival.
Ulivelivek Village (初路部落) festival organizer Chen Teng-tsai (陳登財) said that the village has maintained its traditional ceremonies and visitors would have the chance to witness them in person until New Year’s Day.
The village would hold a New Year’s dance at 9pm on Sunday after the Pubiyaw ceremony, which is held to thank ancestral and mountain spirits, and the dance would last throughout the night into New Year’s Day, Chen said.
Villagers would dance for the first one or two hours, and guests would be invited to participate after that, Chen said.
In the morning, an additional ceremony, the Kituvangsar, or the ceremony of the rite of passage, would be held, Chen said, adding that the annual festivities would not conclude until Tuesday morning next week.
Kasavakan Village (建和部落) on New year’s Day is to hold is unique Katikelruwanan event, which involves a three-story-high swing, local residents said.
The swing is made from bamboo and vines, and is to carry a circlet of flowers symbolizing the honors of the ancestors, local residents said, adding that after the swing is blessed by the village elders and tested for safety, villagers would be called to ride it.
The higher a person swings, the braver they are, and the highest swingers would also have better luck next year, they said, adding that visitors would be invited to experience the ceremony once all the villagers have had their turn.
Other Aboriginal villages, such as Qalang Smangus Village (司馬庫斯), are holding other events in lieu of traditional ceremonies, a local source said.
A priest and village elders are to preside over an event at the village church on New Year’s Eve, reflecting on the year’s activities, and watching pictures and videos, they said, adding that it would conclude at 11:40pm and fireworks would be lit at midnight.
Meanwhile, Bailan Village (白蘭部落) in Hsinchu’s Wufeng Township (五峰) said that while the majority of residents are Atayal, there are some Amis in the village as well, and the village is planning its events in an Amis fashion, recreating the Amis Ilisin ceremony.
Tsou people in Pnguu Village (來吉部落), in Chiayi County’s Alishan Township (阿里山), are to celebrate the coming of the New Year starting from 4pm on New Year’s Eve, a source said.
Singing and partying are to last throughout the night, and fireworks are to be lit at 8pm, the source said, adding that the event could conclude with the singing of the song Pasu Hohcubu (塔山之歌) as midnight approaches.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail