Lawa Toyu, the last Atayal elder with a traditional facial tattoo, passed away early yesterday morning after her health deteriorated since being hospitalized in January with pneumonia. Doctors said that the cause of death was multiple organ failure.
Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Icyang Parod expressed his condolences and said that the council would help with the funeral.
Despite Miaoli County records showing that Lawa Toyu was born in 1923, her fellow villagers said she delayed reporting her household registry information by five years.
Photo: CNA
Atayal facial tattoos were recognized in 2016 by the Miaoli County Government as a cultural asset.
The county collaborated with Lawa Toyu and Chien Yu-ying (簡玉英), another Atayal elder, to make the documentary Marks of Glory — The Facial Tattoos of the Atayal (榮耀的印記─泰雅文面).
Lawa Toyu became the last Atayal with facial tattoos after Chien died early last year.
The tattoos represent the purity of the tribe and are a mark of coming of age or bravery. They are also believed to allow the spirits of the deceased to cross the Rainbow Bridge to join their ancestors.
Miaoli County Councilor Huang Yueh-e (黃月娥), an Atayal, said that facial tattoos for Atayal women also meant that they knew how to weave and were “eligible to marry.”
The practice was stopped during the Japanese colonial era, Huang said, adding that with the passing of Lawa Toyu, “I feel that part of my culture is lost.”
While Lawa Toyu recognized that she was one of the few remaining from a bygone era and the cultural significance of the tattoos, she did not wish for her children or their children to undergo the process, because it was painful.
In the documentary, she said the process took an entire day and her face bled and became swollen.
“We are those who have truly lived by the Atayal traditions. The younger generations who can write must record this tradition, do not forget... Once we are gone, there will be no one else with facial tattoos,” Lawa Toyu said in the film. “Without written history, our Atayal progeny will become indistinguishable from the Han people.”
Following Lawa Toyu’s passing, Lin Chi-mei (林智妹), a Sediq who lives in Hualien, is said to be the only Aborigine with a traditional facial tattoo in Taiwan.
‘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
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
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as