2. Katipul Tribe – Culture and Society
Katipul, a Pinuyumayan tribe, has resided in the south eastern Taiwan for more than thousand years. Pinuyumayan is the one of the fourteen government formally recognized indigenous ethnic groups in Taiwan. (Please refer to the diagram on Appendix 1 for Taiwan Indigenous Ethnic Groups Distribution) The total population of indigenous people in Taiwan is slightly more than half a million; all the indigenous ethnic groups in Taiwan belong to the Austronesian language ethnic system.
The Austronesian language ethnic system is the most widely spread out ethnic group from the geographic point of view; there are more than two hundred million Austronesian people live in different countries from Indian Ocean through almost all the South Pacific Ocean, for example, native Malaysian and Indonesian people are Austronesian. (Please refer to the diagram on Appendix 2 for Austronesian Distribution) From the result of linguistics research, all the Austronesian people spread out from Taiwan, which means, Taiwan indigenous is the root of entire Austronesian. But the evidence archeologist found shows totally different result, the archeology evidence shows that the Austronesian in Taiwan is actually migrated from South Pacific islands.
2.1 The Tribes
Nowadays, the total population of Pinuyumayan is about eleven thousand; most of them inhabiting in ten tribes on alluvial plain and in the hillside of Central Mountain Ridge in Tai-Tung County in Taiwan. According to the ancestral legends, these ten Pinuyumayan tribes can be divided into two major groups. One group consists of three tribes is derived from the “Bamboo Origin” ancestral legend, led by the tribe Puyuma; this group of people believes that while their ancestor came to this island, the place their ancestor went ashore is the place called Panapanayan. Another group consists of seven tribes is derived from the “Rock Origin” ancestral legend, led by the tribe Katipul; this group of people believes that while their ancestor came to this island, the place their ancestor went ashore is the place called Ruvua’an.
In the ancient time, each tribe is similar to an independent state. The Katipul tribe was the largest and the most powerful tribe by the time Dutch invader entered eastern Taiwan in 1637 A.D. The Katipul tribe used to dominate almost all the tribes
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inhabited in the alluvial plain and hillside of south eastern Taiwan. The dominated tribes were not only Pinuyumayan tribes, also other indigenous ethnic tribes such as Amis, Paiwan and Rukai tribes; those tribes been ruled had to pay tribute to Katipul every year. The reason why the Katipul tribe was so powerful was not the population;
the reason was the Spartan education style, male age ranking system and governance system.
2.2 Ancient Education and Male Club System
In Katipul tribe, all the male teenagers from age twelve to fifteen had to live in Takuvan [*1] six months every year. Where teenagers learn the tribe rules, history, hunting skills, basic fighting techniques, and the most important thing – absolutely obey the instruction from elders. After graduated from Takuvan, young male adult had to move out their own family and live in Palakuwan [*2] for advanced martial training; after finished the training and reached age 24, these young adults (called
“Vangsarang” in Pinuyumayan) were allowed to get married. Before Vangsarang get married, he still needs to stay at Palakuwan. After the Vangsarang got married, he had to move to his wife’s home since Pinuyumayan is a matriarchal society. After the long period of martial training, the young warriors were brave and skillful in fighting.
Another unconfirmed reason might be unbelievable nowadays, that is the power of black magic. Pinuyumayan was actually famous for its mysterious powerful black magic, almost all other indigenous ethnic tribes afraid of it.
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Figure 2-1. Current Katipul Takuvan
2.3 Governance and Families
Katipul’s governance system and age ranking system are similar to other ethnic group, but more subdivided and more efficient. Not like Paiwan’s hereditary noblesse system, there are three major families in Katipul, the leaders (leader is “Ayawan” in Pinuyumayan) of each subgroup are elected by the seniors and “Rahan” (Rahan is the Priest in Katipul, there are three major families, therefore there are Rahans for each families). Rahan is the one who has the right to make the final decision of all the tribe events, but Rahan normally would discuss with Ayawan and seniors before making the decision. The system makes sure the decisions and solutions are been discussed adequately. The age ranking system for male is divided into ten different group starting from age 12; each rank takes two to three years before age 24. Each age ranking group has their own job function, ranking group name and apparels; the lower ranking group has to obey the order from higher ranking group. The age ranking system is the way to ensure the instruction from parliament can be completely followed and executed.
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Figure 2-2. Current Katipul Palakuwan
2.4 Life Style and Arts
Katipul people inhabited in the alluvial plain near the hillside, besides the tribute from other tribes, Katipul people also do hunting, gathering and had fundamental agriculture. Women are not allowed to hunt, only the male adults are allowed to go hillside to hunt since hunting might be very dangerous. The danger during the hunting is not only come from the wild animal, but also the threatening from other unfriendly tribes. Invading hunting territory of unfriendly tribe may happen during chasing quarries, and it would cause war. The agriculture were mainly done by women, normally they grew millet and some vegetables.
Since the Katipul tribe was ruling other tribes and received tributes from other tribes, Katipul people has more time to develop its handcrafting artworks, painting, carving, dancing and making chants. The colorful and complicated cross-stitch can be an
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minimal, the more you can see is the carving artwork or even the colorful gemstone inlayed.
Figure 2-3. Traditional Puyuma Cross-Stitch Artwork (Pants)
The dance and songs are both very important to Katipul, dances and songs are heavily linked to religious rites and daily life. Since the indigenous do not have characters, all the tribe rules, stories, legends and histories were narrated from old to young, generation by generation. And for easier to memorize, those tribe rules, stories, legends and histories were frequently been used as the subject and main line of the songs. There are also some taboos of the songs and dances, for example, some certain songs can only be sang at certain moment in certain event, such as new year ceremony.
2.5 Major Ceremonies of Katipul Tribe
The rite is also very important to the tribe. The rite is not only the way to worship but also to show the appreciation to other people and everything that helps the tribe to survive and grow. There are two major rites every year in Katipul. Each rite or said ceremony is reflecting certain topic and focus on different people.
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The first rite of the year is the “Kavarasa’an”, normally been held in middle of July (after the end of millet harvest season) and last for more than a week. The Kavarasa’an is the ceremony to deliver the gratefulness to the holy ancestor spirit and the Mother Nature for the plentiful harvest. During the ceremony, Vangsarang would also parade the entire village with traditional warrior dance, pray for peace for everyone.
The second is the “Amiyan” (annual ceremony); the Amiyan is a series of rites starting from the middle of December and ends on the New Year’s Day. The first one is the “Mangayangayaw”, which means the “Monkey Hunting”, for teenager from Takuvan; this rite is to demonstrate the braveness of teen warriors.
The second rite of Amiyan is the “Mangayawa”, the grand hunting ceremony, it last for a week. Only male adults from age 18 to 60 are eligible to be the participants.
Most of the quarries from the Mangayaw will share equally to all the hunters, and another half will be the award to those who make contribution to the tribe in the past year. During the hunting week, young adult go out to hunt in the day time, seniors stay at the camp site; in the night time, after hunters back to the camp site, senior start to lead everyone to learn the traditional songs that describes the legends and praises heroes, and also the history will be thought in these few nights.
The last ceremony of Amiyan is the most important one, which is “Remavaravas”. In the ancient era, this ceremony is to worship the human head which tribe warriors take back from battle. Katipul people believe that unclean things can be purified by hunting enemy head and then worship it. Nowadays the Remavaravas become a rite to comfort those people in mourn during the past year. People in mourn cannot attend any tribe event before the Remavaravas.
[*1] Takuvan is the combination of school, clubhouse and training facility for boys.
[*2] Palakuwan is the combination of school, clubhouse, and training facility for male adult; and also the lodge or meeting facility for tribe leaders, male seniors and sorcerers.
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nowadays the tourism industry already becomes the largest one in the world. In 2010, more than 940 million international tourists travel around the world, and generated more than USD$919 billion in export earnings. [ *1]3.1 Three Major Tourism Types
In general, the tourism industry can be divided into three major categories. The first one is the “General Tourism”, also known as “Industrial Tourism”. The general tourism simply focuses on the economic outcome from the tourism activities, but without considering the impact of environment and society. General speaking, most of the group tours can be found in the tourism market which provided by the tour agency, such as “10 days Japanese hot spring tour” or “15 days Europe tour”, are in this category. The lodging and amenity are usually better than other tour categories.
The second one is the “ECO-Tourism”. The ECO-Tourism is less harm to the environment and society, normally focus on special interests and in some sort of educational format. The people who lead the tour group or the instructors are the local experts. For example, the wildlife viewing tour, hiking tour, and rafting are in this category.
The third one is the “Cultural Tourism”. The cultural tourism is defined as the tour that helps the tourists learn about and experience different cultures. For example, the experience of making handcraft art, the regional language, music, history, and tradition can often be seen in the cultural tourism tour package. In this category, the tour normally run by local (regional) experts and usually only small amount of people in the tour group, or even walk-in guest. [*2]
3.2 Tribal Tourism
The tribal tourism normally combines the ECO-Tourism and Cultural Tourism with more culture interpretation and integrity. The main purpose of the tribal tourism is not only for delivering the different experience of tradition, culture, art, music, and history, but also for supporting, maintaining, and strengthen the tribe’s heritage, traditional lifestyle and fundamental ethic value. The tribal lifestyle and history are