6. Indigenous communities
6.2. Tao (Yami) Orchid Island marine traditions
There is much debate within anthropological and ecological fields on the link between the environment and its resources vs. social institutions and belief systems. For instance,
334 Ibid.
335 Ibid.
336 Ibid.
specific food taboos within communities may be the result of the need to regulate the consumption of scarce resources or game resources,337,338 a religious requirement or prohibition,339 or dietary recommendations linked with health issues.340 For the Tao (Yami), the native population of Orchid Island, a crucial component of their maritime tradition centers upon the building of fishing boats and the capture of flying fish, the latter which is regarded as a sacred gift from the heavens.341,342 Observing the rituals connected to these traditions contributed to the maintenance of a sustainable fish stock in the surrounding coastal waters.
Orchid Island, also known as Botel Tobago343 (expressing a trade item or shape of the island, that is, a tobacco bottle used by sailors)344 or Pongso no Tao (‘island of the people’), is situated off the southeastern coast of Taiwan. It is 45 km2 in size and about 80 km from mainland Taiwan. It is north of the Batanes archipelago, separated by the Bashi Channel. The Tao are not part of the Formosan Austronesian-speakers, rather, they claim ancestry to the Batanes, most likely migrating to Orchid Island circa 700 years ago, with Yami belonging to the group of Ivatan languages.345 The island is divided into six villages: Ye You, Yu Jen, Hong Tou, Ye Yin, Dong Qin, and Lang Dao;
each village is a representative of a village in the Batanes.
The Tao speak Yami, and although dialect variations exist, it nevertheless is a mutually intelligible language.346 As previously mentioned, the island was isolated from the outside world and turned into an ethnological research area under the Japanese
337 See: E. B. Ross, 1978, ‘Food taboos, diet, and hunting strategy: the adaptation to animals in Amazon cultural ecology,’ Current Anthropology 19, pp. 1-36.
338 See: D.R. McDonald, 1977, ‘Food taboos: a primitive environmental protection agency (South America),’ Anthropos 72, pp. 734-748.
339 See: M. Douglas, 1966, Purity and Danger, London, UK: Routledge and Keegan Paul, Ltd.
340 See: Alpina Begossi et al., 2004, ‘Food Chan and the Reasons for Fish Food Taboos Among Amazonian and Atlantic Forest Fishers (Brazil),’ Ecological Applications 14:5, October 2004, pp.
1334-1343.
341 Digital Taiwan, ‘Yami Traditional Fishing Boats.’ Accessed 1 January 2017.
342 Taiwan Indigenous Culture Park, ‘Yami Tribe.’ Accessed 2 March 2017.
343 Appendix 4.2.
344 David Blundell et al., 2010, ‘Empowering Pacific Language and Culture Mapping with Applied Case Studies in Taiwan and the Philippines,’ Endangered Austronesian, Papuan and Aboriginal Languages. Gunter Senft, ed. Pacific Linguistics. Canberra: National Australian University, p. 147.
345 Ibid, p. 145. Appendix 5.
346 David Blundell, 2008, ‘Endangered Languages in revitalization Development and Mapping Featuring the Batanes and Orchid Island,’ 2nd International Conference on Language Development, Language Revitalization, and Multilingual Education in Ethnolinguistic Communities, Bangkok, Thailand, July 1st-3rd, 2008, p. 6.
occupation, a closed-door policy that continued under the KMT regime for security purposes (most small islands around Taiwan were reserved for military use)347 before finally ‘opening up’ in the 1970s. The island is divided into six native villages on the coast and there is no island-wide, uniting authority or chieftain. Since the influx of Christian missionaries from the 1950s, each village is currently led by a priest, with more than 60 percent of the population considered Presbyterian and the remainder Catholic.348 Instead of completely replacing indigenous values, the Christian belief system intertwined with the traditional cultural values, and many rituals such as the Flying Fish Festival and Boat Launching Ceremony are still in practice today. There are no settlements in the interior of the island:
Orchid Island is mountainous and steep, with very few plains. There are rivers in the valleys, forming alluvial fans along mountain piedmonts and beaches at the mouths of rivers. These alluvial fans have ample water resources, and are close to arch bays and long reef coasts where harbors lie. Also, these low-rise fans are ideal for settlement, hence the close concentration of villages.349
Close proximity to the coast positions seafood as an important part of their daily diet.
Women are tasked with gathering food such as shells, seaweed, and small fish from holes in the coral on the shore, whilst fishing is performed by men. Coral reef surrounds the island, providing shelter for over a thousand kinds of fish and a source of food for green turtles.
The sea and its resources are fundamental to the Tao culture. In the peoples’
traditional view of the cosmos, the sea is the center of the world and its resources are intimately linked with life-related rituals. During funeral rites, attendees catch crab and fish in remembrance of the deceased. In order to be deemed eligible for marriage, a Tao man must possess fishing skills and participate in a fishing team.350 The coral reefs surrounding the island serve as prime locations to expose one’s fishing skills; males have strong lung capacity and can hold their breathe for minutes at a time. They are experts at using traditional techniques such as spear fishing to catch fish. These spears
347 Ching-Ping Tang and Shui-Yan Tang, 2009, ‘Institutional Adaptation and Community-Based Conservation of Natural Resources: The Cases of the Tao and Atayal in Taiwan,’ Human Ecology 38:1, 30 September 2009, p. 104.
348 Ibid, p. 105.
349 ‘Tao,’ Digital Museum of Taiwan Indigenous Peoples. Accessed 1 March 2017.
350 Taiwan Indigenous Culture Park, ‘Yami Tribe.’ Accessed 2 March 2017.
are released from thick rubber bands via a simple wooden mechanism; such spear ‘guns’
are called paltog and are regarded as a sustainable form of fishing. Moreover, taboo customs divide the fish into rahed, or bad fish, eaten only by males, and oyod, or real fish, eaten by both males and females. Other sea animals are also part of the Tao diet.
The catching of octopi, for instance, requires special skills. Spotting an octopus – an expert at camouflage – is a challenge. If it sits on a coral, its skin will imitate the rough surface of its surrounding. Octopi frequently hide in the holes of the coral, and the Tao use a metal hook called sagit to yank them out, without harming the coral reefs.351 Coral reefs hold another significance for the Tao: when building a house, using dead corals to put up a fence is a show of respect to one’s ancestors. Furthermore, there are many additional rituals related to marine traditions, including:
6.2.1. The Boat Launching Ceremony (BLC)
Fishing boats play a crucial role in securing food, economic gains, as well as determining a person’s social status. What is more, the boat is regarded as an extension of a man’s body, thus its construction is deemed a sacred and solemn mission and its end result the “ultimate creation of beauty”.352 It is thus no wonder that the BLC is considered an important social event and is governed by specific rules and traditions that may take months to prepare. First, great emphasis is placed on construction:
traditional tatala fishing boats are hand-carved from 27 interlocking pieces of wood.
Then, the boat is decorated in the traditional colors: red, black, and white. No matter the size, the general shape and decorations remain consistent, with the characteristic waves and ‘eye’ painted at the hull of the boat. The ‘eye’ is made up of concentric circles edged with triangles and is supposed to represent the sun’s rays, a symbol to ward off evil spirits and prevent disaster at sea.353 Male members are expected to help out at every stage of construction, from sourcing materials to carving and decoration.
Once the boat is complete, the builders need to gather sufficient numbers of pigs and goats as sacrifice for the launching ceremony. The women are tasked with gathering a sufficient amount of taro and, in expectation of the ceremony, they will wear agate bead necklaces and octagonal wooden hats to celebrate the upcoming event.354 On the
351 ‘ECAI Austronesia Projects,’ Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI), accessed 13 June 2017.
352 Digital Taiwan, ‘Yami Traditional Fishing Boats.’ Accessed 1 January 2017.
353 Ibid.
354 ‘Taiwan Indigenous Culture Park, ‘Yami Tribe.’ Accessed 2 March 2017.
day of the BLC, people from all over the island gather to celebrate. The males will put on their traditional outfits, sit in the boat and chant to drive away evil spirits. Then, the men of the village circle the boat and simultaneously clench their teeth and shake their fists, which is also thought to ward off evil spirits. Afterwards, the males throw the boat into the air several times – the higher it throw, the more luck and prosperity is believed the come to the boat owner and his family. Finally, the boat is launched into the water for its maiden voyage. The ceremony is complete only the boat remains afloat and is sailed out to sea.355
6.2.2. The Flying Fish Festival (FFF)
Flying fish (Exocoetidae) are a key natural resource in the coastal waters of the island and their arrival marks the most important annual event for the Tao. The flying fish season occurs between February and October.
The Tao have a traditional calendar that corresponds to the habitual behaviors of marine life and the movements of the ocean currents and divides the year into three separate fishing seasons: rayon, teyteyka, and amyan.356 The calendar is, in essence, an accumulation of the Tao’s rich marine knowledge; it includes restrictions and taboos regulating the fishing time, area, and specific fishing methods and should be seen as a valuable TEK for conservation purposes, seeing as how “[it] not only coordinates with marine life ecology, but seasonal limitation on eating flying fish also prevents human greed from excessive fishing.”357 The flying fish are regarded as a sacred gift from the heavens and should be reciprocated with restraint and respect, and during this season, all other means of fishing are taboo. These values are a prime example of an innate indigenous belief system that is in natural harmony with the ecological conservation of marine life.
Overall, the Tao’s close ties with the ocean and respect for its resources are clearly reflected in their ceremonies and rituals. Furthermore, to the south of Orchid Island is ‘Little Orchid Island’ (Little Lanyu), an uninhabited small island that is surrounded by coral reefs. It is regarded as an ancestral sacred site and access to it is strongly restricted by the local elders, whose permission is required before setting off
355 CCA Orchid Island Yami Boat Launching Ceremony part B, tnntv [Youtbe Documentary].
Accessed 13 March 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7XIGG70I9k
356 ‘Digital Taiwan, ‘Yami Traditional Fishing Boats.’ Accessed 1 January 2017.
357 Taiwan Indigenous Culture Park, ‘Yami Tribe.’ Accessed 2 March 2017.
to fish. According to Dr. Jackson Hu, traditional taboos protect the site’s coral reefs by dictating the proper season, time, and fishing methods permitted at Little Orchid Island (personal communication, 12 June 2017). Generally speaking, the Tao traditions are not primarily sustainability-oriented; rather, through the observation and respect of their ancient knowledge and traditions, sustainable usage of marine resources is achieved as a by-product. Nevertheless, contact with modernization and external authorities and the degradation of the marine environment are all translating into a loss of the Tao cultural heritage.