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--Old House--
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Overview of Old House’s history and
building materials given by the
instructor
1/27/05 AM |
Mataian’s Old House has 80 years of history
and is made up with natural resources like
wood, bamboos and straws. Traditionally,
Amis architectures face east though “Old
House” was repositioned to face north as a
result of a road expansion. The relocation
of “Old House” was done manually by 80
young men.
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Hands-on experience in making mochi
with the instructor.
1/27/05 PM |
Rattan utensils (GA BI LA) were commonly
used among the Amis households living in
Mataian’s Old House. During Japanese
Occupation, Amis aboriginals switched to
ceramic utensils instead and also start
making clothes out of cottons, a major
change from linen materials.Top
--Guang-hui
Chou--
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We visited Mr. Guang-hui Chou’s
workshop
1/27/05 PM |
During our visit to Mr. Guang-hui Chou, we
had a chance to see a variety of miniature
Amis straw houses such as prestigious
residence, observation deck, barn,
construction shelter, meeting facility, and
more. The instructor also went over the
characteristics of each type of architecture
designs. For example, a layer of rocks under
a barn is designed to prevent damages from
excessive humidity.
We were also introduced to traditional
farming utensils such as rice-milling
buckets, huskers, and pots made out of betel
nut leaves, bamboo spoons, and more.
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An overview of types of straw houses
by Mr. Guang-hui Chou
1/27/05 PM |
During our visit to Mr. Guang-hui Chou’s
house, 2e were introduced to the rarely seen
traditional costumes for women and the chief
used in Masarut in addition to ornaments and
a scepter. A chief at the origin of his
tribal culture uses a scepter for paying
respects to the ancestry. In addition, the
teeth on the chief’s necklace are real teeth
of a boar.
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On the left, there are a selection
of women’s costumes used in Masarut.
On the right, there are costumes,
ornaments, and a scepter for a
tribal chief used in Masarut.
1/27/05 PM |
We asked Mr. Guang-hui Chou a very
interesting question:
Question: Why
are chiefs men instead of women though Amis
culture was built in a matrilineal society?
Answer: Though
Amis is a matrilineal society, the
characteristics can only be found in family
households. In other words, women rule their
families but men rule a society as a whole.
Because of physical abilities, men are
obligated to protect families and tribes. In
addition, men are known to be great leaders
in Amis culture and it is no doubt that men
get to take on tribal leaderships.Top
--Mr. A-long
Lin--
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These were our works done in Mr.
A-long Lin’s house.
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Mr. A-long Lin is a renowned sculptor in
Taiwan and received a diploma in traditional
craftsmanship in sculpting gold and rock
from National Taiwan Normal University. We
were scheduled to visit his workshop today
and expected to learn the techniques in
making sculptures. While demonstrating wood
sculpting, he gave us an overview of Amis
totems.
Top
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