Project Narrative
Website
About Truku tribe
About Shinbaiyang
Thanksgiving ceremony
Experiencing Thanksgiving ceremony
The Priest
Clothing
Prayers
Qualification
Sacrificial offerings
Project research

The Priest in a Mgay Bari in Wanrong Township at 2007.

The Costume of a Priest

In the Ancestral Spirit Ritual of the Truku, the priest plays the most important role. Not only is the priest responsible for directing the ritual, his costume is also people’s focus.

In order to have a deeper understanding of the accessories of a priest, we interviewed an elder, Mr. You-hsing Hsu (En-ma), who is a veteran priest of Tonglan Villageto in Shioulin Township, Hualien County, to tell us more about costumes of a priest.

Headdress

	[Illustrated by Pei-hsuan Hsu]

Headdresses on the head of a priest are for heroes only; they symbolize true heroes. Only priests are qualified to wear them.

There are a white circular bear bones, and fangs of a wild boar on the headdress; sometimes there are even horns of a Reeves's Muntjac. These all symbolize the prey of the priest, meaning that he is brave.

However, the Truku do not go hunting in the mountain as before, so these headdresses become even more precious.

Pucing

The knives equipped by a priest are normally called “pucing”, which is consists of two knives, one large and one small. They are multi-functional: the small knife is for removing viscera and skin of an animal, while the large knife is for chopping wood and animal bones.

The knives Mr. En-ma shown us had already been used to kill many animals; some blood stains and animal hairs could even be seen on it.

Habuk

Generally, clothes for man are just a piece of cloth; this kind of cloth is called habuk.

Towrah

In traditional Truku costumes, there is a kind of undergarment called towrah. A towrah is red, in the middle of it has a white circular bear bone, which symbolizes a hero. The qualification to wear a towrah implies a priest’s holy status.  Unfortunately, the traditional clothes one can see now do not have a real bear bone, which is substituted by a white piece of cloth.

Small bells

The sleeveless jacket of a priest has numerous small bells, which are important symbols of one’s status! Only chief and advisory leader can wear them. At the very beginning the Truku did not have such small bells but only fangs, bones and hides from beasts decorating their costume. Later, bronze wares such as small bells were added.

References:
1. An Interview with the elder Mr. En-ma at Tonglan Village in Shioulin Township, Hualien County, on January 4, 2008.

	A Student’s Comment: Meng-tze Li We saw the costume of a priest, wild boars and bones, as well as backpack made of hides from a Reeves's Muntjac, and a Towrah of a priest. Their costumes are very special. The costumes of a chief are the most impressive for me. I think a priest’s costumes are colourful. I have heard that the white thing in the middle of a Towrah are made of the bones of a black bear, grinded as smooth and circular and put on the Towrah. It is the symbol of a brave warrior.
			Priest [Illustrated by Pei-hsuan Hsu]

Ritual Prayer

The Truku’s prayers are simple, which is just a direct conversation with ancestral spirits; so there is no prayer with fixed content.

The following is the general content of a ritual prayer:

At the beginning, we beseech our ancestral spirits to protect us! We also wishes that we can do everything smoothly and happily, without any injury.

At the end we will request again our ancestors to come to the site again, for there are sumptuous cuisines and harvests we want to share with them. We will also hope that after they finish these foods, they will continue to protect every member of our tribe.

References:

1. An Interview with the elder Mr. En-ma at Tonglan Village in Shioulin Township, Hualien County, on January 4, 2008.

2. An Interview with local elders at Tonglan Village in Shioulin Township, Hualien County, on January 24, 2008.

3. An Interview with local cultural worker Mr. Kaji at Tonglan Village in Shioulin Township, Hualien County, on January 25, 2008.

Qualification of a Priest

A priest bears the important responsibility to direct a ritual. In our interview with Mr. En-ma, he told us that it is difficult to be a priest, only people with certain qualifications can become a priest.

A priest must have a resolute heart, whose personality must be respectable and humble. To be a respectable man in a tribe, merely having a lot of port, or having a large house with a lot of money is not enough. Only a person with a enthusiastic heart is qualified for a priest.

In addition, since a priest is an important person, he must be very brave too; he must be able to confront venomous snakes and fierce beast to protect people’s safety.   

Furthermore, one must be good at speech. For example, he must be good at articulating prayer, talking to ancestral spirits in mother tongue. A priest is selected by tribe members after discussion and voting. 　　

In the interview with Mr. Kaji, he also mentioned that a priest must learn a lot of knowledge, for instance, hunting skill, knowledge about the weather, and the knowledge to decide date and time for a ritual by reading the positions of stars and moons in the sky. Such knowledge must be learned from ancestors or accumulated from one’s experience.

References:

1. An Interview with the elder Mr. En-ma at Tonglan Village in Shioulin Township, Hualien County, on January 4, 2008.

2. An Interview with the local cultural worker Mr. Kaji at Tonglan Village in Shioulin Township, Hualien County, on January 25, 2008.