Project Narrative
Website
About Truku tribe
About Shinbaiyang
Thanksgiving ceremony
Experiencing Thanksgiving ceremony
The Priest
Sacrificial offerings
Meaning
The Ritual of Boar Butchering
Types
Project research
 

 

 

The Meanings of the Sacrifices
       Mgay Bari is the most important activity of thanking gods in a year. It must be prepared with great care, including the sacrifices, in order to receive blessings from ancestral spirits.

In the interview with Mr. Kaji, he said the sacrifices are the harvest after a year’s painstaking works. Offering sacrifices in Mgay Bari is to offer such assiduous spirit to the ancestral spirits, so that they may bless the tribe with better harvests in the coming year.

Mr. Kaji also told us that once these sacrifices become sacrifices, they come into contact with the ancestral spirits and become holy. People other than priests will incur bad luck if they touch these sacrifices. So ordinary people are not allowed to touch the sacrifices; only the priests will place them.

Therefore people in the past would hide the sacrifices beneath the earth, in the garden, or valley, so that nobody could touch them. But, Mr. Kaji said, since nowadays people must be frugal, and there is not much millet, the sacrifices will be shared by the priests after the ritual. 

 

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

 

 

  



The Ritual of Boar Butchering
        In the Truku conventions, boar butchering is an important ritual. In the annual Mgay Bari, of course, the Truku will hold such ritual for the ancestral spirits. They will share the meat evenly to the members, so that everyone can receive blessings from the ancestral spirits.

In the interview with Mr. En-ma, he mentioned that butchering a boar in Mgay Bari is to let the ancestral spirits know that we are praying to them.

The Truku ancestors in the past had to thank the ancestral spirits before they ate and drank. Before they ate, they would hold a bit food and said, “Sus” to thank the ancestral spirits. The same applied to drinking; they would immerse their index finger in the alcohol and spit a bit out saying “Sus”. In Mgay Bari, The Truku would, symbolically, take a piece of meat or just point forward and shout “Sus Bari” to tell their ancestral spirit to eat or to drink first.

Mr. En-ma also said that placing a piece of meat as sacrifices to the ancestral spirits is actually a way of healing, for the purpose of praying for protection from nightmare.

In the interview with Mr. Kaji, he also mentioned that butchering a boar is to request blessings from the ancestral spirits. Boar meats and bloods must be shared by everyone, so that they can receive the blessings.

Therefore, Mr. Kaji said, the one who distributes the meat must be good at mathematics. He must first counted the numbers of all family members, and each member must have every parts of the boar, such as boar meat, boar bones, viscera, legs, etc. Suppose a clan has ten families; then each part of the boar must be divided into ten portions and distribute to each family. If a family does not get a portion of boar leg, that family will come to the person angrily and blame him. One must follow this rule however many members there are.

 

A boar was put on a banana leaf for distribution.

The boar was being cut into pieces for distribution evenly.

Shared boar meats were put into baskets.

 

 

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.

 



Types of Sacrifices
  Sacrifices used in Mgay Bari are usually the harvests of the Truku’s assiduous farming, and hunting in the mountain.

        In the interview with Mr. Kaji, he said that the sacrifices are the things we plant ourselves, such as: millets, maizes, sweet potatoes, taros, etc. For course, chickens, ducks and pigs farmed at home are indispensable. Besides these sacrifices, as a hunting tribe, the Truku will also offer prey such as wild boar to the ancestral spirits obtained from the hunting just before the Ancestral Spirit Ritual.

 

 

References:

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

 

 


 

An Introduction to the Sacrifices in Mgay Bari

 

Millets

 

Truku name: masu

Scientific name: Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv.

Description:

It belongs to Poaceae family and Setaria genus. It is an annual plant, with straight stalk, and grows lushly.   It has string or lanceolate leaves; its ligule is a circle of hair, sometimes with membranes. It is cylindraceous panicle, looks like tassel or tightened on branches, height 10-30 cm, drooping when matured. Inner husk and its tassel are equally long. 

Taiwan millets have a long history in cultivation. Perhaps they were introduced by early migrant from mainland China. They were the primary food for early Taiwan indigenous people. Usually they were planted at hillsides in spring. Currently, Pingtung County and Taitung County have the largest production of millets.

According to an investigation by Taitung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, Council of Agriculture, there was 160 varieties of millets in Taiwan. In the past, “Puloyang” and “Gaolan” in Taitung County, and Kuwali Yalin”, “Lala”, and “Lukang” in Pingtung County has the largest farming area of millets. These varieties were inherited by the indigenous people from various places. Their origins are unclear; besides, due to their long history of cultivation, these breeds have already been mixed. After breeding units’ seed selection, Taiwan has 8 breeds; among them, “Taitung 7” is the most widely cultivated and promoted.

 

 

References:

1. A Short Record of Taiwan Vascular Bundle Plants, Vol. 5—Millets. http://subject.forest.gov.tw/species/vascular/5/index-1.htm

2. Lin, W.J. (1996) Millets. A Handbook of the Cultivation of Various and Small Amount of non-Rice and –Wheat Products.. Agricultural and Forestry Department, Taiwan Provincial Government.

3. Su, C.C. (2001) An Introduction to Taiwan Delicate non-Rice and –Wheat Products. non-Rice and –Wheat Products and Livestock Products.

4. Agriculture and Food Agency website—Millets. http://www.afa.gov.tw/ public_index.asp?CatID=85

 

 

 


 

Maizes

 

Truku name: sqmu

Scientific name: Zea mays L.

Description:

It belongs to the Poaceae family and Zea genus. It is an annual plant with straight stalks; it has supporting roots at the base part of it stalk. It has big and wide leaves, big ligule with hairs. Male flowers grow at its top and are cone-shape. Tassels are grow in pairs, one with small stem, both have stamen; external husk are papery. Female flowers axillary with single raceme, which are wrapped by various bud; small tassels grow from plump stems, and are dense. They are cultivated, can only be seen beside fields and farms.    

Maize was imported from Xifan (between Yunnan, Tibet, and Myanmar) to China, earlier than other American-originated plants. According to A General Record of Yunnan in Ming Dynasty’s Wanli period, “Records of Dali Area” records that maize was already widely cultivated.        

 

 

References:

1. A Short Record of Taiwan Vascular Bundle Plants, Vol. 5—Maize. http://subject.forest.gov.tw/species/vascular/5/index-1.htm

2. Chiba, T., trans. by Yu, J.R. “The Maize Recorded in Ming’s Documents”. Scientific Agriculture, 1973: Vol. 21, Issue 5/6. http://seed.agron.ntu.edu.tw/ cropsci/ maize/yu01.htm

 


 

Sweet Potatoes

 

Truku name: bunga

Scientific name: Ipomoea batatas  (L.) Lam.

Description:

It belongs to the Convolvulaceae family and the Ipomoea genus. It is crawling herbaceous vine, whose stems crawl or entwine with the front end. Roots grow at the ground touching stems. Its root tubers are edible; leaves various greatly, and are heart-shape or circular, 6-14 cm long. Its base is heart-shape or truncate. Leafstalks are 4-15 cm long. It has pink to light blue flowers, and bell or funnel shape; its fruits are egg-shape.   

Sweet potatoes are originated in Latin American, and were brought back to Spain by Columbus. They were import to the Philippians in the 16th century. According to the Nong-zheng-quan-shu by Hsu Guang-chi, Min-xiao-hong by Chou Liang-gong, and Min-zaji by Shih Hong-bao, in Ming Wanli period, Chen Cheng-long from Fukian brought back sweet potatoes vine to Changchou, Fukien. They are important food in Taiwan; they can be seen in flats and low-level mountain regions fields anywhere on the island.

  

 

References:

1. Agriculture and Food Agency Website—Edible Sweet Potatoes. http://www. afa. gov.tw/public_index.asp?CatID=77

2. A Short Record of Taiwan Vascular Bundle Plants , Vol. 4—Sweet Potatoes. http://subject.forest.gov.tw/species/vascular/4/Book1/index-1.htm

 


Taro

 

Truku name: sari

Scientific name: Colocasia esculenta (L.)Schott

Description:

        It belongs to the Araceae family and Colocasia genus. It is an herbaceous wet-grown plant. Its Stem tubers are egg-shape, having brown and rough skin, with several wheel loops, their pulps are white, light yellow or purple dotted. Its leaves are wide and almost circular shape or shield shape, and grow on the top of the stems. Leaves’ points are short and sharp or short and gradually sharp. Its leafstalks are red-brown or green, having red-brown bases. Its tubers and leafstalks are edible. Its tubers contains starch, fiber, adhesive egg white, potassium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorous, zinc, and iron.

        It originated from South Eastern Asia, India and South China area. It was imported to Taiwan by Taiwan aborigine from South Eastern Asia, and then later was imported from China and Japan. Since its long history of cultivation, there are many different breeds and varieties. In terms of cultivation environment, Taros can be divided into hydra taro and drought taro. Bin-lang-hsin-yu and Mian-yu are the most common taros on the market. The former has better taste and scent, thus, popularity, while the latter is usually processed as taro powder.

 

 

References:

1.   The Fragrance of Chiahsian Taro—The Taro File—Breeds of Taro. http:// librarywork.taiwanschoolnet.org/cyberfair2006/jxp1/index2a.htm

2.  Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station—Column of Production and Marketing Squad—Agricultural Speciality. http://www.hdais. gov.tw/10/農特產品/蔬菜/taro.pdf

3.  Agriculture Website for Kids—Mita Kaleidoscope—Organisms—Plants—Vegetables—Stem Vegatables. http://kids.coa.gov.tw/knowledge.php?type=view &code=A13&id=taita_taita_20080123104914

4.  A Short Record of Taiwan Vascular Bundle Plants, Vol. 5—Taro. http://subject.forest.gov.tw/species/vascular/5/index-1.htm

 


 

Wild Boars

 

Truku name: bowyak

Scientific name: Sus scrofa taivanus

Description:

Taiwan Wild Boars are smaller than ordinary farm pigs. Their length from mouth to anus is about 70~90 cm; their heads slightly protrude, with a thick disk-shape front end with nostrils. They have small eyes, delicate tails with hairs. Young wild boars have brown-yellowish and black strips, very lovely. When they grown up, they become gray-black in colour. Their limbs are short, each with four fingers. Male boars have developed fangs, while female ones do not.

They are night animal, and polyphagia; mainly eat young leaves, tubers, juicy fruit or crops grown by farmers. They will also dig roots of trees or weeds; and lay on grasses to rest. They often left cylindraceous beast track; life-span last 15~20 years. They appear in forest and twitch grass area throughout Taiwan.  

 

 

References:

1. Yangmingshan National Park—Taiwan Wild Boars http://www.ymsnp.gov.tw/web/webpage.aspx?f=data_file/animal93/animal93_d3-12.htm

2. Digital Museum of Zoology, National Taiwan University —Mammal Database—Taiwan Wild Boars. http://archive.zo.ntu.edu.tw/mammal/r_mamm_index.asp?mamm_id=M0058

 


 

 

A Student’s Comment

Yan Wang:

  The most impressive thing for me is that, Mr. Kaji introduced to us many sacrifices used by the aborigines and their functions, such as wild boar meats are for the consumption of gods, their bones are for decoration, millets and maize are also for the gods’ consumption.

        I think my fellow student responsible for taking photos is very attentive, whose merits include: successfully captured the targets; some photos are quite good. But there are also demerits: some photos are blurry, while some other unclear…Mr. Kaji explains a lot about the functions of the sacrificial tools to us. I had had no idea about the functions of these sacrifices, but after his explanation, all of my questions disappeared!

 

 

 

 [Text by Yu-ling Wen, Pei-hsuan Hsu, Hui-yu Yan, Yan Wang, Teacher Shu-jun Hua; photo by Meng-yuan He, Yu-bo Wen, Teacher Shu-jun Hua; image processing by Meng-yuan He, Wen-bin Hsu]