You really need sound. No recording like in many other villages. All live… A call followed by an answer by probably 200 or so men. Goose bumps.
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When I see their regalia, I wonder about the origin of the fluorescent colors.
Some more @chilifries. My phone camera really sucks but I suppose you get an idea. Yesterday was the competition and I took pics of mostly the older groups. But the young guys and girls groups are typically the bigger attraction. They practice their routines for a week in preparation. The older folks just get out there on the day of.
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I don’t know anything about the history of their costumes. But it is a festival/celebration and I feel many indigenous groups around the world have colorful outfits for these occasions.
@marasan, thank you very much for taking the photos. Hopefully one day I will be able to see tis for myself. The sounds must have been amazing.!
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I.mentioned this because neon/fluorescent colours did not exist prior to the 1930s;
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Most Pangcah traditional clothing, especially ceremonial ones were black in tone. They were forced to switch to red by the Japanese because the Japanese wanted the colors to pop in tourist performances. The decorative colors were likely feathers or other more earthly colors prior to the Japanese as well.
Some Pangcah tribes have a male only dance with umbrellas, where they would hold the umbrellas high and march in a singe file with a bouncy step. Before the Japanese they originally held a long spear and that was the Pangcah war dance. The Japanese banned the spears, so they used umbrellas instead.
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Where is the solved button? 
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There are poeple working to restore the traditional black color, and there are people who thinks red is just fine.
Aboriginal issues are difficult like that. There are Pangcah who hates the name Amis, and Tao who hates the name Yami, yet there are people who thinks the current name has the Hanji 美 in it, and it’s beautiful. There are people who wants to restore the spear dance, and there are people who wants to keep the umbrellas as is…
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Well, so the vice prez of Taiwan is here now. Trying to get a picture.
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Shook his hand but didn’t want to do the selfie thing with him. Secret service guys all over the place.
Edit: His security are tall, big dudes. But really with the Amis crowd they didn’t look especially tall or big. I’m 184 cm and many tower above me here.
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A vibrant celebration of Taiwan’s little-known original inhabitants
BBC has nice story, if readers get a chance to visit the Eastern area of Taiwan
linko :bbc.com/travel/article/20240125-a-vibrant-celebration-of-taiwans-little-known-original-inhabitants
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Been to a few. I like the festivities, but at the same time sometimes feel like I don’t belong there as an outsider. Although we have always been received very friendly.
Eh, most people welcome those who are obviously outsiders.
copious amounts of mijiou.
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I know, but it can still feel like you don’t belong there.
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The Tsou tribe I live in has warriors rituals and other festivals. The Mayasvi warriors ritual is after the lunar new years. The main day is on a weekday so that keeps a lot of tourists from coming. Tourists are welcome but they often break taboos during the ritual even when asked not to. So they can be asked to leave. Rituals are not a show.
Non tribes people are always welcome.
In my experience, it depends on the area. For the Hualien City, Guangfu (Hualien County), Tabalong (Hualien County) harvest festivals, I have felt very welcome. But once, at a festival close to Shitiping (almost at Taidong County), I felt unwelcome, with one guy even telling me pictures weren’t allowed. Well, we left after about 5 minutes and I’m still wondering why that tribe gave off that very unfriendly vibe. My Amis wife had no answers.
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I believe that as some tourists have just ruined some festivals there has been some push back. Right now our KUBA is being re-thatched for the Warriors Ritual in a few weeks.
It’s a sacred place where women and tourists are not allowed to enter. Even with signs up saying so there are always people who will do so. The worst was a crew from Discovery who went in at midnight and setup cameras to film inside the KUBA. They had their equipment removed and were told to leave. Of course they claimed they got permission which was BS.
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yes I found some are fairly open and some are very shy. maybe depends on the individuals. Generally speaking I never found aboriginal people very outgoing actually, maybe slightly more outgoing than the general population. They certainly will NOT always invite you to join their parties contrary to the stereotypes.
There are some sacred ceremonies as mentioned so I guess it also depends on what is going on at that time.
There is one Bunun tribal ceremony where they do the polyphonic chanting I would love to see, but the best video of it happens to be possibly from a tourist who practically inserted herself into the middle of one ceremony many years ago. That would be very uncool unless invited (see below…do not do this lol).
Anyway I agree that at some of these smaller festivals you will stick out like a sore thumb because , well, everybody is from that area and knows each other already. The big ones in Hualien and Taitung city will be less intimidating to join in the fun so to speak.
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