Taiwan Indigenous News
Tuesday, 25 October 2005
Female head of the national park system seeks to improve parks
... She said she could sense the wisdom of the mountain forests as passed down throughout the ages by Taiwan's indigenous peoples. The ...
Hsieh reveals moves to help indigenous students
... crystal display television to the students at an elementary school in Taitung County and announced more measures to help Taiwan's indigenous children secure ...
Tribe wants official recognition
... "Taiwan's indigenous tribes are all unique minorities in this country, but we are all the original residents of the island. Every ...
The Saisiat’s ceremonial dress for their rites and festivals is embroidered with many beautiful totemic patterns. The most important of these are:
1. Rhombic Patterns: These resemble the shape of the human eye, and indeed the Saisiat hold that the rhombic designs represent the eyes of their ancestors’ souls. Applying such designs to their clothing mainly serves two functions. Firstly, it means that the ancestors are watching over their descendants as guardian spirits. But it also serves as a constant admonition to the wearer to refrain from evil deeds.
2. Swastika (卐) Patterns: In the Saisiat context, the swastika represents the natural phenomenon of lightning. Legend has it that in the old days there was a god of thunder who particularly looked after the well-being of the Saisiat tribe. He descended into the mortal world and helped the tribe with the tilling and sowing. Time went by, and the Saisiat became lazier and lazier, as they now relied on the god’s help to do their work. One day, the thunder god came home from working in the fields and asked one of the tribespeople to prepare him a meal, since he was very hungry. But the cook couldn’t be bothered, and so he just gave the god some of the pot’s ashes. That was the final straw, and having had enough, the thunder god returned to heaven in great anger. Only now did the Saisiat realize that they had make a big mistake, and from that time on they began to stitch the swastika-like lightning designs onto their garments in memory of the thunder god, and to remind themselves to work hard and lead decent lives instead of giving in to indolence.
3. Stripes, Crosses and Circular Patterns: In earlier times, intermarriage between the Saisiat and Atayal tribes was common, which explains how several typical Atayal designs and totemic patterns found their way into Saisiat culture and clothing.
The most important colors in Saisiat culture are: