Taiwan Indigenous News
Friday, 20 February 2009
TB Treatment Delays In Taiwan
It should also be noted that the mortality rate and incidence of TB are much greater in aboriginal communities in Taiwan than in non-aboriginal areas. ...
Taiwan's indigenous population up 2.05 percent
MOI officials said the increase was about six times that of the 0.34 percent rate of growth of Taiwan's overall population. Taiwan's indigenous people were ...
Not the same old song and dance
He aims to present a more authentic picture of Aboriginal performing arts and culture. “I want our customers to see the performances in their most original ...
President pushes to boost tourism in Taiwan's indigenous areas
8 (CNA) Concerned over the development of tourism in Taiwan's indigenous areas, President Ma Ying-jeou asked government agencies Sunday to work with travel ...
The Amis worship nature and have strong animistic beliefs. For them, the cosmos is filled with numinous spirits. The Amis people’s fundamental religious ideas can be summed up as follows:
The sun is called “Ina”, which means “mother”, and the Amis believe that it was Ina who created heaven and earth. Ina is the highest and most revered deity, and the female goddess Foongi is viewed as her embodiment. The fact that the most important and powerful Amis deity is female is inextricably linked to the Amis’s origins as a matrilineal society.
The moon is called “Mema”, which means “father”. The Amis hold that Mema made the five grains, and revere him in his incarnation as the male deity Malataw.
The Amis believe that human fate is entirely in the hands of the Spirits. Female deities are in control of life and death, decide a newborn’s gender and a person’s lifespan, control health and prosperity and are responsible for the different peoples and races in the world. Male deities are in charge of plants and animals, the soil and its minerals, as well as water in all its manifestations (such as vapour, steam, clouds and mist), and other natural phenomena.