中文

The Rukai

Myth and Celebration

Most of the Rukai celebrations and rituals revolve around millet, with a sprinkling of activities involving fishing and hunting.

  1. Millet Harvest Ritual
    Also simply called Millet Ritual by the Rukai, this is the most important ceremony of their entire year. It is held in the middle of January to express the tribe’s gratitude for a bountiful crop.
    Meanwhile, the Rukai’s Bumper Harvest Festival has evolved into sort of an “all purpose” festival, a chance for the tribe to keep its traditional rites and customs alive, and to reconnect with their own cultural roots.
  2. Bumper Harvest Festival
    Consists of the following activities:
    1. Rukai New Year Rites
      1. Youth Knife Presentation Rite
      2. Brave Hunters’ Cake Sharing Ceremony
      3. Ritual in which the chief adorns the young women’s hair with lilies
    2. Black Rice Ceremony (Tapakadrawane)
      Every January, the Rukai will put on their most magnificent ceremonial dress and present the crops to the chief, who will then distribute them among those families who had a poor harvest that year.
      The hunters from the various settlements will also offer their prey to the chief, but those who had a bad year are exempt from this requirement.
    3. Millet Ceremony The Millet Ceremony marks the end of one year, and the beginning of the next. Today, the ceremony has been considerably simplified and thoroughly integrated into the larger Bumper Harvest Festival
    4. Swinging on the Swing This is a buoyantly romantic activity for the tribe’s youths. As the girl is pushed ever higher by her sweetheart, the others are dancing slowly around them, holding each other by the hand and singing at the same time. The higher the girl goes, the louder and more fervent the singing becomes.
      The Swinging on the Swing custom emphasizes the status of women within the tribe. For this event, the young women wear their full attire, finery and all, symbolizing their purity and refinement. Married women may not go on the swing, and women of loose conduct aren’t allowed to participate, either.
    5. Spearing the Bliss Balls This ceremonial competition is one of the most important parts of the Bumper Harvest Festival. Representatives of the chief and of the elevated members of the tribe gather on the ceremonial square. They sit on a specially erected scaffold, holding a long bamboo pole in the hand, waiting for the officiating shaman to throws a bliss ball (made from rattan or some similar material) high in the air. Then all the participants, representing their respective clans, will look up to follow the flight of the ball, and try to spear the descending bliss ball with their bamboo pole. The atmosphere reaches a climax whenever someone succeeds in doing this. Then another ball is thrown, and the contestants try their luck again. This is repeated many times, the contest being one of the high points of the entire Bumper Harvest Festival. Everybody is curious to see who among the young contestants shows the most skill with the pole, and it is considered a source of great honor and pride to do well in this event.
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