Taiwan Indigenous News
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Political whisk: Angry Taiwan aboriginals throw eggs
"It's about our land, and the Council of Indigenous Peoples doesn't support us." The protesters, organised largely by aboriginal legislators, ...
Tea, aboriginal beads, cakes win contest for Taiwan's best products
Handcrafted with clay, they were used as a symbol of nobility and power in the aboriginal tribe. Now they have become one of the must-buy tour souvenirs in ...
Indigenous people call for minister to resign
6 (CNA) Over 300 members of the indigenous people's alliance for safeguarding the Aboriginal Basic Law staged a protest Tuesday in front of the Council of ...
Protesters slam interference in media affairs
PTS, Hakka Television Service and Taiwan Indigenous Television Service (TITV) are all affiliates of TBS, which is funded mainly by the government. ...
Back in the mists of time, the ancestors of the Truku tribe were hard pressed by years of starvation and disease, and so they decided to pack up their things and move to a new place. They gathered by the bank of the Chuoshui River’s upper reaches and called upon their good friends, the wild birds and beasts, for help.
The beasts and birds thought that the Heavens were unleashing disaster upon the Truku because the tribe was lacking tribal rules and social order. Therefore the animals decided that whoever would be able to bring down the huge boulder from the Pulayou Mountain should become the source and foundation of Truku tribal rules and social organization. The Truku and all their descendants would be required to strictly respect and follow the new norms.
In the ensuing contest, some realized that the task was too difficult for them and retired from the competition; others tried to lift the boulder but couldn’t do it. In the end, only the Crows, the Black Bulbuls, and the Gray-Cheeked Fulvettas, better known as the White-Eyes, were left in the contest. But both the Crows and the Black Bulbuls failed to fulfill the task, and at last it was the White-Eyes’ turn.
The Truku tribe was already despairing at the thought that the boulder’s size and weight were millions of times that of a tiny bird. But the White-Eyes weren’t fazed by this daunting prospect. Together, they tackled the seemingly impossible task, chirping “si-si, si-si-si”, as they used their united power to gradually lift the giant rock, their wings fluttering wildly. At last they miraculously managed to carry the boulder all the way from the Pulayou Mountain over forest and streams to the banks of the Chuoshui River, where the Truku tribe and the wild beasts were waiting for them. From that day on, the White-Eye became the source and symbol of the Truku tribe’s laws and customs.
