As technology evolves, many traditional cultures are gradually becoming more unknown to the public and future generations. Taiwan is also dealing with this issue, particularly with indigenous peoples and their cultures. Weaving is one of the most historical and unique cultures, apart from all others. Different indigenous natives developed different techniques, but they were generally used for clothing. Begin when weaving became automated, causing individuals to lose interest in the weaving technique. Few individuals today recognize the significance of weaving art. Yuma is the keeper of Atayal weaving traditions and wishes to introduce them to the public.
The indigenous nations are always an important group of people in Taiwan. They have special festivals, cultures, and traditions. Weaving is one of the most distinctive traditions of the indigenous people, which can represent them by the art of patterns. The Atayal weaving is the most famous one. Nowadays, the indigenous tradition has been gradually forgotten, but people haven’t realized how serious this problem is. To bring their traditions back to the public, we think starting with the well-known tradition will be a good idea. Promoting their tradition connecting t the modern fashion may bring up the attention from children, adults, and even elders to help protect the culture, and in all kinds of ways to promote them the best way is to use the powers of the internet to show and teach people how important it is to pay attention to traditions and honor the culture they’ve created.
The indigenous people were the earliest people who settled in a country or land. They are divided into different nations based on their living area, and traditions. In Taiwan, there are 16 indigenous nations, and the Atayal are the ones we are going to focus on. Among the 16 others, the Atayals' distribution is the largest, covering one-third of the mountains in the middle and north of Taiwan. Like all other indigenous nations, they also have the tradition of weaving, represented by their unique patterns and meanings. At first, they weave because the technology wasn’t developed, so they need to make their daily needs by their-selves. Their technique has become great, which allows them to create their own kind of art. But through time, technology is developing, people no longer need to weave by themselves. Meanwhile, this tradition is being forgotten.
Few people still want to replicate their traditions due to carelessness or hassle. Yuma Taru, who wants to bring the Atayal weaving culture back to the public, is who we are going to interview. She has started to work in this field at 29, till now, it's been almost forty years. She has always been trying to bring the weaving tradition back to life. To understand more about the distinctive weaving culture of Atayals, we are going to explore their specialized crafting mastery in this project.