Different cultures and traditions of different Indigenous tribes were kept for 6000 years. indigenous’s traditional festival is used for praying for cereal bumper harvests next year, thanks to their ancestors’ blessing, or relates to nurture. The festival includes traditional songs and dances in the Indigenous tribes. Malahtangia is a kind of festival that will be used to affirm the social class of the men in the tribe, remind people to respect the hunter, and Men help boys learn and improve their shooting skills. Malahtangia is a festival from Bunun when there is leisure time. Moreover, this festival prays for abundant hunting, and family thriving. Before the government band hunting, during the Malahtangia, every male adult has to hunt in the mountain. They will have to cut the hunted animal’s ear down and put it on the tree of the sacrifice site. This action can help show your bravery and exploits. At the festival, people go through the activity such as archery ceremony, exorcism, sacrificial spear, and bamboo recruitment.
Tecil Art is an important part of the Bunun’s culture. Wheeling helps Indigenous people stay warm during the period without machines. Bunun uses black, green, red, and yellow to decorate the totem on the textile. Most of the textile will be woven on the totem of the Hundred-pace Viper, named Kaviath in Bunun’s language, meaning “friends”. According to the myths in Bunun culture, the Hundred-pace Viper was once an enemy of their ancestor. However, after signing the peace conference, they turned into friends. Some other myths say they can’t hunt Hundred-pace Viper because the snakes are their children. In the myths, mothers in the village claim that their children turned into snakes.
The distribution of Indigenous people
Hualien occupied 93,267, while Taoyuan occupied 82,236, which is the first two places. Later on, Taitung takes over 78,266 of the population of Indigenous people. La’aluwa, Kanakanafu, Seediq, Tsou, Bunun, Rukai, Yamim(Tawu), Taroko, Paiwan, and Atayal, are indigenous tribes that distribute on mountains. While other Indigenous tribes and located on the plain. Most of the Bunun lives in the sides of Central Mountain, between 500 and 1500 meters above sea level.
Population
Taiwan's Indigenous peoples have 16 officially recognized ethnic groups with a total population of about 580,000, accounting for about 2.5% of Taiwan's total population. The graph shows the main population numbers of Taiwan’s 16 Indigenous groups according to the Council of Indigenous People. Amis has the most population compared to the other 15 groups.
Economic and working conditions
Discrimination from society causes an unfriendly working environment for the Taiwanese indigenous. Indigenous tribes in Taiwan have existed for about 6000 years, which carries priceless culture and history. In order to protect the traditional culture, the government established the Council of Indigenous People on December 10, 1996. The Council of Indigenous People provides Indigenous rights and well-being. They face problems including low salaries, lack of labor rights, and employment instability. The probability for Indigenous people to lose their jobs in 2001 was 15.88%, and non-indigenous people’s probability of losing jobs was 5.26%. The labor market’s employment environment was more difficult with the globalization of capitalism. The culture gap and low adaptation between Indigenous culture and mainstream society cause more difficulty in employment. The Council of Indigenous People supports the economy of Aboriginal people by adopting protection and obtaining employment actively.
