The Rukai people, who inhabit the mountainous area of southern
Formosa, hold an annual festival, at the end of July, after
harvesting foxtail millet. Until about 50-60 years ago, according
to an old record, the festival lasted for 26 days. In 1972, when the
author undertook fieldwork in Kinuran Village, he learned of
some ethnohistorically significant rituals performed during the
millet harvest festival.
On the thirteenth day of the festival a large earthoven was
set up in the holy place called 'Tsatsapipianu', located outside the
settlement. Cakes of newly harvested glutinous millet, which was
collected from all the village households, were ritually cooked in
the oven. First, batter was prepared by mixing millet flour with
water. Then, the batter was poured onto a large leaf, used as a
wrapper. Finally, the wrapped batter was covered with heated
stones and cooked. According to the condition of the cooked cakes,
the fortune of harvests, of hunting and of the village was foretold.
On the following day the same divination, but on a smaller
scale, was performed at the house of a village priest, 'balakalai'.
This augury foretold, in particular, the fortune of hunting.
These two rituals were considered to be the most important
among those performed during the village festival. The author
examined records published before the war, regarding the geographical
distribution of the rituals. From the records it was apparent
that the rituals were practiced only in the Rukai area
proper, and in a part of the Paiwan regarded as having been
strongly influenced by the Rukai culture. Presumably, the custom
of cooking millet cakes in earthovens at the time of the millet
harvest festival was originally a distinct element of the Rukai
culture.
Seeing the rituals in relation to ethnohistory, three aspects
are noteworthy: (1) The cooking of ritual food in earthovens may
be regarded as a characteristic feature related to a former vegetative
planting culture. It is known that in a few Rukai villages taro
was usually cooked in the earthoven together with millet in the
ritual described; (2) However, in most villages millet cake rather
than taro was cooked as the ritual food. Moreover, this food was
prepared as a distinctive ritual in the millet harvest festival. Considering
these two facts, it appears that the millet culture, which is
presumed to be a relatively later introduction to this area, adapted
the cooking method of a ritual food used in the earlier vegetative
culture; and (3) In many villages of the Rukai the divination
performed in the millet harvest festival was practiced in order to
pray for both a bountiful harvest of crops and for rich hunting.
On the last day of the festival, after completing all the ritual procedures,
all adult male villagers assembled at the village holy place,
and, after performing a rite, then left on a ritual hunt. The
dominance of cultural elements associated with hunting among the
Rukai may be explained by the overriding importance of magicoreligious
land ownership, and the preference for owning hunting
territory rather than cultivating land, as has been argued by Prof.
Mabuchi. Moreover, it is assumed that the custom of ritual hunting
was already incorporated into the millet culture before it diffused to Formosa from the Chinese mainland.
新粟のチマキと豊猟の占い : ルカイ族・パイワン族のアワ祭り抄
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