This survey was carried out at Kinuran, a Rukai village in
Formosa, in 1972. There is no rice paddy in this village. Their subsistence
economy is based on swidden agriculture.
( 1 ) There are three types of swidden fields: i) taro field, ii)
millet field, iii) groundnut field. In the field of the first type, taro
(Colocasia sp.) is planted as a main crop for the first year. After the
harvest of taro, sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas), foxtail millet (Setaria
italica) and sweet potatoes are continuously planted for four or five
years, and then the field is left fallow for ten years or more. In the
millet field, foxtail millet is sown mixed with small amount of maize
(Zea mays), Chenopodium sp., Sorghum sp., Cajanus cayan and Vigna
sinensis for the first year, and sweet potatoes are planted for the second
year in the same field. The swidden field of this type is usually used
only two or three years and left fallow for several years. The third
type or groundnut field which was introduced after the World War,
is always small in size. Groundnut and sweet potatoes are planted for
the first and the second years and some beans are added to them.
Sweet potatoes are thus the major product of the swidden fields in
the Kinuran village. Foxtail millet and taros follow the sweet potatoes.
Today millets other than foxtail millets are rarely cultivated. It can be
said that a large amount of Eleusine coracana and Holcus Sorghum werecultivated formerly.
The taro field is cleared from October to November, then burned,
planted from December to January, weeded several times, and harvested
from December to January of the next year. In this area, taros are
dried on a special stone oven, and stored. The millet field is cleared,
burned from November to December, sowed in March, weeded a few
times, and harvested at the end of July. The harvesting of foxtail
millet with sickle here being taboo, they pluck the ears by hand. The
traditional tools of cultivation used in swidden fields are long and short
digging sticks. The hoe is not traditional. Besides Eleusine coracana
millets of glutinous species dominate all millets. Glutinous foxtail millet,
which is used to make ritual food and beer, is regarded as the most
important crop in this society.
( 2 ) There are various rituals and taboos at each stage of the Rukai
swidden cultivation. Most of these are disappearing. We tried to reconstruct
as many as possible. On the day of forest cutting, men from each
family assemble in the field of the village headman, and cut a portion
of it. Later, each family begins cutting forest. There might be a ritual
hunting before the group cutting.
Next, on the occasion of sowing, there is a ritual in the corner of
the field, consisting of imitating the process from sowing to harvesting.
On the occasion of harvesting, there is a thanksgiving ritual in each field
before the harvesting is begun. There are complicated rituals concerning
taro cultivation. There were harvesting rituals involved in the cultivation
of Eleusine coracana, which we are not able to discuss it in detail. In
this area, agricultural rituals are focused on the cultivation of foxtail
millets.
The biggest ritual can be observed on the occasion of the harvest
festival. This ritual continues for more than twenty days. It is combined
with various elements such as year-end and ancestral rites .
This festival has now lost its old components. In this survey we were
not able to obtain extensive data.
ルカイ族の焼畑農業 : その技術と儀礼についての調査報告
KH_001_1_003-01.pdf
(31.65MB)
