Mythical birds:
How was man created? In the process of survival, how many trials have been overcome? These kinds of problems are more or less constants in the minds of human beings, so every culture has its own fables about the genesis of life. According to anthropological theories, the Bunun story of the "bulbul bringing fire across the water" has its origins in the Fourth Ice Age in geological history. Because the glaciers melted, that period also witnessed the rise of the level of the ocean. From the same time period, Westerners have the story of Noah's Ark on the survival of man, as well as other tales of creation. The Han Chinese also later developed the legend of the official Yu, who was so occupied with and devoted to taming the floods that he passed his old home three times without even entering the door.
For the aborigines, who have long lived in mountain forests, their living environment has been rich with avian life. The lengthy history of their existence could be seen as a history of constant interaction and coexistence with nature. And legends about how animals gave birth to human infants, and of the kindness of animals toward mankind in its struggle for existence are also richly varied and widely passed down.
Leading the Taiya people to shoot the sun:
Last year's Cloud Gate Dance Theater production, "Shooting the Sun," is actually a story of the repeated hardships faced by the Taiya aborigines as they tried to establish themselves and grow. During the warm period prior to the ice age, which is to say at the same time that the Han Chinese legend of Hou Yi (who shot down nine of the ten suns with his bow and arrow) was said to take place, the Taiya version has it that another sun appeared in the sky. There were two suns, one above and one below, so that the distinction between day and night was lost. The weather became oppressively hot, and illnesses spread rampantly; all living things faced extinction. To protect the future of their children and grandchildren, the sisilika bird, which has an important place among the Taiya people, suggested that the people bring down one of the suns with an arrow.
Under its guidance, a group of warriors set off to find the sun, moving generation after generation, until finally they had reached a peak close enough to shoot down their target. After being pierced by the warriors, the sun emitted fresh blood, which spattered across the heavens to become the stars. After it had been bled white, what was left became the moon. The bird's plumage was also colored by the blood, becoming spotted reddish-purple. Because today it is impossible to discover which bird the sisilika was, Cloud Gate selected as its bird the Swinhoe's pheasant, a species unique to Taiwan whose body is colored blue and also has purple markings.
Symbol of speed:
In primitive times when people understood little of natural phenomena, they were both impressed by and fearful of the birds' "transcendent" abilities. Although small, birds could do something man could not--fly--and cross spaces where man could not go. People were both envious and bitter, so that many birds have become important symbols of one kind or another.
In the rites of adulthood of the Rukai and Paiwan people, it is essential to hold a footrace. Because those fittest and fleetest could in times of danger return fastest to the village for help, or warn others to flee the approaching danger, or could also quickly hunt down animals, a strong body became an important requirement for protecting the tribe. It was an integral part of being considered adult.
Only the swiftest individual in the tribe had the right to embroider a bird on his clothing. Today the villagers of New Haucha in Wutai Rural Township, Pingtung County, still have the custom of carving patterns into the walls. But only two houses in the village can carve swallows on their wall. Birds are a symbol of speed, which has great significance for a hunting society. Because the younger brother of the Paiwan sculptor Sakuliu finished first in the dash at the Taiwan Area Athletic Meet, he is allowed five Mikado pheasant feathers in his headdress; Sakuliu has only one pheasant feather.
Showing bad parents the bird:
Birds also serve as warning signals to Taiwan's aboriginal peoples. It is said that neglectful parents may find that their children have turned into birds and flown to the treetops by the time their parents remember to think about them. Two brothers in Lanyu who were ill-treated turned into birds and flew away; the Taiya also have a tale of a girl who changed into an eagle.
Then there are children who suffer too much pressure and dream of turning into birds and sailing away. "In fact this is a spiritual escape, a way to seek psychological balance," says Hung Tien-chun. Modern psychologists use their concepts to try to explain this. This kind of bird story could serve as a warning to irresponsible parents, and also as a lesson to all the people.
In fact, most nationalities have some feathered fables. The symbolic meanings expressed in birds among the aboriginal peoples are all present in other peoples as well.
For example, Chinese people long ago used bird divination as a basis for deciding the good or ill of a given circumstance; the same practice has had a critical function for the aboriginal peoples also.
Hung Tien-chun notes that bird divination is a special feature of cultures from the Austronesian linguistic family. Of Taiwan's nine aboriginal peoples, all, except for the Yami of Orchid Island, and even including the Pingpu, had the custom of bird divination.
A wing and a prayer:
Of course, the tools for divination included more than just fowl. But, except for dream interpretation, birds remained the most important. For everything from building a home and hunting to planting and harvesting, and even going to sea, bird prognostications would invariably be held at the designated altar. If halfway through a bird was seen engaged in some activity thought to be ominous, it was necessary to call things off and go back home. Some aborigines who as small children went hunting with the elders still remember divination scenes.
In his book, Journey Through Formosa, a missionary named MacKay wrote, "The aboriginal people give the deepest respect to and sincerely trust in the calls and actions of the birds, and must consult them each time before striking out on some dangerous activity, especially hunting. First they go to the edge of the village, the throw a branch up into a tree to scare the birds. They will only set off if the birds' calls and flight are a certain way; otherwise the leader won't be able to get up their courage to set off."
Anthropologists explains that prognostication and divination spring from man's curiosity and thirst for knowledge. Both are normal human psychological traits. But pre-modern peoples add the idea of the spirit world, and in their surprise at unfathomable phenomena, will further draw misleading connections, so that they come to have faith in fortune telling. Divination activities based on these beliefs and primitive taboos can be seen in much the same way we see law in modern society.
A little birdie told me:
For the older generation, bird divination has still been an important basis for setting norms of behavior. Because they have completely internalized their sense of respect and/or dread of nature, the impact is far greater than modern laws or structures.
Bird divination was first recorded by Westerners in the 17th century. At that time because gold had been discovered in Taiwan and silver in Japan, there was a certain fever in the West to "seek one's fortune in the islands of the Orient." In March, 1640, the Dutch governor of Taiwan ordered his men to set sail from Anping to find gold in Peinan in eastern Taiwan. In the course of their search, their Peinan guide heard a bird call and found it to be inauspicious, and insisted on going back. He held to his view no matter how much the Dutch implored him, and though the latter were non-plussed, they had no choice but to call off their journey.
There are also descriptions of the aborigines in the Huang Ching Chih Kung Tu [Descriptions of Ways of Life]: when deer hunting, they would observe and listen to the birds, and, based on the length and strength of the warble, the way the bird was flying, and so on, determine whether or not it was a good idea to press on. The Fan She Tsai Feng Tu Kaotsai [Descriptions of the Customs and Folklore of Barbarian Societies] suggested that this was like the Han Chinese custom of geomancy when building houses or bridges, when a geomancer is asked to interpret the lay of the land, saying that although the aborigines knew nothing of geomancy, they had their own methods when building a house--they selected an auspicious day according to the calls of the birds.
A natural law:
As we have seen in choosing birds to symbolize speed, the status of birds was ordinarily quite high, though each aboriginal group used different types of birds for prognostication. In the section on divination birds in the reference book of Liu Ko-hsiang, a venerable friend to winged creatures, he says that the Bunun often looked to the lesser scimitar babbler, while the sibis, which can even today be seen flying about the Taipei Botanical Gardens, played the main divination role for the Taiya. It remains to be explained why certain types were selected, but unfortunately today only the Taiya and the Tsao peoples have retained legends explaining the origin of their birds of pray-tell.
In the local gazetteer from Chiayi County it is recorded that, before the Tsao had bows and arrows, they captured animals in traps. An orphan invented a projectile, and used it to shoot down birds and beasts, becoming as adept as a god. In later years, weakened and frail, no longer able to go up into the mountains, he told his fellow tribesmen: "When I die I will become a bird. When my call is clear and expansive, that is an auspicious sign; when it is thin and weak, that is an omen of evil. Before setting off hunting you must take note of this call." When he died, his limbs became birds, the type that are today known to Chinese as the "bamboo finch."
Hung Tien-chun, who has been hunting in the mountains with aboriginal people, says that one cannot explain this practice in contemporary terms; the way the aborigines explain natural phenomena follows a completely different logic.
Birds have dialects, too:
In fact, bird divination is based on the cumulative wisdom of nature as observed by their ancestors. For example, when the air is humid, dark clouds appear, and rain seems imminent, birds' calls will change; when one hears that particular tone, it's best not to go out. Modern studies confirm that what most people take for identical bird calls are actually more than 100 variations which differ based on the season and the surroundings. Indeed, besides having their own "pidgin English" for communication with their fellows, a given species will also have "dialects" in different areas. Thus bird divination actually includes observation of natural transformations, which have been condensed into basic principles and then passed on to future generations.
Today many elderly people still like to do things according to the almanac, and Chinese society still has holidays on the basis of the lunar calendar; like the ancestors of all mankind, those of the first inhabitants of Taiwan followed the opening of the flowers, the falling of the leaves, and the calls of the birds to serve as reference in deciding when to be idle. Thus in the spring they turned the soil and planted seeds; when the summer rainy season came, that was the time to allow the little creatures of the wild to be born and mature, and anyway it being dangerous to go deep into the mountains in the rainy season, people held off on hunting. When autumn and winter arrived, it was time to harvest; it was also the sign that the animals had grown, so it was time to go back to the mountains and take up the chase.
Respect the natural timetable:
Bird divination is a type of natural timetable. In fact, for these original settlers of Taiwan, there was a large chance that ominous ornithological omens would turn up, and when they did the people could only wait for the signs to change at some later time; in this period they could relax in the forests and have fun, giving both nature and themselves a little rest. Today, when people move at an ever faster pace, it seems like using bird divination to decide holidays might be worth a try.
Also part of bird divination is a sense of respect for the wonder of nature, what people today lack most. Moderns understand nature, and employ it more efficiently, than old-timers, but lack the respect for nature that should follow scientific and technical comprehension. Only if people see nature as something that cannot be simply invaded will people treat nature in a rational way; otherwise people will only retain their sense of self-importance and rudely develop and exploit nature.
Yet, the aboriginal culture of legends and myths has disintegrated, and only a few of the older generation ensconced in the mountains still understand and observe the avian-related customs.
Taiwan's birds and Taiwan's people have passed thousands of years together on this piece of earth, but in the future people might only know of it in stories.
[Picture Caption]
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It is legend among the Bunun people that in ancient times the black bulbul crossed the water to bring fire to their ancestors.(photo by Kuo Chih-yung)
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A sparrow carved on the wall of a home in Haucha Village means that someone in the house has been a champion runner.
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The Paiwan sculptor Sakuliu is no match for his younger brother in a footrace, so he gets only one pheasant feather in his cap.
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