The worshippers sacrifice pigs and use the pig heads as substitutes for human heads as offerings on the altar. Other parts of the ritual are still as primitive, except that electric lights have re placed campfires for illumination and that Buddhist and Taoist influences have crept into the performance of rituals.
Days before the ceremonies are held, the worshipping hall is spruced up. Colorful festoons decorate the environs within a radius of 1,000 meters. Seven vernacular drama stages and two movie screens are erected, to entertain the worshippers as well as the deities.
Inside the worshipping hall are a number of flour turtles and pigs as offerings to the deity. On the altar, are such items as betel nuts, wine, and various jars.
A big jar, representing the supreme deity, sits firmly on the altar, which is flanked by "officials," "generals" and "soldiers," assigned to the scene to serve and protect the supreme deity.
A young man emulate the supreme deity. (File photo)
The supreme deity should be very happy that day because Buddhas and deities are brought from other townships to congratulate her on her birthday.
At 8 o'clock, five pig carcasses are offered, Within minutes, 39 golden shields come into view, making the celebrations more colorful.
When the ceremonies begin, ritual officials, wearing white shirt and trousers, beg other deities to return for the festival.
A ritual official chants incantations and moves "prosperity water," contained in big urns decorated with sugar cane leaves, a symbol of a bumper harvest. Then three urns of the water are moved outside, and the rituals are repeated to appeal to the ancestors of the Pingpu tribe to return from abroad, Worship of heaven begins at mid-night. A group of girls dressed in white surrounds the urns to dance and sing under the direction of ritual officials wearing red headdresses. The whole scene is primitive, except for the blinding flashes from cameras.
Top left: This jar contains "prosperity" water; bottom: A worshipper makes her obeisance, surrounded by vividly tinted objects; top right: At midnight, worship of heaven begins with the ritual singing and dance of white-clad girls. (File photo)
At one o'clock the next morning, ritual officials visit the drama stages to thank the performers on behalf of the "supreme deity."
This marks the end of the ceremonies.
Strangely, most of the participants in the aboriginal ceremony are ethnic Chinese, while many of the aborigines have long since been converted to Christianity.
Three hundred years ago, Taiwan was still largely an "uncivilized" island. Pingpu tribal people were scattered across the island, They were later heavily assimilated by the increasing number of Chinese immigrants. Although Pingpu relics are still clearly visible in many places, the tribal people now wear modern Chinese and Western clothes and speak Taiwan dialect and Mandarin, little different from their fellow citizens.
The tribal people arrived in Taiwan at least five hundred years ago, but no one-including themselves-know where they came from. Many scholars believe they are of Malay stock and came to the island from Indonesia and the Philippines. However, one Pingpu elder tells a different story. He insists that his people originally came from the Chinese mainland.
Hung Che-chi, manager of the Toushe worshipping hall, says his great grandfather told his mother this story:
"Our ancestors lived on the Chinese mainland. They encountered a storm while crossing the seas to Taiwan. Their boat drifted for days, and in the end they had nothing to eat. They prayed for help and promised to show their gratitude in a big ceremony every year once they reached land. Suddenly, a woman appeared wearing a white robe and holding a big banner bearing the inscription, 'supreme deity.' The boat followed the banner. On the 15th day of the 10th moon, they landed in bright moonlight at Shaolung port, the present site of Chiali township in Tainan County.
"After landing, they searched their boat and found a handful of scattered grains left over by the rats. They sowed the grains on the island, and since that lime have never lacked food -except for the first seven years, Therefore, when we reap our harvest, we still scalier a handful of grains in the fields for the rats to eat. We call the grains “rentals to the rats.'
"In the days of our ancestors, fierce, savage people roamed the land, hunting human heads to offer to their deity. Our ancestors persuaded them to abandon this horrible custom and substitute pig heads for the human heads.
"During the first seven years, we suffered seven famines in a row, but our ancestors persevered and survived. The song, ‘Seven Years of Severe Drought,' that we sing in the worship ceremony, reminds us of this suffering, year by year. We and our offspring cannot afford to forget it for even a moment."
Women dominate Pingpu society, and the villagers worship the supreme deity. However, few villagers admit to belonging to the Pingpu tribe; they say they are ethnic Chinese, Apparently, this is a result of assimilation over the last several hundred years. As the supreme deity is a beneficial deity, many ethnic Chinese have come to join the aborigines in their worship.
In past ages, the date of worship was not fixed. During the Japanese rule, the villagers adopted the Chinese lunar calendar and began to celebrate the 15th day of the 10lh moon-the day of their ancestors' landing on Taiwan-as the birthday of the supreme deity.
At the celebrations, signs of national assimilation can be seen everywhere, The deer totem once worshipped by the Pingpu tribe has been replaced with a dragon banner, symbol of the ethnic Chinese. The supreme deity had regarded fire as a taboo. Now the burning of incense and paper money and other articles is practiced together with other Buddhist and Taoist rituals.
In the past, the pigs were stabbed to death with bamboo spears. Now, they are killed at the ceremony with a butcher knife. Chickens and geese are also offered as sacrifices alongside grains, betel nuts and rice wine.
The Toushe worshipping hall is unique. It would look more like a farm house than a shrine except for its many pillars. A village elder explains that the supreme deity preferred nature, and at first the altar was set up in a banana plantation, in a thatched shelter, with the approval of the deity. ln 1974, the villagers begged the deity for approval to rebuild the worshipping hall as a simple tile and brick structure. The deity approved, but would not allow the use of bright red tiles for the roof. In recent years, more affluent villagers have sought to rebuild the worshipping hall as a magnificent structure, but the deity has not yet given her permission.
Besides the worshipping hall for worship of the deity, there is a Presbyterian church in the village, established in 1872. The Rev. Chiang Ming-hui, minister of the church, was transferred to Toushe five years ago, In that period, he says, he has converted more than 100 villagers, most of whom belong to the Pingpu tribe. But all the converts speak Taiwan dialect or Mandarin; not one speaks the aboriginal tongue. They do not like to be called Pingpu tribe people. Most still earn their livings from the mountains; few run a business.
Minister Chiang concedes that most of the villagers still believe in their supreme deity, and that he is puzzled why so many of the aborigines have embraced Christianity ... and why more and more ethnic Chinese villagers go to worship the deity. None of the villagers has an answer,