Taiwan Today

The biennial Austronesian Cultural Festival kicks off in eastern Taiwan’s Taitung County Aug. 6, with 117 days of performances and activities to celebrate the cultures of indigenous peoples. According to Taitung County Government, which organized the months-long event, this year’s festival is designed to showcase the living wisdom and cultural beauty of aboriginal peoples through a journey of the five senses. The TCG hopes this experience will allow visitors to better understand the significance and diversity of Austronesian cultures. “The concept behind the festival is to restore aboriginal traditions to our daily life, rather than exist only in the form of performances,” County Magistrate Justin Huang said at a news conference. Austronesian peoples call many areas of the world home, from Madagascar in the west to as far east as Easter Island, in addition to many parts of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. Despite their many differences, Austronesian peoples are linguistically related, and the prevailing theory is that Taiwan is their ancestral homeland. The festival is scheduled to begin with a series of celebrations of music and dance. Performances will showcase the sights and sounds of rituals from eight separate cultures hailing from places such as Hawaii, New Zealand and the Solomon Islands. The Cabinet-level Council of Indigenous Peoples also invited representatives from aboriginal communities in Australia. Though not of Austronesian descent, they were asked to participate out of recognition of their rich aboriginal culture and heritage. Additional dance performances, as well as displays of aboriginal songs, art, craftsmanship and cuisine, will also take place under themes such as “Native Power,” “the Native Voices of Aborigines,” “the Artwork of Aborigines,” “Embroidery of a Hundred People,” “Art Bus of the Aborigines” and “Music and Dance Performance of Aborigines.” The Taitung Austronesian Cultural Festival, which began in 1999, was the first cultural festival in Taiwan to highlight Austronesian peoples. Symposiums are scheduled to take place at the event, with lectures and discussions led by scholars of Austronesian studies from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and the Cook Islands, among other nations and regions. (WF-JG) Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw