What are the customs of the Gaoshan people?
The formation and development of a nation must lead to the emergence of many customs and customs. The Gaoshan people, like other ethnic minorities, also have their own unique customs. These customs come from all aspects of life, including festival customs, living customs, wedding customs, funeral customs, etc., and are an important manifestation of the Gaoshan people’s culture. Now let’s take a look at the customs of the Gaoshan people.
Festival customs
Most of the traditional festivals of the Gaoshan people have a strong religious flavor and are basically in the form of sacrificial ceremonies. Such as reclamation ceremony, sowing ceremony, weeding ceremony, harvest festival, five-year ceremony, ancestral spirit ceremony, fishing and hunting ceremony, dwarf spirit ceremony, boat ceremony, flying fish ceremony, etc. Among them, the “harvest year ceremony” is a ritual held by the Gaoshan people except the Yamei people. festival. During the festival, in addition to singing and dancing banquets, sports competitions, cultural exhibitions, entertainment activities, etc. are also added.
Gaoshan people like to hold banquets and singing and dancing gatherings on festivals or festive days. On every festival, pigs and cows are slaughtered, and wine is prepared for banquets. At the end of the year, the Bunun people use the leaves of a plant that eats “Xino”, wrap them in glutinous rice and steam them for people of the same clan to enjoy as a celebration.
The most representative food for Gaoshan people’s festival banquets is cakes and glutinous rice cakes made from various kinds of glutinous rice. Not only can it be used as a snack during festivals, but it can also be used as an offering for sacrifices. Glutinous rice is also made into rice to serve guests.
residential customs
In the past, the Gaoshan people lived close to mountains and rivers, nesting in caves, or building houses made of bamboo thatched thatches or wooden structures. Housing types include wooden houses, bamboo houses, thatched houses, slate stone houses, thatched roof underground houses, etc., but they pay great attention to the combination of style and practicality. Most of them are rectangular or square, with doors but no windows.
wedding customs
Marriage among the Gaoshan people is monogamous, and marriage between close relatives is prohibited. Most men and women unite in free love. For example, the Atayal people whistle to express their love, and some Amis women go to the man’s house to give gifts to express their love. Gaoshan young men and women are very free in love and marriage, and their parents never interfere. When a girl reaches marriageable age, a separate residence is prepared for her in the family.
During weddings, Paiwan people grind millet into powder, add water to make a paste, wrap fish and shrimps (shrimps with their tails exposed), shape into egg-sized balls, put them in a pot of boiling water, cook them, and take them out after they are cooked.
funeral customs
In the form of funeral, the Atayal, Bunun and Cao people usually bury the body inside the house and bury the body under the bed of the deceased. The Paiwan and Dawu people bury their dead in open spaces in front and behind their houses, and the Ami people bury their dead on the spot.
