Sacrifices and the Souls of the Body

This exhibition room illustrates the sacrifices and concept of spirits of the Saisiat, Tsou, and Bunun.

The pastaai ceremony of Austronesian tribes is a very special sacrificial ceremony, where people offer sacrifices to the legendary pygmies that were killed by the Saisiats. This is a representative sacrifice of the traditional ceremonies, dress, and social forms of the tribes.

Mayasvi (the War Ceremonies) and Homeyaya (the Millet Ceremonies) are the two important ceremonies of Tsou. The relationships between the tribe and the households can be observed. In the recent years, the Tsou people have actively reached out to perform cultural performances derived from traditional ceremonies. They even cooperated with Han Chinese artists in the play "Tsou's Oedipus" in year 1997. < More information>

The sorcery practiced by Bunun is said to have effects on relieving diseases or disasters for people, but also bringing them upon people. The sorcerers gain power through inauguration ceremonies, sorcery instruments, and annual power reinforcement ceremonies. However, sorcery is not specific to the sorcerers, but a power that everyone would want to learn. Today, Christianity and modern medicine have replaced some function of sorcery.