Truku
The Truku tribe is Taiwan’s fifth largest indigenous tribe. On January 1, 2004, it was officially recognized as Taiwan’s 12th tribe. The Truku formerly inhabited an area on the western side of Hehuan Mountain at the source of the Zhuoshui River in Nantou County. However, the tribe crossed the Central Mountain Range and arrived in the Liwu River region of Hualien County during the pursuit of game, finally settling there. In 1914, Japanese colonial forces fought a large battle with the Truku, after which the tribe was forced to move to lower elevations where they could be better monitored. Today, their former activity area along the Liwu River is part of the Taroko National Park.
Truku refers to a mountain plateau or a place suitable for living. The Truku carried out hunting and cultivation. Similar to the Atayal, when men and women came of age, their faces were tattooed. In traditional society, the adult members of the tribe elected their leaders. Elected leaders served as the village spokespersons and maintained the peace within the village, mediating all disputes. Every village had a designated hunting territory and its protection was the collective responsibility of all of the village males.
Ancestral spirit worship forms the core of the Truku spiritual beliefs. Healing rites and prayers for blessings carried out by the tribal shamans were part of the traditional customs, collectively referred to as Gaya. The Truku believed that all sickness and disasters were the punishment of the deities or the ancestral spirits. Thus, it was essential to worship the ancestral spirits to appease them. The village chieftain, priest and shaman were responsible for overseeing the Gaya. Every year in fall or winter, the Truku carry out ceremonies to ask the ancestral spirits to bless and protect them and to provide plentiful harvests.
