Amis
The Amis is the largest of Taiwan’s indigenous tribes, and traditionally subsisted mostly on fishing and farming. The traditional dances of the Amis are among the liveliest and most colorful of Taiwan’s indigenous tribes. The distribution of the Amis is in eastern Taiwan from Hualien in the north to the Hengchun Peninsula in the south. Anthropologists divide the tribe into five groups based on their distribution, namely the Hengchun, Taitung (Beinan), coastal, Xiuguluan and Nanshi Amis.
This is traditionally a matrilineal society, with the women inheriting the family’s property and the men marrying into the wife’s family. The women were the head of their respective households, while the men were responsible for the affairs of the village. The Amis also followed a strict age hierarchy. When males reached the age of 13, they went to live in the youth hall and received training. Every three years, they had to pass physical fitness tests to be able to be promoted to the next age level. At the age of 22, they were ready to be warriors and eligible to marry.
The major Amis ceremonies were based on the agricultural, fishing and hunting seasons. In earlier times, ceremonies related to farming included the seeding, post-seeding ancestral spirit worship, weeding, harvest and grain storage ceremonies, in addition to rites to pray for rain or good weather. Due to the changing times and the decline in agriculture in indigenous villages, the Amis tribe holds fewer of these ceremonies now, but the most well known is the Harvest Festival which takes place between July and October each year. The villages along the coast also hold a Marine Festival.
