Chinese Culture > Culture in Taiwan > The Culture of Taiwan's Indigenous Peoples > Bunun Culture
The Bunun's
The
Bunun group consists of around 45,000 people and shares many cultural attributes
with the Tsou group. Traditional production methods include shifting cultivation
and hunting which, in turn, have led to a complex system of beliefs, rituals,
and taboos. Major Bunun ceremonies include the "ear-shooting ceremony" (a
hunting ritual in which animals' ears are shot at with arrows in supplication
for a plentiful harvest) and the millet ceremony. The Bunun are also
particularly noted for their pasibutbut polyharmonic choral singing of
prayers for a bumper crop. Because they live among Taiwan's highest mountains,
the Bunun have been called the "real mountain people." Population increases and
demand for land and resources have led to large-scale migrations, however.
Characteristic cultural features include Bunun's patriarchal system, skills at
making clothing from animal hide, and the worship of hanito (ancestral spirits).
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