My Bunun name is Niung, Bunun tribe in Gufeng Village, Hualien County, Taiwan

Bunun (布農) indigenous people inhabitat villages on the Eastern cost of Taiwan in Hualien County.

"布農不洗不睡"

"if you come to a Bunun village, close your eyes and only listen, but listen carefully..."

Bunun  live on higher altitude than any other tribe in Taiwan between 100 and 200 meter above sea level. They are famous for hunting skills. In old times you could see animal jawbones under the eaves and human skulls in front of village chief's house. These were proofs of great hunting skills and bravery.

Village's chief were in charge till his old years and eventually a new one would be chosen accordingly to his hunting abilities and experience. A chief was in charge of warfare and political affairs.

Bunun are believed to get into fights over hunting territories quite often. These battles were a chance to show tribe's bravery and skills.

Bunun used to build working hats far away from their home stay village to save time while hunting...

Both men and women used to tattoo their bodies and pull out their front teeth or incisors but this habit has long been forgotten.
They are believed to count time by knotting to mark each day.

There are six groups among Bunun tribe:
Taketodo, Takebaka, Takevatan, Takbanuath, Isibukun, Takopulan.

They mainly live in the river alleys between mountain ranges.

The particular village I have visited  is really small, squeezed between two mountain ranges, where everybody is relatives.Traditional hunting with rifles and dogs is still being practiced, and many dogs in the village are three-legged, as they fell into traps. 

Bunun people believe that  snakes are their friends and warn them against  the danger in the woods, that snakes hunt in twos. Therefore once a snake is spotted it is advised to simply  turn back as there's a high probability that you'd face another one soon.

Crab picking

pet piggy

Many indigenous people in Taiwan are Protestants (Thanks to Dutch arrival in XVII century. People in the northern part of island are mostly Catholics because that was Spanish influences area)
Their Churches are  simple and one won't find any paintings or sculptures depicting  Jesus inside....

Christmas tree

The Mass is mostly about singing... but what kind of singing!  Bunun are marvellous singers.  The villagers meet in different family's house to pray and chant almost every evening. There's time to share  your problems or concerns.
Their religion or rather belief is visible in every aspect of daily life.
The village structure seems to reflect the old hierarchy, where everybody was working for the common good...

Zhofeng Primary Scholl children, music lesson

Here is the Bunun prayer, children say at school's canteen before every meal.

The school is really small. There are  two up to six children in the class so the learning environment is very comfortable. Each classroom has a computer with the Internet connection and an interactive board, moreover e-books are also being used. A lot of effort is put to preserve the Bunun language and culture, unfortunately,  it seems that the youngest generation won't be able to speak the Bunun dialect fluently. All classes are held in Chinese, however there is a separate Bunun language classs.

School's exhibition

The view from the school

The school has well maintained library and the cultural hall where you can find handicrafts and Bunun language handbooks.

Children take part in many competitions involving indigenous culture knowledge or skills e.g. painting or singing. This school's students are last year's champions in national singing competition.

Singing is the way of spending a free time

A special activity  is held at school every year. Students from capital's secondary schools come to  know the aboriginal culture better. This year's students came from Jian Guo Secondary Male School.

Bunun people live higher than any other tribe in Taiwan, mostly in  mountainous central part of the island. Population counts approximately forty thousands. 

According to their legend long long time ago there were two Suns and the temperature was unbearable. People's life was really tough. One day Bunun couple  went to work on the field. They left their newly born son near by. As there were two Suns it was very very hot and so, after finishing work they noticed that their son has completely dried up. Grieving father took his bow and shot down one of the Suns, which became the Moon.

Hualien county is the main stone provider on entire island. All  Indigenous ("Yuanzhumin" 原住民) use stones to build their houses.

stone roof

the old school's building， Hualien County

Bunun practice archery and have certain archery ritual called Dear-Ear Ritual. It it held after successful hunting and, literally, involves shooting to the deer ear as the most challenging practice.

Another worldwide famous ritual is called Pasibutbut- a prayer-song for abundant millet harvest. It was discovered by a Japanese ethnologist in 1952 and is recognised by United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as eight-part harmonic singing.
Sounds are meant to imitate the nature: bee buzzing, water flowing, and the wind...

Only the healthy adult males can participate. It is forbidden to practice the song before the actual performance to please the spirits, the more beautiful and harmonious the sound the more abundant the crops should be...

Above: Hunter's speech

Bunun are known among other tribes for their excellent hunting skills. This man quartered a pig quickly and skillfully.

Zhuofeng Primary School, Hualien county

hunting trap making lesson

 corn drying

Traditionally Bunun people do not drink alcohol and only ferment it for special occasions.
Women dress in black but blue colour is also very significant. Men wear white garment.

Hualien, Bunun culture poster

The Gufeng village is situated  near YuShan National Park and its environment is simply astonishing.