Indigenous ancestry travel book launched

• By Esme Yeh / Staff reporter

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A book written by a Bunun man about his journey through an abandoned hunting path in search of “tears of the moon” has been launched in Taipei, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency’s Nantou branch said on Wednesday.

Titled Mudadadan — meaning “go on foot” in the Bunun language — the book documents ancestry trips taken by a group of young Bunun people of Tumpu Village (東埔部落) in Nantou County’s Sinyi Township (信義).

The trips began with a Bunun tale that author Ibi Takiludun Takisbisazuan’s father used to tell him, in which a sun was shot down by an arrow and turned into the moon with its tears left on a rock.

Guests take a photograph at a launch for the book Mudadadan in Nantou County on Wednesday.

Photo courtesy of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency’s Nantou Branch

Takisbisazuan on Wednesday told a news conference that he used to be scared of the dark when he was little.

“However, I realized when I grew older that what scares me more is the gradual loss of people who can lead me out of the dark,” he said.

Bunun mythology is rooted in the village’s surrounding topographic landscapes, Takisbisazuan said, adding that he learned about such stories while staying with village elders.

“Bunun hunters of younger generations lack the environment for them to become a cultured hunter,” he said, adding that a hunter is educated through experiences in the mountains rather than classroom learning or secondhand stories.

Takisbisazuan also encouraged younger Bunun people returning to their hometowns to learn more about elders’ traditional wisdom with a humble attitude.

Village members performed two songs at the news conference, Pasibutbut and Pislahi.

Pastor Supina said Pasibutbut is a prayer for a good millet harvest where each singer imitates sounds of everything in nature, such as sounds of winds, streams, waterfalls, bees and cicadas.

The resonant voices integrate into one melody echoing through the sky, she said, adding that the beautiful resonance is considered worthy of God’s blessing.

Pislahi is a song that Bunun hunting groups would chant before they enter the mountains to hunt for food, Supina said.

It prepares hunters with a godly mindset about their hunting trip when they sing to invite different animals to their hunting guns, she said.

“Muntjac, please come to my gun. Sambar deer, please come to my gun,” Supina said, reciting the lyrics.

“The song reflects Bunun people’s outlook on hunting,” she said. “Hunting while walking in the woods is not slaughter, plunder or brutal conquest, but to accept God’s blessings and arrangements.”

Hunters invite the animals to their guns and accept them with a reverent and grateful mind, she added.

Forestry agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) said the book originated from forestry authorities’ collaborations with local indigenous people in indigenous hunting self-management.

Traditional indigenous hunting is not just about food; it has deep significance, he said.

That includes how indigenous people safeguard their land and resources, as well as their understanding of the land and nature after generations of migration, Lin said.

The book is expected to help the public understand the significance of traditional indigenous hunting and how indigenous people’s traditional wisdom can benefit today’s sustainable governance of natural and wildlife resources, he said.

Indigenous hunting self-management is not only about setting guidelines or a convention, but to help the government work with indigenous communities to apply their wisdom to forestry conservation, Lin said, adding that such a vision has been achieved with Tumpu Village.

Taiwan Biodiversity Research Institute Director Yang Jia-dong (楊嘉棟) said cultural diversity is often overlooked in biodiversity conservation.

Tumpu Village has long been assisting the institute in biodiversity investigations and ecological conservation, he said, adding that the book helps readers understand Bunun people’s culture and emotional bond with the land.

Council of Indigenous Peoples Deputy Minister Qucung Qalavangan, who is also a Bunun member from the township, thanked the forestry agency and the branch for closely collaborating with the village.

The collaboration marks the start of reconciliation between the government and indigenous people since they were forced out of their traditional territories, he said.