Travel diary from Taiwan trip with Riddu Riđđu

Travel diary from Taiwan trip with Riddu Riđđu – January 2016

Our journey started and ended in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan home to over 2 million people. However, during our seven-day-long trip we were able to get a glimpse of the island in its entire splendor and variety. We visited mountain villages, West-coast cities and small communities along the gorgeous Eastern seaboard. We ate Taiwanese indigenous food and world-famous dumplings. We discovered that it is possible to make flute music by breathing through your nose. We talked about Riddu Riđđu and hunting rights and weaving patterns. We learned how to say “my name is” in Mandarin and taught others to say “I am staff” in Sámi. We got to know Paiwan and Atayal and Bunun and Puyuma. We bought fabric and rice snacks. We met artists, political candidates, TV-reporters, musicians, activists and writers. We smiled and said thank you – “xiéxié” in Mandarin – and felt welcomed, taken care of, inspired and motivated.

In the mountain village of Xiang Bi, we met the artist Yuma Taru. Over twenty years ago she left city-life and returned to her native Atayal village, upon discovering that the weaving traditions where slowly dying out. She brought together a group of women to learn the skills from elders in the village. With this project, she was able to reintroduce this knowledge as well as create employment and promote well-being in a place devastated by a 1999 earthquake. Moreover, Yuma has started a kindergarten and is currently building a weaving school. Her productions mix traditional patters with contemporary art forms and the weaving has been on display at fashion shows and art installations. During our visit, we got to see, and even try on, some of her amazing creations and tour the weaving school.

In the evening, we travelled to the coastal city of Kaohsiung and went to the famous Taiwanese night market. Held on the city streets after dark, the market offers a variety of seafood and fried treats, jewelry and clothing sold by local vendors. The next morning we visited the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, which hosted an exhibit by Sakuliu Pavalunglung. He is a well-renowned artist of the Paiwan people, one of the largest indigenous groups in Taiwan, and a pioneer of the indigenous cultural revival movement there. Called “A Memory of Light,” the exhibit highlights how the arrival of electrical light affected Sakuliu’s village when he was growing up.

Then, in the afternoon on a hillside overlooking the city of Pingtung, we met the artist himself at his impressive home, which triples as a studio and café. There we drank tea and sampled a foreign-looking grilled bird. We shared stories and songs by the bonfire, marveled at the surrounding landscape (especially some of the finest views from a restroom we had ever encountered!), and invited Sakuliu to Riddu Riđđu as our Art in Progress artist.

In the evening, we crossed the mountains to the east coast and the village Lalaulan, home to Paiwan author Sakinu Yalonglong and his Hunter’s School. He and his wife greeted us with tea and presented us with beautiful necklaces. We spent the night sleeping on bamboo mats, listening to the faint sounds of ocean waves and smelling the firewood burning somewhere in the house. Sakinu started the school in order to teach Paiwan youths the ways and values of the old hunting culture. Moreover, he has helped revitalize the village as one where Paiwan people know their traditions and language and wear their clothing proudly.

Next, we travelled up north towards Taipei again.  Along the way, we were treated to the most beautiful and jaw-dropping landscape of sharp cliffs, hidden beach coves and lush hills. Back in the capital, we met with political candidates and activists, and spent an evening talking about the need for indigenous political representation at a national level.

Our last stop was at the indigenous TV-channel offices, home to Asia’s first channel of indigenous broadcasting. Then, in the evening of our seventh and last day, we were treated to Michelin-starred dumplings before we said goodbye to our incredible hosts, Shefong and Hsintung. We left Taiwan filled with impressions and thankful for all we had experienced during our week on the island. Now we are looking forward to this year’s Riddu Riđđu and to watching the festival audience become entranced and inspired by the very skillful, talented and story-creating group of people from Taiwan who make up the Northern People of the Year.