“The sinsin bird is singing;please sing a good song!Sing for the people of our tribe, the song of our ancestors.” This is from the song sang by Mona Rudo and his father in the Sedeeq Bale film. The sinsin is also called the divination bird and White-eyed nun babbler. In the past, when Atayal or Seedeq warriors went hunting or on headhunting forays or a village held a ritual or a wedding, the song of the divination bird would first be listened to carefully.  The bird’s “shee shee” call was usually made when it was looking for a mate, the call showing that there was no danger around and that the people could go about their business in safety, symbolizing that whatever they were doing would have good results.However, when its call was an anxious “zi zi” or it flew all over in panic the bird was saying “there is danger about” and was a bad omen.

 
The story of the divination bird. Click on the image above to hear the bird’s call

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The divination bird is actually the white-eyed nun babbler. The “Siliq- white-eyed nun babbler”story is an oral legend packed with the life wisdom acquired over many generations through observation of nature by the Atayal and Seediq tribes and passed down to children to ensure that this wisdom was not forgotten.The oral legends and festivals of aboriginal tribe are a mixture of belief, social organization, traditional life and taboo.By passing on life knowledge ancestors taught the people of the tribes to sow seeds, cultivate land, share harvest and prey, thank the spirits of ancestors and pray for good fortune in different seasons. Their belief in not over felling, over hunting and over cultivating and ancestor worship protected the ecological balance.  

Every tribe developed ways of living according to the different natural environments. While hunters in the mountains of Nantou used bird calls to find out if they were safe or in danger, the skilled farmers on the Hualian plains the Amis and Sakizaya trapped birds so they wouldn’t damage their crops.  In the past, March and April was when seeds were sown and is also the time when birds are most active. To stop flocks of sparrows descending on the fields and eating the seeds and seedlings the people would jointly hold a bird catching activity and set up nets in the fields. Before nets were available and could be used to catch large numbers of birds, the people in the mountains where birds were more numerous than today would creep up on the birds when they were asleep and stun them by hitting them with a bamboo pole. Later, traps made using bamboo or wire were developed to catch unwary birds. 

 
Bird traps

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Misaliliu, the bird catching festival, actually means sharing, helping and changing work not catching birds. In times when there was a short labor supply, when a family built a house or harvested their crops, other villagers would help out. When the bird catching festival was held the birds that were caught by the men would be collected together and eaten at a banquet, either roasted or made into a soup with beans and beans. These birds made up part of the diet of villagers. To thank the elders for their wisdom younger people would give the best part of the birds to the elder, or pick up food for them and bring them soup to show respect. The bird catching festival was held after seeds were sown because the birds would eat the seeds and seedling. To reduce bird damage the birds were caught and eaten by the villagers and priest. The priest and chief would pray to the ancestors asking them to keep the birds away. During the breeding season for birds, a time when crops didn’t grow, the people left the birds in peace to allow them to produce the next generation.  

With the changes in the growing season of crops and the changing times many aboriginal festivals have been taken over by government and used to promote cultural tourism character; however the people still make every effort to reproduce traditional culture in the rituals. The bird catching festival in the Hualian area is now held later, after the autumn harvest in December.Taking Sakor Village in Guofu Village, Hualian, as an example, before setting out the chief will toast heaven and earth, thank the spirits of ancestors, report the year’s situation, then betel leaves will be dipped in rice wine and a prayer recited for all the hunting equipment that will be taken up the mountain. After being blessed by the chief each villagers carries his own traps up the mountain. When the two-week long festival ends the people take their respective catch to the activity center where it is weighed and registered and participants can compare how they performed against others. People who don’t take part in the hunt will buy chicken to share with other villagers. The end of the bird-catching festival means that a new year is coming and the rest period is about to beginnig, activities only beginning again in January.

 
Sakor village—Chief Huang prays. The offerings include betel nuts, betel leaf, cigarettes and rice wine.

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In the film Seedeq Bale the scenes in which the men of the village move through the mountain forest effortlessly, crossing rivers and streams as they pursue their prey left a deep impression on many viewers. In recent years, to allow aboriginal culture to be passed on while also protecting wildlife, the Hualian County Government has issued an Application to hunt non-protected wild birds before the bird catching festival in December, allowing hunters who apply to catch birds legally for a certain time. The hunters must attend an Identifying protected birds class and, if they accidentally catch a protected bird, must release it or will face a penalty. Actually, different people produce different logic under the influence of different spiritual beliefs. The hunting culture of the aborigines is not just a way of obtaining food or making a living it is an expression of cultural pride and respect for nature. Hualian’s Jilai Hunting School http://blog.sina.com.tw/cidal420/ gives students an experience of aboriginal hunting culture, showing how Taiwan’s indigenous people use the characteristics of the environment and animals to catch their prey with little effort, cook outdoors without utensils, cherish the prey given by their ancestors, letting participants get up close to nature and appreciate the value of hunting culture. As traditional culture is gradually lost today, the land ethic, and spirit of protecting the natural environment and respecting and fearing heaven and earth of hunters still needs to be affirmed, understood and respected.

 
Hunting school introduction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzu2S5x35nc