타이완 아타얄(Atayal) 족 머리사냥 설화와 의례, 그리고 그 종결

Abstract

Many of the peoples from Austronesian Language Family practiced the headhunting custom in the past. Among them, Taiwanese aborigines performed headhunting, one of which was the Atayal people who only stopped practicing this custom in the 1930s. Although headhunting is a terrifying custom, it was not a reckless and diabolic practice of violence. It was a kind of ritual that followed particular procedure and had strict taboos, which was rooted in their religion, mythology and view of the world.BR The Atayal held an animistic view, and their traditional religion centered around the ancestor worship. In the social structure of the Atayal, “the will of the ancestors” held great significance. Their ethics, morals, laws, taboos, religious beliefs, decorum and custom were formed based on “gaya” or “gaga,” which meant the “the will of the ancestors” in their language. “Mg-gaya”, i.e. the headhunting, was the practice of the divine law, “gaga.” Successful headhunting was a rite of passage for an Atayal man, after which he could get a tattoo, get married and form a family, and cross the bridge to the land of the ancestors after death. The heads they brought back after the headhunting were consecrated through rituals, whereupon they would guarantee the successful hunting and abundant harvest; prevent the disease or epidemic; and protect the people from all sorts of calamities. The mythology of the Atayal people also shows connections to the events that happened during the time when their ancestors were involved in the custom of headhunting long time ago. The Atayal myths about the origin and separation of their people and the conflicts and vengeance that occurred during the process of distributing the resources provide the basis and reasons for the use of this powerful violence called the headhunting.BR As such, pillage or killing was not in and of itself the purpose of headhunting. It was a ritualistic violence triggered by their socio-cultural ethos. However, such an important part of the Atayal tradition became corrupted and eventually disappeared in the 1930s after Taiwan signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki and fell under the Japanese rule, which allowed Japan to take control of, wield strong force on and persecute the Taiwanese aborigines. In a manner of speaking, the communal violence of the Atayal as the primitive society could not withstand the clash with the greater state violence, which ultimately resulted in the conclusion of the headhunting.BR