Indigenous Beliefs
Taiwan's indigenous peoples hold profound ancestral spirit beliefs. Each of the sixteen tribes has unique rituals and legends, collectively guarding the island's oldest spiritual memories.
Pas-ta'ai (Short Spirit Ceremony)
After nightfall, a bright chiming rises through the valley — the "hip bells" (tapa:ngasan), hung with tiny brass bells, ringing all night long in time with the dancers' steps. This is the Saisiyat Pas-ta'ai, the Ceremony of the Short People (also known as Pasta'ai), a ceremony bound by strict ritual rules. It is not held to ask for blessings. It is held to console the spirits of the legendary Short People (Ta'ai), who taught the Saisiyat how to farm but were killed through a plot laid by the tribe, leaving a curse behind as they died. To calm the spirits' anger and pray for the community's safety, the Saisiyat hold a minor ceremony every two years and a grand ceremony every ten, each lasting four days and three nights. The singing and dancing run from sunset to sunrise, solemn and hushed, full of awe and remorse toward the spirits of the Short People.
Alizu (Ancestral Spirit)
Step into a Siraya kuwa, the community ritual house, and you will find no statue at all — only a pot wrapped in red cloth, quietly holding water. This is Alizu (also called Ali-Mu or Taizu). Alizu is the most revered ancestral spirit of the Siraya, one of Taiwan's plains Indigenous peoples. Unlike the sculpted deities of Han Chinese temples, Alizu has no fixed form; the spirit's power is represented by pots, bottles, and jars filled with water, a practice known as "pot worship." The pot is bound in red cloth, and the water inside, called "Xiang water," is believed to heal, drive off evil, and bring blessings. The kuwa is not only the center of the faith but also where the community meets to deliberate. Each village's "Night Ceremony" is its most important rite, and every village holds it on its own date: people offer betel nut and rice wine and, hand in hand, circle and sing the ancient qian qu songs in gratitude for the ancestors' protection.
Paiwan Hundred Pacer Snake Belief
On the lintels of Paiwan slate houses, on wood carvings, clay pots, and festival clothing, the same figure appears again and again — the coiled hundred-pacer viper. In Paiwan and Rukai culture the hundred-pacer holds the highest place of honor, seen as an embodiment of the ancestors and a guardian spirit. The Paiwan believe their ancestors share an inseparable blood bond with the hundred-pacer: it is the guardian of chiefly families and the spiritual symbol of the whole community. That is why hundred-pacer motifs cover clothing, carvings, buildings, and everyday objects, making it the core symbol of Paiwan culture — not just a pattern, but a whole people's memory of where they came from.
Tayal Ancestral Spirit Belief (Utux)
For the Atayal, there is an invisible measuring stick for how to live and how to act, and it is called gaga. At the core of Atayal belief are two words: Utux (the ancestral spirits) and gaga (ancestral teachings and norms). Utux are the souls of departed ancestors, who the Atayal believe always watch over their descendants. The will of the ancestors is passed down through gaga — a body of traditional law covering morality, social norms, and ritual taboos that guides people in how to live and how to treat one another. Those who keep gaga receive the ancestors' protection; those who break it are punished. Gaga is not written on paper. It lives in the words and deeds of every Atayal person.
Bunun Sky God Belief (Dihanin)
When the Bunun look up at the moon, they see more than its waxing and waning — they see when to sow, when to weed, when to harvest, and which ceremony comes next. Bunun belief holds Dihanin (the Sky God, or Heaven) as the highest spiritual power, ruling over everything between heaven and earth: the weather, the growth of crops, even human fate. Among Taiwan's Indigenous peoples, the Bunun place the greatest weight on the calendar and on farming rituals. Following the phases of the moon, they developed a precise agricultural calendar in which every month has its own rites and taboos, linked one to the next into a complete system of belief built around growing millet. The Sky God is not far away; Dihanin is there in every full moon and every row of millet.
Tao Ocean Spirit Belief (Anito)
Every spring, schools of flying fish return to the waters off Orchid Island, and the whole rhythm of Tao life for the year starts moving with them. The Tao (also called the Yami) live on Orchid Island (Lanyu), an Indigenous people whose culture is built around the sea. Their belief centers on Anito (souls, spirits) and holds that all things have spirits. Within it, the beliefs and rites around flying fish form the most distinctive chapter of Tao culture: flying fish are seen as a sacred food given by the heavens, and around how they are caught, eaten, and the taboos attached to them, a whole set of strict cultural rules has grown. For the Tao, how they treat these fish is how they keep their covenant with the sea and with their ancestors.
Puyuma Ancestral Spirit Belief (Palakuwan)
In a traditional Puyuma community, a boy first trains in the junior meeting house (takuban), then moves up into the youth meeting house, the Palakuwan, where the young men live and learn together. This is the heart of the traditional belief system of the Puyuma (Pinuyumayan): their ancestral spirit faith. The Palakuwan is more than a building; it is where Puyuma ancestral belief, age-grade organization, and cultural inheritance take concrete form. It differs from Han Chinese folk religion in one fundamental way — there is no ranking of "gods" above "humans" here. The ancestors are not deities set on high but "those who went before," still connected to community life, and their wisdom, norms, and protection continue to reach later generations through the rites of the Palakuwan. The Puyuma live mainly in Beinan Township and Taitung City in Taitung County, and the Nanwang community (Puyuma) places special emphasis on its annual ceremony ('Amiyan), which is large in scale and fully preserved.