Xiangtianhu Pasta'ay Ceremonial Ground
Main Deities
About
The lake drifts in and out of the morning mist, and all night long a mournful, ancient ritual song echoes along its shore. This is Xiangtianhu (Lake Facing Heaven), in a mountain basin about 738 meters above sea level: the ceremonial ground of the southern group of the Saisiyat people's Pasta'ay, the Ritual of the Short Spirits (the northern group's ground is in Wufeng, Hsinchu), and the most mysterious and moving indigenous ceremonial site in Taiwan. Ringed by mountains, the scenery feels like a dream. The Pasta'ay is held as a minor ritual every two years and a grand ritual every ten. It lasts four days and three nights and runs through the night by the lake, with solemn songs and slow dance steps offering repentance, thanks, and prayers to the spirits of the ancient short people. The ritual was designated an Important Folk Custom of Taiwan in 2013, and beside the ceremonial ground stands the Saisiyat Folklore Museum, opened in 2004.
History
Legend says that in ancient times a people of small stature but enormous strength, the ta'ay, lived alongside the Saisiyat and taught them farming, song, and dance. But the ta'ay later harassed Saisiyat women again and again, until the tribe could bear it no longer and secretly tampered with the mountain-loquat-tree bridge leading to the ta'ay's home; when the ta'ay crossed, they fell and drowned. Before they died, the ta'ay laid a curse, and from then on the Saisiyat suffered failed harvests and one disaster after another. To calm the resentment of the dead and pray for good harvests, the Saisiyat began holding the Pasta'ay. The ritual songs are said to be the very ones the ta'ay taught as they were dying, their melodies mournful and ancient, a precious living fossil of oral literature. To this day, the Xiangtianhu ceremonial ground keeps this ancient ritual tradition alive, an important sacred site for passing on Saisiyat culture.
Xiangtianhu Pasta'ay Ceremonial Ground
Nanzhuang Township, Miaoli County
Visitor Info
Address
Xiangtianhu, Donghe Village, Nanzhuang Township, Miaoli County
Region
Nanzhuang Township, Miaoli County
Plan Your Visit
- When to Go
- The Pasta'ai is held as a smaller ceremony every two years and a major one every ten years, lasting four days and three nights with all-night rites by the lake. Outside the ceremony, you can visit the Saisiyat Folk Museum next door.
Checked on 2026-10-13 · Sources: Google Maps