魯凱族 18 歲的第一獵「頭」勇士出爐！勇士不獵人頭，卻獵…….Rukai's First Warrior Doesn't Do Headhunting, but he hunts……

魯凱族下三社祖靈祭時，以前都是要出草獵人頭的，可是現在不能獵人頭了，那要改成獵什麼呢……No more head-hunting for Ngerarukai Rukai people any more for their Ancestral Ceremony, but now they hunt…… 答案：改成獵石頭啦！  

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魯凱族的下三社，指的是高雄北邊的茂林（Teldrika）、萬山（’Oponoho），和多納（Kongadavane）三個部落。這三個部落的魯凱族文化，其實和其他魯凱族非常不一樣，自己有自己的系統。而其中萬山部落的語言，更是和其他所有的魯凱語有很大的不同喔！ 老人家說，在以前，下三社每年都有一堆大小祭典，而一年當中最盛大的就是祖靈祭（Mo-lapangolai）。但是後來日本人來了，為了不讓族人太團結，所以規定他們四年才能舉辦一次祖靈祭，因此也造成祖靈記得傳承慢慢凋零。但後來在族人的努力下，祖靈祭的傳統又慢慢回來了，甚至在今年的中秋節，還舉辦了 60 年來最盛大的一場祖靈祭咧！ 揪竟這個魯凱族下三社的祖靈祭，要怎麼個玩法呢？ 根據魯凱族捧油的說法：

• 第一步：鳥占

負責祖靈祭的家族，在祭典開始前，要先把醃肉放在地上，然後如果有聽見吉利的鳥叫聲，就表示吉利了，可以辦祖靈祭了！（那如果鳥一直不叫咧？）

• 第二步：殺豬

好的！馬麻小時候都跟我們說：鳥一叫，豬就倒楣了！（誤 鳥占過了後，主祭者會高喊：「要賽跑的人，請小心！」說著同時會拿著番刀殺豬。接著呢，族裡的年輕人就要開始出發去比賽獵頭了！

• 第三步：出草獵頭…… 獵石頭！

哈哈，是的，在以前，年輕人是要在祖靈祭時，比賽去獵人頭的。但後來日本人來了後，當藍不准他們這樣做啦，於是就要下三社的魯凱族人改獵「石頭」啦！ 年輕人在主祭者殺豬後，就要一齊往山下的小溪衝過去，比賽去碰溪石，先碰到的，表示最先獵到人頭，是冠軍，是勇士！ 那輸的呢？就要負責把石頭扛回部落 @@”……

• 第四步：啪踢時間～ Party Time!

比賽完後，那些有成功到達溪邊的年輕人，都可以分到豬肉吃（沒到的就沒豬肉啦），而且還可以把豬肉分給美眉吃呢～ 然後這裡還有一個禁忌喔！就是豬肉只能吃到下午五點。沒吃完的，不准帶回部落，要埋起來，然後大家才一起回到部落。   當藍啦，傳統的祖靈祭，程序更繁瑣，才不只這樣。聽說以前加上準備期間，還可以長達四個月 @@” 但現在濃縮成一天就結束了，就跟 9/19 舉辦的聯合祖靈祭一樣。而其中照片這位呢，就是今年的冠軍得主 －－ 18 歲的顏中維！顏大哥他老人家在當天搶先在沿路坡度斜達 60 度的「獵石頭」比賽中，跑到溪邊摸到石頭，成為今年的第一勇士，要在 4 年後的祖靈祭中，擔任報信員！ 少年仔，身為下三社的魯凱族第一勇士，要一肩扛起保護山林的責任，可別忘記喔！  

部落怎麼走？

由於文化與其他魯凱族部落不同，因此高雄北邊茂林區的茂林（Teldrika）、萬山（’Oponoho），和多納（Kongadavane）三個部落，又被合稱為「下三社」： 來到下三社，除了四年一度的祖靈祭（Mo-lapangolai），可以看看族人怎麼復興他們百年歷史的祖靈祭，現在為了搭配中秋節，讓活動更豐富，還搭配了搗米、勇士舞等活動。 如此之外，來到茂林，還可以看看當地魯凱族最有名的「三黑特產」：茂林紫斑蝶、萬山黑岩雕和多納黑米！ 下次來到茂林的下三社，別說你不知道該看什麼喔！  

資料來源：林惠娟／圖片來源：劉宥廷

The answer: Stones!  

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The term ‘ngerarukai’ comes from the language of Western Rukai to call the Rukai people living in the three communities, Teldrika (Maolin in Chinese), ‘Oponoho (Wanxan in Chinese), and Kongadavane (Duona in Chinese), meaning “the people living in mountains high and cold”. As Ngerarukai Rukai people feature different cultures with the Rukai from the other communities, and so many people don’t mix them with other Rukai people when talking about Rukai cultures. Among Ngerarukai Rukai, the people from Teldrika even have a unique Rukai dialect which is very different from the others, and so some linguists even say it should be an independent language! According to the elders of Ngerarukai, there used to be many large and small ceremonies every year, and the annual Ancestral Ceremony (Mo-lapangolai) was the largest among them. However, later the Japanese government forced them to hold the ceremony every four years in case the Rukai people had the chance to unite and rebel against the government, making many ceremonial elements forgotten. Fortunately with the efforts of the people, the important ceremony has been revived and they even finished the largest one ever in the past 60 years just on Sep 19th this year! So what do they do in Mo-lapangolai, the Ancestral Ceremony?

• First: Bird Divination

The family in charge of the ceremony needs to put salted meat on the ground. At this moment, if there are some bird sounds, it means it’s lucky and the people can continue the Ancestral Ceremony.

• Second: Pig Sacrifice

After the bird divination, the ceremony host will shout: “Get ready and be careful, the boys to race running!” and then kill a pig as a sacrifice with his hunting knife. After then, the young people of the communities will all take part in a running race.

• Third: Headhunting…… oh no, it’s “stone-hunting” now!

Yup yup. Before, the Ngerarukai young people would take part in a headhunting game in the Ancestral Ceremony. However, after the Japanese came, they were not allowed to do headhunting any longer, and the Japanese asked them to hunt “stones” instead. So after the pig sacrifice, all the young people should run down the slopes to the stream and try to touch the stones in the stream. The first one who touches a stone will be the champion and the First Warrior of the next four years! …… And the losers? Well, they need to carry the stones back to the community 😛

• Four: Party Time!

After the game, all those who reach the stream are allowed to enjoy pork and can share the pork with girls — Surely those who don’t can eat nothing. There is a taboo: They can only eat the pork before 5pm. After 5pm, all the pork should be covered up under the ground. And then everybody can go back to the community.   Of course, the traditional procedures of the ceremony were much more and so the Ancestral Ceremony could last up to 4 months including the preparation! But now all the procedures are done within one day, just like the ceremony just finished on Sep 19th. The 18-year-old young boy called Yan Chung-Wei is the champion of this year and will be dubbed as the First Warrior of Ngerarukai in the following four years. He will also be the herald in the next Ancestral Ceremony! Hey dude, be the First Warrior of Ngerarukai, you need to take the responsibility of protecting the mountains and the forests, don’t forget!  

Where to visit the community?

As the cultures are different from the other Rukai communities, the Rukai from Teldrika, ‘Oponoho, and Kongadavane, are called Ngerarukai Rukai all together: In Ngerarukai, there is the famous Ancestral Ceremony (Mo-lapangolai) every four year, wherein you can see how the people try to preserve and pass down their traditional ceremony that has lasted hundreds of years. To make the event richer, now they even have other activities like making rice cake or warrior dance. Besides the ceremony, there are the three specialties in Ngerarukai: Double-branded Crow of Ngerarukai (Euploea Sylvester), Wanxan Stone Sculpture, and Duona Black Rice!
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Source via 林惠娟／Photo via 劉宥廷

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