The Saisiyat (賽夏) ("true people"), also spelled Saisiat are an indigenous people of Taiwan, part of the larger Taiwanese aborigine ethnic group. Currently, there are between 4,000 and 5,000 members of the Saisiyat, making them either the second or the second smallest aboriginal group in Taiwan. The Saisiyat inhabit western Taiwan, overlapping the border between Hsinchu County and Miaoli County. They are divided into the Northern Branch (Wufong in the mountainous Hsinchu area) and the Southern Branch (Nanya and Shitan in the highlands of Miaoli), each with its own dialect. The term indigenous peoples has no universal, standard or fixed definition. ... A Rukai village Chief visiting the Department of Anthropology in Tokyo Imperial University during the Japanese rule. ... Hsinchu County (新竹縣, pinyin: Xīnzhú Xiàn) is a county in northwestern Taiwan. ... Miaoli County (苗栗縣, pinyin: Miáolì Xiàn) is a county in western Taiwan administered as part of Taiwan Province in the Republic of China. ... A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area. ...

Names

Saisiyat is sometimes rendered as Saiset, Seisirat, Saisett, Saisiat, Saisiett, Saisirat, Saisyet, Saisyett, Amutoura, or Bouiok.

Traditional folklore

Long ago, a tribe of dark-skinned pygmies arrived in the area inhabited by the Saisiyat. They were quick and nimble with boundless strength. The were also skilled in the arts of magic and the Saisiat referred to them as the "Taai". Because of their skill with magic, all they had to do was cast a spell and the weather would become fine while the field mice and birds would no longer eat the grain in their fields. Generally speaking, pygmy (from Greek pygmaios, fist sized, a kind of dwarf in Greek mythology) can refer to any human or animal of unusually small size, for example, the pygmy hippopotamus. ... Look up magic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

the Taai had an even more miraculous skill; they could manage to cook up a huge pot of rice with just a little bit of the uncooked grain, allowing many to fill their bellies. The agricultural techniques of the Taai were also very advanced and they taught the Saisiyat their knowledge and techniques and hence greatly improving the lives of the Saisiyat. The Saisiyat believed that all this had been bestowed by the good luck brought by the Taai and they were extremely grateful. Binomial name Oryza sativa L. Rice (Oryza sativa) is a species of grass in the genus Oryza, native to tropical and subtropical southeastern Asia, where it grows in wetlands. ... The word grain has several meanings, most being descriptive of a small piece or particle. ...

The Taai, however, gradually revealed their lusty character and began to enroach upon the Saisiyat women. To avoid disrupting harmonious relations between the tribes, those women who were violated remained silent. The Saisiyat tribal elders urged patience for the good of the whole tribe. The Taai, however, stepped up their enroachments on the Saisiyat. When the Saisiyat had had enough, they swore to avenge the insult on the Taai.

The Saisiyat knew that the Taai were particularly fong of cavorting in a loquat tree that overhung a precipice. Two Saisiyat youths thereupon took it upon themselves to saw the tree halfway through. They then used mud to cover the scar in the tree. That evening, the Taai, not suspecting a thing, climbed one-by-one up into the tree. As more and more Taai scaled the tree, it could no longer take the weight and the trunk snapped. All of the Taai who had been sitting in the tree went over the edge. Those that weren't killed in the initial fall were drowned.

However two Taais, who had escaped the ambush, placed a curse on the entire Saisiyat tribe, leading to a seccession of disasters and poor harvests. In an effort to lift the curse, the Saisiyat sang Taai songs and performed Taai dances to plead for forgiveness while also appealing for fair weather and a bountiful harvest. That is the origin of the Saisiyat tribe's pygmy spirit ritual, or "Pas-taai" in the Saisiyat language, which held in the middle of the tenth lunar month, with a minor festival held every other tear and a major festival held every ten years. This is their attempt to put to rest the enmity between the Taai and the Saisiyat.