踏溯台南

踏溯台南

文學院 通識教育課程

Migration and Settlement of the Siraya Tribe

Route Introduction

108西拉雅A

 

Kabuasua Tribe

 

   Kabuasua in Sirayan language means the kapok tribe. During the earlier days of Qing Dynasty's rule, Taiwan in the early days, some Soulangh Tribe people might have been affected by the competition from Han people and the government's policy on indigenous people; they moved from their old land through the Dao-Fong Lagoon to the Ji-Shui River and moved inland and followed Guei-Chong River to Kabuasua. Kabuasua still retains the very traditional beliefs of Alid, and his worshipping rituals have been well maintained with very little damage or change. The earliest record of the Kabuasua tribe was a document in 1791, which recorded how the Soulangh community developed the land in the mountainous Ma-Pu area nearby Kabuasua, which should be inferred as the beginning of the formation of Kabuasua tribe.

   The "Indigenous Settlement Policy," which was launched in 1787, made the Soulangh tribe, people who used to live at the seashore, move to the hilly areas of Dong-Shan, joining Sirayan tribes from Ma-Dou Society, Wan-Li Society, Tavocan Society, Doroko Society, and others.The ethnic settlements, joined by Zou tribes such as Alishan Society, formed the "Soulangh Small Settlement" that safeguard a space of 110 kilometers to assist the government in eliminating local bandits and maintaining local social order.

   Kabuasua tribe has always maintained a certain level of independence and the traditions of each family clan. The past hundreds of years have seen considerable differences in lifestyles influenced by the policies of assimilation over various dynasties, yet they have insisted on ancestral traditions to this day. Rich Sirayan cultural assets have thus been retained.