踏溯台南

踏溯台南

文學院 通識教育課程

Siraya People’s Migration and Their Journey to Settlement

Route Introduction


Kuwa:Delving into the Belief of Alid

 

   Kuwa is the house of ancestors; it is dedicated to their spirit. It is the religious center of Sirayan pantheism. The Kabua Sua tribe is the densest architectural group of Kuwa. At the initial forming stage, there were only five major families in the tribe-Chen, Chang, Li, Pan and Duan. They established the settlement and each built their own kuwa to worship their own ancestral spirit - the Alid, in their own sections, but a big public kuwa for all families was built as the tribal religious center. With the“urn-worshipping”ritual, the Sirayan people place pots, urns or bottles containing water in the kuwa, and then put items into them when they worship. Note that it's not the bottles and urns they worship; it's the spiritual power in the water that they worship.