Culture & Traditions of Yami Tribe

The indigenous people in Taiwan are the aboriginal tribes. Out of the 12 aboriginal tribes,
Yami Tribe has about 2,900 populations in Taiwan.

One of the unique cultures about the Yami Tribe is their catching for the Flying Fish Culture, which falls on every March. During the season, a large number of fishes would be “flying” through surfaces of water and the Yami tribesmen would seize this chance to catch its tails. They would not catch all the fishes they see as different fishing methods would be used in different months. This special ritual culture of theirs is able to conserve marine lives and constrain the greediness of human from catching too many fishes.

Different kinds of fish are meant different status of members in the tribe. For instances, the elders are the only ones who can eat the “Old People fishes”, women are not allow to eat smelly, rough-skins fishes so those are called “Men fishes” and last but not least, fishes with tender flesh which are called “ Women fishes” are suitable for everyone. Hence, the males in the Yami Tribe have to acquire the skills of catching various kinds of fishes for his family. An illustration of video under calendar of events will be shown.

The Yami people do not like violence and fighting, when there are disputes happening within the tribes, they would just throw stones at one another with spears, shields and helmets prepared.

Another interesting tradition of the Tribe is that they would separate all their food sources from one another in their own containers made of wood or ceramic to avoid confusion.

(Yami Tribe)