Pas-ta'ai (Short Spirit Ceremony)

Long ago, the Saisiyat and the short-statured Ta'ai lived as neighbors across a river. The Ta'ai were skilled in farming and in magic, and they taught the Saisiyat how to cultivate the land; for a time the two peoples were close. But the Ta'ai repeatedly offended the women of the Saisiyat, and at last, unable to bear it any longer, the tribe laid a trap and drowned nearly all of them in the river — only two survived. The survivors did not seek revenge. Instead they left a curse — that the Saisiyat would suffer failed harvests and misfortune — and yet they also taught the people, line by line, the songs and the rules of a ceremony to be held every year in search of forgiveness, before turning and departing forever. From that day the Saisiyat have kept the Pas-ta'ai, generation after generation. There is no victor in this story; it remembers instead a debt of gratitude, a wrong that was done, and the remorse a people take upon themselves through a whole night of singing and dancing.

The Pas-ta'ai is wholly unlike an ordinary blessing ceremony — there is no incense and no idol; its heart is "atonement" and "reconciliation," the people speaking directly to the Short Spirits through song, dance, and ritual. The whole ceremony is strictly divided into six stages: Informing the Spirits, Welcoming the Spirits, Entertaining the Spirits, Sending Off the Spirits, Mud-Smearing, and Purification in the River. Participants must observe many taboos — no quarreling while the ceremony lasts, no weapons carried onto the ritual ground, and clothing kept chiefly to white and red. Each Saisiyat clan holds its own duty: the Zhu clan leads the rites, the Feng clan keeps the ceremonial songs, the Zhao clan bears the ritual flag — a reflection of the tribe's social order. The hip bells are the most important of the ritual instruments; each clan's bells carry their own patterns, handed down through the generations and never to be copied at will. The cycle of more than fifteen ceremonial songs, each with its fixed order and meaning, takes a whole night to sing through in full.

The Pas-ta'ai is held in mid-October of the lunar calendar (approximately November-December on the solar calendar), simultaneously at two ritual grounds: the Southern Group in Xiangtianhu, Nanzhuang Township, Miaoli County, and the Northern Group in Daai, Wufeng Township, Hsinchu County. The minor ceremony spans four days and three nights, while the grand ceremony (every ten years) extends to six days and five nights with even greater scale. The first night is "Welcoming the Spirits," with all tribespeople lined up as the lead elder chants the welcoming song. The second and third nights are "Entertaining the Spirits," as participants dance in large circles throughout the night, hip bells chiming and songs echoing through the mountain valleys — spectacular and solemn. The final morning is "Sending Off the Spirits" — the most sorrowful moment — as the tribe sings farewell songs, watching the Short Spirits depart. Designated a National Important Folk Custom, the ceremony is open to outside observers but with strict viewing rules (no black clothing, no unauthorized photography), reminding visitors to respect the Saisiyat people's reverence for the Short Spirits.