The present dissertation focuses on religious and mythological
beliefs, customs and traditions of the Austronesian peoples in
Taiwan. The peoples in question have been studied in such various
fields as anthropology (including ethnology or ethnography),
linguistics, archaeology and so on since the 17th century. Chapter
1 is a brief survey of its research history. Chapter 2 discusses
religious notions and practices like supernatural beings, deities
and spirits, soul, right and left, and shamanism. Some mythological
themes are treated also in this chapter. In chapter 3 “Notions and
rituals concerning subsistence economy” is the core of the thesis,
which relates religion and mythology of these peoples to
subsistence activities of them. As regards hunting: “master of
animals,” hunting rituals, religious treatment of bones, and
similarity between hunting and headhunting; fishing and livestock
keeping; in relation to horticulture: myths of the origin of crops,
great rituals, the role of miscanthus and alder, distinction of
inner and outer parts of the village, ritual hunting, rain making,
ritual plays (swing, top spinning, ball games, stone fights,
tug-of-war, running, wrestling, archery and ritual coitus), and
headhunting. The 4th chapter describes briefly the rites of passage
among the Taiwan aborigines. Finally the appendices include a list
of village names in vernacular, Chinese and Japanese languages, and
a type index of myths and folktales.
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