Page 6 - 《原YOUNG—青少年雜誌期刊》96期

部落傳說
Rukai Rainmaking Ritual in Maolin

A Solemn Petition for Rain

Once there was a long drought. All the crops dried up and died.

Legend has it that the Kabora (known now as Jheng) family of the
Teldreka tribe (in today's Maolin) believed that a rainmaking ritual

was necessary. They asked Cacmake, ancestor of the Kavenga
(known now as Wang) family, to climb up a tree and call the elders

of the tribe for a meeting at the tribal leader's house. Together,
through dream interpretation by the leader and the elders and

mediumship by the shaman, they figured out how to perform a
ritual and send a message to the god of rain. They soon told the

tribe that a rainmaking ritual was to be performed and until then,
no tree shall be cut, weed removed, fire made in the mountain or in

the fields; no food cooked or salt eaten in the wild; and, on eve of
the ritual, no firewood brought home from outside the village, and

no pregnant women allowed to go outdoors unless necessary.
The following day, a few men of the village were sent to the water

source to find sturdy vines to make a swing and fishing gears, while
women prepared food and firewood at home for the expected rainy

period after the ritual.
Late that night, the Kabora family left their front door and all the

windows open. Alras, their family shaman and the rainmaking ritual
performer, went quietly alone to the toog tree, and swung on the
swing under the tree with a vessel filled with water and toog leaves

in his arms. He picked up and threw forward one wet leaf after

another, while saying prayers to the ancestral spirits for rain.
The next morning, Cacmake of the Kavenga family climbed up the
tree again and called everyone in the village to catch fish and play

04 | Pakarongay

ɨʹ
@௅ໝෂႭ JOEE
@௅ໝෂႭ JOEE ɨʹ