On June 21, the National Museum of Prehistory hosted the "Taiwan's Indigenous Millet Culture Forum," with academics, schools, and indigenous organizations invited to share their work in promoting a "renaissance of millet culture" and a revival of Taiwan's indigenous traditions and time-tested knowledge.
Wang Chang-hua (王長華), director of the NMP, remarked that the earliest known rice and millet cultivation in Taiwan dates back some 5,000 years in the past, to the time of the Dapenkeng culture (大坌坑文化). In the distant past, most of Taiwan's indigenous peoples cultivated millet and developed their own distinctive rites and customs around this dietary staple. As the environment and ways of life changed, though, agriculture changed with them. Tribes moved onto other crops and as millet cultivation fell by the wayside, so too did much of the related knowledge and rituals.
Since 2011, the NMP's Beinan Cultural Park has been working in cooperation with Puyuma village of the indigenous Pinuyumayan (卑南族) people on the cultivation of millet and the revival of related practices. Over the past nine years, these efforts have not only resuscitated Pinuyumayan culture, but also made the museum an important part of passing on that millet culture for the village and strengthening relations among community members.
In holding the June 21 forum, the NMP has created a place for all those interested in millet culture and its revival and future to come together, share, learn, and perpetuate Taiwan's indigenous millet culture.
The forum was streamed on the museum's Facebook page: