A Paiwan knife on Ebay

yuanzhumin · 6th June 2010, 04:09 AM

We have on this sword most of the commonly found symbols among the Paiwan that are human heads, human figure and animals.
We are here in a hunting society, and the common games are the deers, the squirrels... In fact, human are also hunted for their head in a magic purpose, a kind of exorcism ritual that guarantee the well-being of the community. That's the reason why human heads are always kept close to the livings in Paiwan society. On this knife, they are symbolized by the serie of 5 alined heads on the top part of the scabbard.
On the other way, the head standing alone, like the one the tip of the scabbard, is representing an ancestor whose power is protecting the hunter.
The interesting fact is that this head is carved on the tip of the scabbard that is itself shaped like a snake head : so the ancestor head and the snake head are making one.
This unity ancestor-snake is the result of the belief among the Paiwan aristocracy that their most original ancestor is a snake, the hundred paces snake, that is called like this because once it has biten someone, this person has only hundred paces to walk before dying.
So the long snake pattern seen on the closed side of the scabbard is symbolizing this original ancestor, and many taboos are related to it.
On the handle, the human figures represented in a more realistic way have usually no religious/spiritual meaning. They are just there for a decorative purpose.

6th June 2010, 04:09 AM	#3
yuanzhumin Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Ex-Taipei, Taiwan, now in Shanghai, China Posts: 180	We have on this sword most of the commonly found symbols among the Paiwan that are human heads, human figure and animals. We are here in a hunting society, and the common games are the deers, the squirrels... In fact, human are also hunted for their head in a magic purpose, a kind of exorcism ritual that guarantee the well-being of the community. That's the reason why human heads are always kept close to the livings in Paiwan society. On this knife, they are symbolized by the serie of 5 alined heads on the top part of the scabbard. On the other way, the head standing alone, like the one the tip of the scabbard, is representing an ancestor whose power is protecting the hunter. The interesting fact is that this head is carved on the tip of the scabbard that is itself shaped like a snake head : so the ancestor head and the snake head are making one. This unity ancestor-snake is the result of the belief among the Paiwan aristocracy that their most original ancestor is a snake, the hundred paces snake, that is called like this because once it has biten someone, this person has only hundred paces to walk before dying. So the long snake pattern seen on the closed side of the scabbard is symbolizing this original ancestor, and many taboos are related to it. On the handle, the human figures represented in a more realistic way have usually no religious/spiritual meaning. They are just there for a decorative purpose.