The Saisiat
The Saisiat are Taiwan`s smallest tribe of mountain-dwelling aborigines, and they are spread over the narrowest area. Their population stood at 5,300 in 2000, living in the Wu-chih mountains of Wufeng district in Hsinchu county and in the Chia-li mountains of Shihtan and Nanchuang districts in Miaoli county. Their zone of habitation lies between 500 meters and 1500 meters above sea level. In former times the Saisiat occupied a very much larger area stretching from the Ta-k’o-k’an River in the north to the Ta-an River in the south, but in due course they were driven back by expanding cultivation of the uplands by Hakka Chinese from western Taiwan, by incursions by the Taokas plains aborigines, and by pressures on their farming land and hunting grounds from the Atayal aborigines to the north. As a consequence they now inhabit only the lower mountain slopes and hills around the northern and southern foothills of O-kung-chi Mountain.

　　The Saisiat fall into two dialect groups. the northern Saisiat living in the northern foothills of O-kung-chi Mountain and the southern Saisiat living in and around the southern foothills. They have long been threatened by their more powerful Atayal neighbours to the northeast and influenced by the plains Chinese to the west, so most of the Saisiat either live among the Atayal or have been drawn into the normal administrative life of the plains. This proximity to other cultures has severely affected their own indigenous culture and customs.

　　The basic structural unit of Saisiat society consists of totemic clans linked by geographical and family ties. Three or four households of the same clan surname ( or totem) constitute a settlement, and thus a basic territorial entity, as well as a unit corresponding to a clan worship-group. Several neighbouring settlements may unite to form a village, in which the various clans each have their own clan worship-groups which form the basis of shared farmland, fishing zones and mutual assistance units belonging to each clan. At the next level, several neighbouring villages may join together to form a tribal group, with shared hunting grounds and sacrificial ceremonies. Finally, tribal groups in the same area may join in a tribal alliance, and this is what the northern and southern Saisiat are.

　　In their forms of economic production, the early Saisiat practised mobile farming, slash-and-burn cultivation in the mountain regions and mountain hunting. Later, under the steady pressure of powerful surrounding tribal and other population groups, the land available to them gradually shrank and they changed to settled agriculture and forestry. Like the Atayal, the Saisiat practise the custom of facial tattooing. As well as being a mark of social identity, this serves as a sign of maturity and is regarded by both men and women as sexually attractive adornment which compliments the beauty of women and the handsomeness of men.

　　The Ceremony of Dwarfs (pastaai) is a special Taiwan aboriginal ceremony which is unique to the Saisiat tribe, and its origin lies in a curious myth. According to legend, in a cave on Mt. Mailaara on the upper reaches of the Shang-p`ing River there once lived some dwarfs (taai) who were only three feet high. These dwarfs often mingled with the Saisiat in their villages, and they taught the Saisiat how to till the fields, how to sing and dance, and in the case of the Tou clan they taught them how to carry out their ceremonial ritual with its singing and dancing. But the dwarfs were also notorious womanisers who harried the Saisiat womenfolk with threats and even violence. To protect their women the Saisiat decided to invite the dwarfs to a ceremony and ambush them on the way. The Saisiat attacked as the dwarfs were crossing a narrow footbridge leading from their cave, sending them tumbling to their deaths in the ravine below. Yet two dwarfs survived, and as they fled towards the east they cursed the Saisiat, threatening that birds and rats would destroy their grain harvests and that their enemies would kill them when they went out clearing the land or head-hunting.

　　For this reason, appeals to the dwarf spirits during the Ceremony of Dwarfs are always directed to the east. Ordinary rituals are carried out only by settlements sharing the same clan surname, but the Ceremony of Dwarfs involves all the villages of the whole tribe. It takes place every other year, with a grand celebration every tenth year. Traditionally the chief of the ceremony is a member of the Chu clan, although according to legend all ceremonies used once to be conducted by the Tou clan. This began to change at the time when the dwarfs turned hostile, and since it was the Chu clan that suggested the ambush plan to get rid of the dwarfs, they took charge of the tribe`s biggest ceremony thenceforward.

　　The Saisiat were one of the first aboriginal tribes to be acculturated through contact with the Chinese living in the plains of Taiwan, and this cultural influence shows especially in the presence among them of many Chinese surnames. Their material culture and handicrafts are unremarkable, with the single exception of their woven textiles. However, in their art of weaving they have been much influenced by the Atayal and the Pazeh, with the result than even this has little independent character.

Saisiat Domestic Buildings
　　Since the Saisiat tend to live in close proximity to the Atayal in the mountain regions and with the plains Chinese in the lowland areas they have been strongly influenced by these groups in their style of domestic building, and it is difficult to pinpoint specifically Saisiat characteristics. They sometimes build in a purely Atayal fashion, and sometimes one finds more complex domestic facilities in the Chinese style. However, in general their houses are built flat on the ground with very little difference between the ground level outside and the floor level inside. For building materials they tend to rely mostly on bamboo, in much the same way as the Atayal of Hsinchu and Miaoli. In areas closer to the plains Chinese, though, use is occasionally made of earthen tiles or mud walls. Subsidiary constructions such as granaries, pigsties and chicken coops are sited close to the main house. There is also a display frame for human heads and a frame for animal bones, which are built near the house belonging to the ritual chief of each clan worship-group in every village.

　　When a new house is completed, the householder invites his relatives and those who have helped in the building work to a sacrificial ceremony. A feast is held at dusk at which everyone crowds into the new house while the householder stands in the middle of the house and presents an offering of a little wine, rice an pork by the main ridge-pole, summoning the spirits of his ancestors to come and partake of it. Once this ritual is over the invited guests may begin eating and drinking, and when they are thoroughly intoxicated the singing and dancing commence, lasting far into the night. If there are a large number of guests the ceremony may be carried out several times over, with the ritual of presenting offerings to the ancestral spirits being repeated on each occasion.