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The Institute of Ethnology (IoE), Academia Sinica, and the kaviyangan community held a traditional Paiwan masanvetjek (alliance) ceremony on August 16, formally entering into a bond of kinship as vetjek. The tjerelai family of the kaviyangan community also donated 36 audio recordings documenting the founding of the community, Five-Year Rituals, the community’s conversion to Catholicism, and other historically significant events to the Institute of Ethnology. The masanvetjek ceremony affirmed their long-standing relationship and commitment to continued cultural preservation and transmission.

President Chen Chien-jen of Academia Sinica, who attended the masanvetjek ceremony, noted that the relationship between the IoE and the kaviyangan community began with efforts to safeguard the cultural heritage of the mulitan, an ancestral spirit pillar designated as a national treasure. Since the two sides began working together in 2020 on the collaborative exhibition “Returning Home: Recalling kaviyangan’s Records of Art,” the two sides have built a relationship grounded in deep trust and mutual respect through physical and virtual exhibitions. The alliance, conducted according to Paiwan customary practice, marks an important milestone in returning knowledge to the community as the holder and cultural authority of its own heritage, while strengthening their continued efforts to safeguard and transmit cultural knowledge.

The ceremony began with the traditional leaders of the zingrur family leading the procession into the ceremonial space, accompanied by the calls of community members, traditional chants, and ceremonial gunfire. Kalayngan, the Community Executive Director, and the tjaljavulungan family, responsible for ceremonial oversight, conducted emayam (the presentation and verification of the ceremonial offerings), formally ushering in the ritual sequence of the alliance ceremony. As a gesture of the family’s acceptance of the IoE as kin, representatives of the zingrur family performed papuuma (bestowing a house name) and papungadan (bestowing a personal name), bestowing the house name vavulengan on the IoE. The name is derived from kavulungan, the Paiwan name for the highest sacred mountain of the Paiwan people, Beidawu Mountain, and conveys the meaning of “a summit that people look upon with respect.” It symbolizes Academia Sinica’s position as Taiwan’s premier academic institution and the IoE’s scholarly stature and achievements. For the kaviyangan community, the house name also signifies that the mulitan, the ancestral spirit pillar, has its own home in vavulengan, under the community’s blessings. Personal names were also bestowed upon President Chen and Institute Director Jou Yuh-Huey, and the two sides exchanged traditional gifts symbolizing their newly established kinship. Accompanied by the resonant sound of a traditional Paiwan nose flute, kalayngan then conducted penaljang (announcing the alliance to the ancestral spirits) and tjemuleng ta vava (sharing wine to inform various family groups), formally declaring the alliance between the IoE and the kaviyangan community before the ancestral spirits and community members.

Following the alliance ceremony, a donation ceremony was held for “mamazangiljan ti ljaljangalan a lja zingrur,” a collection of oral-history cassette recordings. The 36 precious recordings were personally made in the 2000s by mamazangiljan ti ljaljangalan a lja zingrur (1923–2017), the younger brother of the seventeenth-generation leader of the kaviyangan community. The recordings document the founding of the community, changes in traditional rituals, and historical experiences of how traditional leaders drew upon political wisdom to negotiate relationships among neighboring communities. Together, they constitute an invaluable record of the kaviyangan community’s oral history and cultural memory. Director Jou Yuh-Huey of the IoE said that preserving these oral recordings in the museum makes the community’s historical experiences and Indigenous knowledge more accessible within broader public efforts to preserve cultural heritage. Through research, curation, and reinterpretation, this knowledge can continue to sustain Indigenous cultural life in contemporary society. Chou Cheng-chun (kui tjerelai), grandson of mamazangiljan ti ljaljangalan a lja zingrur, also shared that the voices preserved by his grandfather are an important source of memory for future generations seeking to understand the history and culture of the kaviyangan community. They also carry the community’s strength in responding to historical change while safeguarding its cultural autonomy and agency.

The event concluded with all participants joining in zemiyan, a communal circle dance, followed by papukizing, a ritual through which the two sides become kin. The kaviyangan community presented IoE with a large communal serving spoon (kadang), symbolizing the sharing of food from the same hearth. This gesture of sharing in the bonds of kinship brought the alliance ceremony to a close. Moving forward, the two sides will continue to strengthen their bonds of kinship, work together on cultural preservation and knowledge transmission, and advance community-led cultural revitalization and the return of knowledge to the community.