A Love Letter from Lhasa 15

Chapter Fourteen: The Tsou People’s Carnival Celebration — The Life Bean Festival

80

In the courtyard after dinner, the Tang family sat together, drinking tea and chatting. Annie leaned close to Gesang as she savored a cup of the Tang family's rich, aromatic coffee.

Annie exclaimed, “This coffee really is rich and full-bodied. It has such a distinctive flavor!”

Tang Aiyu said suggestively, “Annie, you must remember the taste of this cup of coffee!”

Annie nodded earnestly. “I certainly will! These are coffee beans grown by the Tang family, and Huaimin brewed the coffee himself.”

Aiyu continued, “The Life Bean Festival is an important celebration for our Tsou people. Many couples hold their weddings during the festival and receive the blessings of the entire tribe. Big Brother, Annie, what would you like as a wedding gift? Just give me a list! As long as it's something I can afford!”

“Cough, cough!”

Tang Meilan, sitting nearby, was taken by surprise by Aiyu's sudden remarks. She quickly coughed to signal Aiyu to stop bringing up the subject for the time being.

But Aiyu was so straightforward that she not only refused to keep quiet but addressed the matter openly.

“Mom, Big Brother and I talked things through last night. You should respect his decision!”

Caught off guard by Aiyu's blunt response, Meilan looked somewhat embarrassed. She noticed her husband giving her a meaningful glance, so she quickly changed the subject.

“I just choked on my tea. It's nothing, nothing.”

Annie smiled. “There's no need to rush, is there? Let's just enjoy the festival first.”

Meilan quickly agreed. “Exactly! Marriage is a lifelong commitment. You have to take it seriously!”

Huaimin thought for a moment and said, “In that case, why don't you make two sets of traditional clothing for Annie to wear at the festival?”

Aiyu smiled. “That'll be no problem at all. I'll go get my measuring tape right now.”

Aiyu stood up and went into the house.

Huaimin smiled at Annie and said, “My sister is always in a hurry, but when it comes to sewing, she's one of the best in the village.”

Aiyu came hurrying back, carrying a measuring tape and a notebook.

“Annie, stand up and let me take your measurements.”

Annie stood up and let Aiyu measure her height, arm length, bust, and waist. Aiyu recorded the measurements in her notebook as she went.

Aiyu declared confidently, “All done! One set of leather clothing and two sets of outfits for going out. I'll have everything ready in three days.”

Annie smiled sweetly. “Thank you, Aiyu.”

“It's only right. You're going to be the future lady of the Tang family. As your future sister-in-law, I have to butter you up in advance. Otherwise, when I come back to visit my family after I get married, nobody will pay any attention to me. That would be terrible!”

Huaimin grinned. “Ha! How could that happen? Who would ever ignore our little songbird?”

The elder Tangs laughed along with them.

Luosang said, “Starting tomorrow, you'll have regular working hours, weekends off, and overtime pay on top of that.”

Aiyu pressed her palms together and bowed deeply.

“Thank you, Your Majesty, for your gracious decree!”

Annie and the rest of the Tang family were amused by Aiyu's performance, and everyone burst out laughing.

81

The Life Bean Festival was held at Dabang Elementary School, attracting many visitors from outside the area. Tang Huaimin, Annie, and Aiyu joined the young people from the tribe in setting up the festival grounds.

Annie's red hair, blue eyes, and distinctly foreign appearance aroused the curiosity of several young men and women who also had red hair and blue eyes. Annie was equally curious about their appearance.

The first young woman asked, “Annie, are you from the Netherlands?”

“I'm from California in the United States. My mother's ancestors came from the Netherlands and immigrated to the East Coast of the United States in the late nineteenth century.”

A young man said warmly, “Then we share the same ancestry. My ancestors also came from the Netherlands. In the mid-seventeenth century, they were defeated by Koxinga and fled to our Tsou tribal community.”

Annie smiled. “So some of your ancestors were Dutch too.”

Another young woman asked, “Where did you and your boyfriend meet?”

“We met in Lhasa, Tibet. My grandmother's family is originally from Lhasa.”

The young woman asked again, “Lhasa, Tibet? That's such a distant place! It must still be very underdeveloped, right? Don't Tibetans all ride cattle and horses when they go out?”

Annie explained, “You've got the wrong impression! Tibet has made great progress in development. Downtown Lhasa has a bus network and department stores. It's much like downtown Taichung. Only the nomadic herders still ride horses, because the grasslands are so vast that horseback riding is more convenient.”

The young man said, “It's that developed? I've seen movies and TV programs showing Tibetans collecting yak dung for fuel. I always thought their lives were extremely difficult.”

Annie replied, “Nomadic herders have been collecting yak dung for fuel for a long time. It's simply a practical way of life for them. In fact, many Tibetans have become accustomed to living in cities, while the daily lives of herders who own cattle and sheep have also improved considerably.”

Huaimin added, “Continued exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait can help narrow the gap in people's understanding of each other. If you ever have a chance to visit Shanghai, you'll find that its urban development is far more advanced than Taipei's. It's already caught up with Tokyo and New York!”

The young man said, “That's true. Apart from Tokyo, I haven't visited any of those major cities.”

The first young woman said, “Annie, Alishan is a wonderful place! You're always welcome to come back and settle here.”

Annie replied, “I probably won't be settling here anytime soon. Huaimin and I have decided to stay in Tibet for a while.”

82

Night fell, and the lively festival began.

A huge bonfire blazed in the center of the square. Young men and women from the Tsou community of Saviki, dressed in traditional clothing, performed a welcoming dance. The young women wore blue blouses with short black skirts, while the young men wore long leather hunter's trousers and danced bare-chested, radiating youthful energy.

Next, couples of young men and women dressed in traditional costumes entered the festival grounds hand in hand as the master of ceremonies announced their names. They lined up in formation.

The chief recited a wedding blessing, followed by a prayer spoken by the tribe's spiritual leader. Then, accompanied by music, the couples began a romantic dance.

As the music drew to a close, each groom knelt on one knee and proposed to his bride while holding a bamboo cup. The couple then drank from their cups in a traditional wedding toast. The groom lifted his bride onto his back and carried her off amid cheers from their family and friends.

At the edge of the square, Huaimin put his arm around Annie as they watched the traditional wedding ceremony taking place.

Aiyu, standing nearby, chimed in, “Big Brother, Annie, when you're ready to get married, come back to Alishan!”

Huaimin laughed. “If you find yourself a boyfriend, don't wait for us!”

Aiyu made a face. “My future boyfriend is still being fostered at some unknown woman's house!”

Next, tourists and members of the Tsou community entered the square together, forming two large circles. They sang and danced together.

Wearing her traditional outfit, Annie followed Huaimin and Aiyu, moving to the rhythm of the drums. She quickly got the hang of it.

Dozens of food stalls lined the edge of the square, offering all kinds of traditional Tsou snacks, including banana mochi, hunter's rice parcels, millet rice cooked in bamboo tubes, stone-grilled wild boar, and cold salad made with red prickly ash, mountain pepper, and areca flowers.

Meilan and Luosang were busy wrapping long, rectangular hunter's rice parcels in shell ginger leaves. During a break in the dancing, Huaimin, Annie, and Aiyu came over to help. Under Meilan and Aiyu's careful guidance, Annie learned how to wrap the hunter's rice parcels.

83

Tang Huaimin, Aiyu, and Annie each carried a bamboo basket on their backs. Huaimin had a machete tucked into his waist and carried a bamboo pole seven or eight meters long on one shoulder. A Y-shaped blade was attached to the end of the pole, which he used to cut the aiyu vines growing among the treetops.

Huaimin wore a short leather jacket and leather shorts, with cloth leggings wrapped around his lower legs and tall rubber boots on his feet. He also carried a pair of spiked climbing shoes in his hand. He looked like a stuntman ready for an action scene. The two women wore long-sleeved shirts and long pants, along with tall rubber boots.

Huaimin led the two women toward the protected forest behind the tea plantation.

Once they entered the forest, Huaimin drew his machete and swung it to hack a path through the vegetation. The two women followed close behind.

They came to a large tree whose trunk appeared to be wide enough for three people to wrap their arms around it.

“Let's start by harvesting this one!” Huaimin said.

Aiyu handed him the long bamboo pole. Holding it firmly, Huaimin used the blade to cut a cluster of aiyu fruits from the lower edge of the tree canopy. The cluster fell to the ground.

Aiyu walked over, picked out one aiyu fruit, and slit it open with a sickle. Smiling, she said, “They're ripe, Big Brother.”

Annie came closer and asked curiously, “When the seeds turn yellowish brown, does that mean the fruit is ripe?”

Aiyu replied, “Yes! Aiyu fruits come in male and female varieties.”

Annie smiled. “I had no idea aiyu fruits had male and female varieties.”

Aiyu explained, “It's not just the fruits. The aiyu vines themselves are either male or female. The aiyu vines growing on this tree include both male and female plants. It's easy to accidentally cut down male aiyu fruits. But the male fruits produced by male vines can't be used to make aiyu jelly.”

Annie asked, “Then how can you tell whether a fruit is male or female?”

Aiyu said, “Wait a moment. I'll go find a male one.”

Aiyu leaned the bamboo pole she was holding against the tree trunk and searched through the grass. She quickly found two fallen male fruits and brought them over to compare with the female fruit in Annie's hand.

Pointing back and forth with her finger, Aiyu said, “Annie, take a close look at the spots on the skins of the fruit you're holding and these two fruits in my hand.”

Annie said, “The spots on yours are denser and larger.”

“Exactly. The female fruits have fewer and smaller spots. Now I'll cut one open for you to see.”

Aiyu used the sickle to cut open one of the male fruits.

“Look! Inside, you can see pollen and red anthers. This is a male fruit that hasn't been parasitized by the aiyu wasp.”

Aiyu cut open the other fruit.

“In a male fruit that has been parasitized by the aiyu wasp, you can see the anthers on the right side. On the left side, the male gall flowers have developed into plump, round, seed-like galls because of the wasp's parasitism. Each gall houses an aiyu wasp. Take a close look! The galls in the male fruit are almost perfectly round. Aren't they cute?”

Annie exclaimed, “My God! It's amazing!”

Huaimin, standing nearby, said, “What's unique about aiyu is that its reproductive process involves a cycle in which a plant gives rise to an animal, and then the process returns to the plant.”

Annie looked puzzled. “A plant turns into an animal and then turns back into a plant? Isn't aiyu just a kind of climbing vine?”

Huaimin smiled and explained, “One male plant can pollinate five to ten female aiyu plants. After the male plant bears fruit, it produces aiyu wasps, scientifically known as gall wasps. Once the wasps mature, they enter the female aiyu fruits and complete the pollination process. Only then can fruits containing aiyu seeds develop. Isn't this ecosystem fascinating?”

Annie understood and laughed. “So the wasps are simply carrying the pollen from one flower to another! You made it sound so mysterious.”

Huaimin picked up one fruit from each of the two women's hands and carefully explained, “Aiyu belongs to a group of plants with hidden flowers. Its floral structures are concealed inside an enlarged receptacle. What looks like a fruit is actually a syconium, or a hidden flower structure. So how do the pollen from the male flowers and the female flowers meet? Take a look!”

Huaimin turned the male fruit upside down.

“There's a very small opening at the bottom of the syconium. Inside is a winding, spiral-shaped passage. Only one particular species of aiyu wasp can get through it.

“And the wasp doesn't simply go inside, pick up some pollen, and fly out to deliver it. The female wasp enters the male flower and lays her eggs. The eggs hatch into male wasps, which then mate with the female wasps that hatch afterward.

“After mating, the female wasps fly out through the tiny opening at the bottom of the male aiyu flower, carrying pollen from the male flowers on their bodies.

“From there, the female wasps have two possible paths. One is to fly directly into another male aiyu flower and lay eggs, continuing the next generation, because they can only lay eggs and reproduce inside male flowers. The other possibility is to fly into a female aiyu flower and carry the pollen from the male flowers to the female flowers.

“Only after successful pollination do tiny fruits begin to develop. These little fruits are full of pectin. When harvesters collect them, rub them, and wash them, they produce the aiyu jelly we eat.”

Annie exclaimed again, “Wow! What an extraordinary and amazing process!”

Huaimin said, “That's the end of today's lesson. Now watch me put on a show!”

Tang Huaimin changed into his spiked climbing shoes. Using both his hands and feet, he grabbed the vines growing along the tree trunk and climbed upward with the agility of a macaque.

Annie stared at the moss-covered trunk and asked anxiously, “Your brother keeps climbing higher and higher. There's moss all over the trunk, and it looks damp and slippery. Isn't he in danger?”

Aiyu laughed. “Don't worry! Ever since he was in middle school, my brother has climbed trees with my uncle to harvest aiyu. They used to climb in ordinary rubber shoes! Later, when my brother joined the school's track-and-field team, he discovered that climbing in spiked shoes gave him a much better grip.”

When he reached a fork in the tree about eight or nine meters above the ground, Huaimin straddled a branch and called down, “Sis, pass me the bamboo pole!”

Aiyu and Annie held the bamboo pole together, raised it above their heads, and passed it up to Huaimin.

Huaimin took the long pole and swung it like the Golden Cudgel, cutting down clusters of aiyu fruits, vines, and leaves one after another. The two women below hurried to gather the fallen clusters.

Aiyu carefully sorted out the female aiyu fruits, cut them off from their stems, and tossed them into the bamboo basket.

84

Tang Huaimin and the two women returned, each carrying a bamboo basket full of aiyu fruits.

In the courtyard, Tang Meilan and Luosang had already prepared peeling knives and set up more than a dozen large, round bamboo trays.

The three of them emptied their baskets, piling the aiyu fruits into a small mountain on a sheet of thick cardboard.

The five family members divided up the work. Huaimin was responsible for spreading the cut and peeled aiyu fruits evenly across the large bamboo trays. Annie had the relatively easy task of making a single slit in each peeled fruit and dropping it into a plastic bucket. The other three each held a peeling knife and carefully removed the thick outer skin from the individual fruits.

Annie picked up a piece of peel and held it close to her nose.

“It has a fruity fragrance!”

Meilan said, “If we collect these peels, we can use them to make chicken soup or fish soup. They taste pretty good!”

Annie smiled. “Aiyu really is precious from the inside out!”

Luosang said, “After we've dried them in the sun for a few days, we'll remove the seeds and put them in jars for you to take back to the United States. Then Huaimin can make some for you to eat. I doubt you'll find this very easily in America.”

Annie replied, “That's right! Aiyu is such a delicious dessert. I didn't get the chance to try it until I came here!”

Huaimin said, “Actually, aiyu jelly is a very ordinary, everyday dessert. You can buy it in supermarkets all over the island. But down in the lowlands, you're unlikely to see whole aiyu fruits. That's because most Taiwanese aiyu grows wild, making it very difficult to cultivate commercially.”

Annie said, “There's something I've been meaning to ask you! Why did you give your younger sister the name Aiyu?”

Meilan smiled and said, “When Aiyu was born, I was doing exactly what I'm doing now—busy peeling aiyu fruits!”

Annie smiled. “Now I understand!”