The Amis Harvest Festival

The Amis are the largest of Taiwan's indigenous peoples, living in villages along the east coast and the Rift Valley, and Ilisin is their central annual event, held village by village through July and August once the millet and rice are in. It runs over several days and is organised around age sets: men are grouped by the year they entered the system, and each group has its own part in the sequence of singing, dancing and duties. The visible core is the circle dance, hands linked, moving anticlockwise to unaccompanied singing that carries a long way at night. Some villages welcome outsiders on particular evenings; other parts are internal and closed.

What you actually see

• The circle dance - linked hands moving anticlockwise through the night.
• The age sets - men grouped by year of entry, each with their own role.
• The singing - layered unaccompanied voices leading the dance.
• The dress - red, black and white costume hung with small bells.

When to go

July and August, with each village holding its own dates and announcing them locally rather than nationally; the coastal townships and Rift Valley villages stagger them across the two months. Ask locally or at a visitor centre rather than relying on a published schedule. The dancing happens in the evening. This is also the hottest and most typhoon-prone part of the year.

Honest expectations

This is a community event rather than a performance, and turning up expecting a show is the wrong approach entirely. Photography is restricted or forbidden at many stages and should be asked about first. Visitors are sometimes invited into the outer ring of the dance and sometimes not. Staged versions run at tourist venues year-round and bear little relation to the real thing.

Nearby

The Rift Valley villages and the coastal highway run through the same area.