Ketagalan or Ketangalan () are a Taiwanese aboriginal people originating in what is now the Taipei Basin. Their

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

has now become extinct. On 21 March 1996, the road in front of the Presidential Office Building was renamed from "Long Live

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

" Road (介壽路) to

Ketagalan Boulevard Ketagalan Boulevard () is an arterial road in Zhongzheng District in Taipei, Taiwan, between the Presidential Office Building and the . It is long and has a total of ten lanes in each direction with no median. History The former name of t ...

(凱達格蘭大道) by then-mayor of

Taipei City Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the nor ...

Chen Shui-bian Chen Shui-bian (; born 12 October 1950) is a retired Taiwanese politician and lawyer who served as the president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008. Chen was the first president from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) whi ...

, to commemorate the people.

Traffic sign Traffic signs or road signs are signs erected at the side of or above roads to give instructions or provide information to road users. The earliest signs were simple wooden or stone milestones. Later, signs with directional arms were introduce ...

s banning

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruisin ...

s and bicycles from that road were abolished at the same time.

Beitou District Beitou District is the northernmost of the twelve districts of Taipei City, Taiwan. The historical spelling of the district is Peitou. The name originates from the Ketagalan word ''Kipatauw'', meaning witch. Beitou is the most mountainous an ...

in Taipei City houses the

Ketagalan Culture Center The Ketagalan Culture Center (KCC; ) is a cultural center in Beitou District, Taipei, Taiwan. The cultural center is dedicated to introduce the various plains indigenous cultures, including the Ketagalan tribes cultures. History The center w ...

, a cultural center about the Ketagalan people.

Folklore

Legend has it that the Ketagalan forebears originally lived on another island, Sanasay. One day, a

monster A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...

appeared on the island. Every night it would appear in the village, terrorizing the villagers. Accordingly, the villagers laid traps for the monster all around their homes and fields. The wounded monster was forced back into the mountains and the village was peaceful again for a while, but soon afterward it reappeared. Pushed to insanity by hunger, the monster went into one of the village homes and killed a child. The villagers lived in fear of being eaten and did not dare to sleep. The villagers fiercely debated but nobody could think of a way to deal with the monster. With no other choice, it was decided that they must pack up and leave the island. Following an arduous

sea The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

voyage, they sighted land. The island they landed on was

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

, near the Shuang-Xi river in the north. Many years later, the community was growing so one day the villagers agreed to draw straws. Those who drew long straws were permitted to remain living on the fertile plain while those drawing the short straws would have to move into the

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

s. Thereafter, the villagers were separated into plain-dwelling and mountain-dwelling peoples.

References

Taiwanese indigenous peoples {{Taiwan-ethno-group-stub

Folklore

See also

References