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

Taipei Basin The Taipei Basin () is a geographic region in northern Taiwan. It is the largest basin in Taiwan. The basin is bounded by the Yangmingshan to the north, the Linkou Plateau to the west, and the Ridge of Xueshan Range to the southeast. The shape ...

. Their language has now become extinct. On 21 March 1996, the road in front of the

Presidential Office Building Presidential Office Building may refer to: * Presidential Office Building (Kyiv) *Presidential Office Building (Republic of China) * Presidential Office Building, Tirana *Presidential Palace (Nanjing) The Presidential Palace () in Nanjing, Jiangs ...

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 this ...

(凱達格蘭大道) by then-mayor of Taipei City, Chen Shui-bian, to commemorate the people. Traffic signs banning motorcycles and

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bic ...

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

References

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

Folklore

See also

References