文化英雄—臺灣原住民神話中的取火動物角色

Culture Hero-Discussion of the Tinder Myths of Taiwanese Aboriginals

鹿憶鹿(Yi-Lu Lu)

《民間文學年刊》 2期增刊 (2009/02) Pp. 375-390

https://doi.org/10.29455/MJWSNK.200902.0020

摘要

臺灣原住民的火種神話非常普遍，阿美族、泰雅族、布農族、排灣族、魯凱族、鄒族、達悟族都流傳著豐富的取火神話，而且取火神話常與洪水神話相結合。臺灣原住民的神話通常都是洪水之後火熄了，或洪水時忘了將火種帶出，而由鳥、羌、鹿去別的地方將火種取回。大林太良認為火種起源神話通常是把它作為人類起源或宇宙起源神話的一個組成部分表現出來的。在火種起源神話中常見到火存在於人體內的說法，尤其以存在於女神的陰部居多，特別是美拉尼西亞、玻里尼西亞和南美較常見。原住民火種神話與其他南島民族不同。根據瑞士學者H. Egli的研究，世界上很多民族都有動物取火母題，澳大利亞原住民及美洲的印地安人都有鳥類、田鼠或魚取火的情況。太平洋的新幾內亞取火的是蛇、鳥、豬或狗，而美拉尼西亞有的神話是人或鳥去取火。臺彎原住民火種神話與其他南島民族不同，很少見到火種藏於身體的情節，常見鳥類取火的母題，鳥類取火又或許與原住民的鳥卜鳥崇拜有闕；而取火神話又與洪水神話結合，成為東亞地區文化起源神話的特點。

關鍵字

臺灣原住民 ； 火種神話 ； 文化英雄

並列摘要

The tinder myths are very common among Taiwanese aboriginals, including Amis, Atayal, Bunun, Paiwan, Rukai, Tsou, and Tao. Moreover, myths of acquiring tinder are often linked to flood myths. In the myths of Taiwanese aboriginals, the fire was usually extinguished in the flood, or forgotten during the flood, and then brought back by bird, muntjac, or deer from other places.Taruo Obayashi regarded the tinder myths as the components in the myths of the origins of the humans or the universe. In the myths, the tinder was often found inside the human bodies, particularly in the vaginas of the goddesses in Melanesia, Polynesia, and South America.Different from the myths of the Austronesians, the myths of Taiwan aboriginals rarely contained the plots of the tinder being hidden inside the human bodies, and often consisted of motifs of birds' tinder acquisition. For Taiwanese aboriginals, the tinder myths, which are linked to the flood myths, are not parts of the myths of the origins of the humans or the universe.

並列關鍵字

Taiwanese aboriginals ； tinder myths ； culture-hero