Kaohsiung City councillor promotes Indigenous culture and ecosystem protection

Kaohsiung City councillor promotes Indigenous culture and ecosystem protection

2024-03-18

A former Kaohsiung City councillor is creating a haven for Indigenous culture and ecosystem protection on Tieben Mountain. After completing his term of public office, the councilor decided to focus on his ancestral village of Lavulang. His family are creating a forest classroom and kitchen on the mountain, and restoring ancient Indigenous paths through the woods. They welcome guests to their project, teaching them about local Indigenous traditions, as well as the forest ecology.

This is a cleyera japonica, or sakaki. The tree is frequently found growing near Shinto shrines in Japan, and the name sakaki indicates that it’s “a tree of the gods.” It’s a native Taiwanese evergreen tree from the theaceae family, and it helps to clean the air.

Istanda Paingav Cengfu
Former Kaohsiung City councillor
This tree is called sakaki, and also the tree of the spirits. When this tree is here, bad spirits leave us.

After completing his term on Kaohsiung City council, Indigenous leader Istanda Paingav Cengfu returned to his ancestral village of Lavulang in Taoyuan District. Here he and his family have created a Forest Culture Classroom, restored ancient pathways through the forest, and built by hand this wooden house as a forest kitchen.

Wife of Istanda Paingav Cengfu
I pickled the plums and prepared them. We can enjoy the greenery here and see Formosan black bears, and you can admire the scenery – see how beautiful it is.

A feast of charcoal-cooked soup with spare ribs and bamboo shoots, chicken with plums, vegetables and wild aiyu jelly. All the ingredients are local. The forest even has a two-tiered barbecue oven.

This is a 1,000-year-old Taiwan crab-apple. Its fruit is sundried and then used in the menu – a flavor you won’t find anywhere else.

Tourist
I think it’s very soothing. You come in and straight away really feel the pace has slowed down, and your heart and mind can settle.

Istanda Paingav Cengfu
Former Kaohsiung City councillor
In coming back to this place, our priority is to protect the ecosystem, and then to restore the culture. So we hope that Lavulang can become a place for a renaissance of Indigenous village culture.

The former councilor has a calling. The project began from scratch four years ago. Slowly, the family are creating something special here, and passing down new stories about Tieben Mountain.

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前議員回歸部落打造森林教室帶領遊客體驗慢生活

2024-03-18

前高雄市原住民議員伊斯坦大，四年前回到舊部落桃源區拉芙蘭社的祖產地，打造了一座森林文化教室，裏頭有樹屋搭建的廚房以及森林步道，遊客來這裏，可以品嘗布農族的風味餐，認識當地自然生態，進行一場大自然的療癒。

這棵樹是「森氏紅淡比」，在日本神社旁經常可以看到它的蹤跡，因此被視為「神樹」。它是台灣特有種的山茶科常綠喬木，具有淨化空氣的作用。

[[前高雄市原住民議員伊斯坦大]]
“這棵叫做神樹，也叫做靈界樹，只要有這棵樹，不好的靈都會離開我們的身上”

前高雄市原住民議員伊斯坦大，卸下民代身份後，回到舊部落桃源區拉芙蘭社的祖產地，和家人親手打造了一座森林文化教室，除了整理出古道之外，還親手搭建了一間樹屋，做為森林廚房。

[[前高雄市原住民議員伊斯坦大妻子]]
“梅子也自己醃的然後自己弄，在這裏享受芬多精，還會看到台灣黑熊，然後還可以看風景，你看多好”

柴繞的排骨竹筍湯、梅子雞、蔬菜、野生愛玉，都是在地的食材，林間還有兩層的烤肉區。

這裏還有一棵千年的台灣蘋果樹，把果實曬乾後切片還能入菜料理，是別處吃不到的味道。

[[遊客]]
“我覺得它有一個療癒的過程，一進來之後你真的是整個步調都放慢了，而且整個心境都沈澱下來了”

[[前高雄市原住民議員伊斯坦大]]
“我們回到這個地方，保護生態是重點工作，然後就是文化復正，所以我們希望拉芙蘭社，能夠成為部落文化再啟蒙的一個點”

懷著一份使命感，一家人花了四年的時間，從零開始，慢慢開闢出這片天地，要把鐵本山拉芙蘭社的故事，傳承下去。

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