the original legend of Millet goes like:
“The millet was hidden in the gaps between the fingernails by the ancestors and smuggled out from the divine realm.” -Langpaw Kaljuvung, Tjuabal Hunter, Talem Kaljuvung Workshop Operator
Langpaw Kaljuvung and Dradrivy Qaljecime, A couple living in Tjuabal Village in Taitung, Taiwan, have launched a brave campaign to protect the millet seeds in order to preserve them for future generations.
©Talem workshop
It takes six hours to drive (or take the train or plane) from Taipei to the Tjuabal tribe in Taitung. Located on a beautiful cliff in eastern Taiwan, it is the only place where the traditional “Maljeveq (*1)” of Taiwanese indigenous has never been interrupted. At the millet seed exhibition at the Talem Kaljuvung Workshop , I saw 19 kinds of millet seeds with plump fruits that made my mouth water. The seeds are the result of a year of sunshine and sweat in Taitung, as well as hundreds of years of distant Paiwan legends passed down through song.
To find out about the latest sustainable conservation actions of millet, I contacted Dradrivy Qaljecime and asked her about the latest news on the ongoing sustainable actions.
©South Link Medical Foundation | photographer Ting YuLin
The indigenous peoples have lived in Taiwan for the longest time. Due to the particularity of their living environment, the indigenous tribes have also become the preservers of Taiwan’s most primitive culture. And thank God many of their tradition are still ongoing. Taiwanese society is working hard to understand and help sustain the culture and traditions of the indigenous peoples. For example, the preservation of millet seeds is an initiative by a private foundation that has collected 170 millet seed varieties and send them to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway in 2024.
©Talem workshop
“First of all, you can understand that in the lives of the indigenous people, millet is not just food, but also closely linked to culture, rituals, and the rhythm of life.”
Dradrivy said that the reason they wanted to preserve the species was because their parents at home lamented that the taste of millet today is different from the past. This feeling made Langpaw start thinking about how to retrieve and preserve these millet varieties that should have been passed down from generation to generation with the people of the tribe.
©South link Medical Foundation | photo by Tzu-Ming Huang
The millet is grown in a very special way. It needs to grow on well-drained land full of stones, but these geographical conditions make it impossible to mechanize the land preparation process, which must be done by hand. This means that people need to stand in the fields and weed the plants one by one by hand.
The process of growing millet is also closely related to the timing of the seasons. If the timing of weeding is missed, the entire growth cycle will be affected. Therefore, the tribe that started growing millet had to completely follow the growth cycle of millet in their lives. After sowing the seeds every year, they had to thin the seedlings, weed the field, and harvest the crops, which became one of the most important annual events. When there was a shortage of manpower, even if the children were at school, they would take leave to help with the work in the fields.
© Talem Workshop
At present, the Talem Kaljuvung Workshop has successfully identified 22 species and collected 19 millet seed varieties, meaning that there are still three to go. Their goal is to recover all the traditional varieties that have ever existed, ensuring that these precious genetic resources will not disappear.
The daily needs of Langpaw and Dradrivy strike a balance between modernity and tradition.
©Talem Workshop
©South Link Medica Foundation | photographer Ting Yu Lin
In the studio, she engages in hand-weaving, creating beautiful rattan products for enthusiasts to admire and purchase. Her husband Langpaw is an aerospace engineer who works for an airline company, but in the tribe, he is also a hunter. For the indigenous people, hunting is an important part of traditional life and customs. Even though modern society has many regulations on this, such as the application and management of hunting rifles, the tribe still strives to preserve this culture so that it will not be forgotten.
However, Dradrivy said that storing millet seeds is not for commercial gain and is not sold to the outside world. It is a commitment to and continuation of the culture.
©Talem workshop
The process of preserving millet seeds is not simple. After the seeds are found, they need to be distributed to various families and continue to be cultivated. A special variety can be planted in one plot to ensure that a sufficient number can be bred. The seeds are then shared with different families so that more people can participate in preservation. The millet seeds need to be planted every year, and if they are stored for more than two or three years, their germination rate needs to be tested to ensure their quality. At the same time, they also constantly participate in seminars to learn the latest knowledge about seed conservation, so as to perfect this work.
© Talem workshop
In modern life, she also thinks about how to integrate the traditional millet culture into her daily life. She brings the tribal lifestyle into the city, and also brings the conveniences of the city back to the tribe. For example, in the city, she will use glutinous rice flour to make salty tangyuan instead of the old fashion way, or use A-vegetables to replace wild vegetables in wild vegetable rice. However, there are some traditional customs that cannot be replaced. For example, there are 22 kinds of rituals in the tribe that require millet. The stems of millet are used as incense in rituals, and millet porridge is the first choice of food after babies are weaned. New mothers also eat millet because the millet native to Taiwan is rich in nutrients and has a beneficial effect on the gastrointestinal tract.
Langpaw and Dradrivy continue to search for and preserve millet seeds because they cherish the millet culture, which is not just about food, but also part of their ancestral life, beliefs and world cultural heritage. They call this unique culture the “Millet Time Zone” and also teach and sing ancestral ballads to the next generation, teaching the ethics and morals of hunting. Through continuous efforts, year after year, the millet grows stronger like their children. They even take their children to the fields to weed, setting a good example for the next generation and hoping to continue passing down millet culture from generation to generation.
©Talem workshop
We often feel that the power of an individual is very small, as small as a seed.
Armstrong said when he set foot on the moon: “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Saving a seed may not seem like an urgent priority right now, but could it be that by saving a seed we are saving our future?
If you want to learn more about the culture of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples, this website has English information
https://www.cip.gov.tw/en/index.html
*1 Maljeveq is the Paiwan language means the harvest ceremony once every 5 years , 5-year-festival for the millet
writer
JIL WU
Founder of JWA, since 2010, art+ IG content. contributing art editor for VOGUE Taiwan since 1997, contemporary art writer for Sotheby’s since 2021, Prof. of FuJen University, Jil has worked with iconic creator and interviewed many of global renowned creators/artists, Karl Lagerfeld (Fendi) , Vivienne Westwood, Zaha Hadid, Tsui Hark, Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, Julian Opie, Mika Ninagawa, Naoto Fukasawa, etc.
