The Saaroa or Hla'alua people () are an

indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

of central southern

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. They live in the two

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

s of Taoyuan and Kaochung in

Taoyuan District Taoyuan District () is a District (Taiwan), district of Taoyuan City in northwestern Taiwan. Formerly a county-administered city also known as Taoyuan City () before 2014, when the former Taoyuan County was elevated to a special municipality (Ta ...

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung, officially Kaohsiung City, is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsiung City has a population of approximately 2.73 million p ...

and Maya Village in Namasia District,

. The group attained official recognition from the Taiwanese government on 26 June 2014 under the name Hla'alua as the 15th indigenous people of Taiwan. Previously, the group as considered as subgroup of the

Tsou people The Tsou ( Tsou: ''Cou''; ) are an indigenous people of central southern Taiwan. They are an Austronesian ethnic group. They reside in Chiayi County and Nantou County. The Tsou numbered around 6,000, approximately 1.19% of Taiwan's total Indige ...

Clothes

The Hla'alua tribe excels in hunting and tanning, developing leather crafts and products, and making leather clothing, and leather hats as a staple in men's attire. The formal dress for men includes a red long-sleeved top with a chest cover, a black short skirt, and a goat-skin hat. Women braid their hair with a scarf, wear a hat adorned with rooster feathers, and dress in a black skirt with a blue or white long-sleeved top featuring cross-stitch embroidery on the front panel. Other handicrafts, mostly practical items for daily life, hunting, rituals, and children's toys, are also prominent. Traditional gentlemen's attire includes shirts, hats, and pants made of goat or deer leather. The Hla'alua tribe embeds seashells on the front of leather hats and sews on five feathers (two eagle feathers on each side and a white tail feather from a Mikado pheasant in the center). Today, a red fabric top with tricolor stripes of yellow, green, white, green, and yellow on the back symbolizes family and tribal commitment. Women braid their hair with traditional scarves and wear hats adorned with rooster feathers. They wear black skirts with a blue or white long-sleeved top, and the women from Fliplara Village in Taoyuan often wear blue tops, while those from the communities of Paisiana, Talisia, and Bilangan in Gaozhong frequently opt for white tops. According to legend, they create hats with rooster feathers to commemorate the rooster and wear them to assist the tribe in negotiating with the sun.https://www.cip.gov.tw/en/tribe/grid-list/32D5BFDE3389841BD0636733C686

Reference

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

Clothes

See also

Reference