Siangtian Lake

Siangtian Lake is located in Nanzhuang Township in northern Taiwan's Miaoli County. It is home to one of the smaller aboriginal tribes in Taiwan, the Saisiyat.

Every second year, the Saisiyat people stage a festival called the "Sacrifice to the Short People". The festival goes back to legendary times when the Saisiyat were said to have shared their land with a tribe of short people. In the beginning, the two peoples lived in harmony and helped each other to prosper. However, this harmony was destroyed by a single incident involving a man from the tribe of short people and a Saisiyat woman. Exactly what happened between these two individuals was not clear, but it was enough to enrage the Saisiyat people so that a massacre of the short people took place.

Subsequently, the Saisiyat people experienced many tragedies, which they attributed to the vengeance of the tribe of short people. In order to appease the angry spirits and to make amends for the injustice done by their ancestors, the Saisiyat people hold the "Sacrifice to the Short People" on the 15th day of the 10th lunar month every second year. A particularly spectacular festival is held every 10 years. The next of these big festivals will take place in 2006.

Throughout the "Sacrifice to the Short People", the Saisiyat people wear traditional costumes. The festival ceremonies take four days and three nights to complete. Visitors are excluded from the more sacred rituals, but are allowed to participate in the dancing and singing.

Nearby Siangtian Lake is Triangle Lake, a recreational farm where visitors can pick fruit, camp or barbeque.