Becoming Siraya: Awakening a "Sleeping" Language After 400 Years

We are the Siraya Culture Association and Er-Wen (Emma) Yang. Together, we are raising funds to bring a vital, untold story to the heart of the Netherlands: the resilience of the Siraya people of Taiwan. The money raised here will support our initiatives, including the exhibition and the choir performance.

The Story: From Colonization to Resilience

In 1624, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) arrived in Taiwan. In just 38 years, they radically altered the lives of the Indigenous Siraya people. Dutch missionaries exiled Indigenous female spiritual leaders (the Inibs) and converted thousands to Christianity. Yet, in a complex twist of history, these same missionaries introduced a Romanized writing system for the Siraya language.

While later colonial powers suppressed the language to the point that the UN labeled it "extinct," the Siraya people never gave up. They believe their language was never dead — it was simply "falling asleep."

The Mission: Connecting Past to Present

Today, the Siraya people are using 400-year-old Dutch archival records to reconstruct and revitalize their mother tongue. Uma Tavalan (spokesperson for the Siraya Culture Association) and her husband Edgar L. Macapili are pioneers who have helped bring the language back to life — sung, written, and spoken once again.

The Siraya Culture Association is working with Er-Wen Yang to bring the exhibition "Becoming Siraya: Indigenous Voices from Taiwan, 400 Years After the Dutch VOC" to the Netherlands. In addition, the Siraya choir Onini will perform at the exhibition venue and sing in their mother tongue.

Event Details

Choir Performance
15 May 2026 | 16:00

Story Exhibition
1–30 May 2026

Location
bblthk (Wageningen Library)
Stationsstraat 2
6701 AM Wageningen

Free entrance

Budget Shortage and How Your Donation Will Be Used

We want everyone to be able to attend, which is why we are not selling tickets for the choir performance. However, although we applied for multiple grants, the results were not what we had hoped for. The grants currently cover less than 20% of the total cost, and we are using our own savings to cover the rest.

The Siraya choir Onini consists of 18 members traveling from Taiwan, which is why the travel and accommodation costs make up the largest part of the budget. To make this project possible, we need the help of our community. We would deeply appreciate your support to help cover even a small part of the following costs:

Flight tickets and transportation — 20,900 EUR
Accommodation — 11,320 EUR
Event organization — 5,000 EUR
Exhibition production and logistics — 860 EUR

The funds will be managed by Er-Wen Yang. They will be used to support the exhibition (partially transferred to the Siraya Culture Association) and the choir performance (fully transferred to the Siraya Culture Association). Every euro brings us closer to making this 400-year-old conversation a reality.

More About Us

Tainan Siraya Culture Association

Founded in 1999, the Tainan Siraya Culture Association has played a central role in Siraya revitalization, rooted in the Siraya Sinckan community and connected with several other Siraya communities.

Since 2002, the Association has revived the Siraya language by transforming seventeenth-century documents into teaching materials, dictionaries, literature, and educational tools. Through language education, publications, music, and performances, the language has returned to schools, community life, stages, and public spaces.

The Association’s Onini Choir has become a cultural messenger, inspiring audiences across communities and borders. After more than twenty years of cultural work and identity reconstruction, the Siraya won a Constitutional Court ruling in 2022, received legal recognition in 2025, and passed the formal review process in 2026.

Er-Wen Yang

With a Han Chinese background, Er-Wen hopes to serve as a bridge connecting Indigenous peoples and their stories from Taiwan to the international stage. After visiting more than 20 Indigenous communities, she noticed that the Dutch colonial history of Taiwan was little known among the Dutch public.

This inspired her first exhibition, “Unseen Formosa: Fragments of 17th-Century VOC and Indigenous Taiwan,” held at Wageningen University (June 2025) and NGO DEI in The Hague (September 2025).

While "Becoming Siraya" is in its final preparation stages, you can explore Onini’s voices and Er-Wen’s previous work, "Unseen Formosa," through the video and media links attached below.

成為西拉雅：喚醒沈睡的語言，荷蘭殖民後400年

我們是臺南市西拉雅文化協會與楊爾文（Er-Wen / Emma Yang）。我們正共同發起募資，希望把一段重要卻鮮為人知的歷史帶到荷蘭的核心，並展西拉雅的韌性與生命力。本次募得的資金將支持我們的各項計畫，包括展覽與合唱團演出。

故事：從殖民到韌性

1624年，荷蘭東印度公司（VOC）抵達台灣。在短短38年間，他們徹底改變了西拉雅族原住民族的生活。荷蘭傳教士放逐了原住民的宗教領袖尪姨（Inibs），並使成千上萬人改信基督教。然而，這些傳教士同時也為西拉雅語引入了羅馬字書寫系統。

雖然後來的殖民政權逐步壓制西拉雅語，使聯合國一度將其標示為「已滅絕」，但現代的西拉雅人相信語言從未真正消失，而只是「睡著了」。

使命：連結過去與現在

今天，西拉雅族正透過400年前荷蘭留下的歷史檔案，重建並復興他們的母語。西拉雅文化協會發言人萬淑娟（Uma Tavalan）與她的丈夫 Edgar L. Macapili，是推動語言復振的重要先驅之一，他們讓這門語言重新回到生活之中，能被歌唱、書寫與口說

西拉雅文化協會正與楊爾文合作，將展覽「成為西拉雅：荷蘭VOC統治400年後的臺灣原住民族之聲」帶到荷蘭。同時，西拉雅合唱團 Onini 也將於展場演出，以母語歌唱。

活動資訊

合唱演出

2026年5月15日｜16:00

故事展覽

2026年5月1日－5月30日

地點

bblthk（瓦赫寧恩圖書館）

Stationsstraat 2

6701 AM Wageningen

免費入場

經費缺口與捐款用途

我們希望任何人都能參加，因此演出是不收門票的。然而，儘管我們申請了多項補助，結果仍不如預期。目前補助僅涵蓋總經費不到20%，其餘部分主要由我們自籌。

西拉雅合唱團 Onini 共有18位成員從台灣來到荷蘭，因此交通與住宿費用占最大支出。為了讓這個計畫成真，我們誠摯邀請各界的朋友協助，即使是小額支持，也能帶來很大的幫助：

機票與交通：20,900 EUR

住宿：11,320 EUR

活動策劃：5,000 EUR

展覽製作與物流：860 EUR

所有資金將由楊爾文管理，用於支持展覽（部分轉交西拉雅文化協會）與合唱團演出（全數轉交西拉雅文化協會）。每一歐元，都讓這場跨越400年的對話更接近實現。

關於我們

臺南市西拉雅文化協會

成立於1999年，臺南西拉雅文化協會長期深耕西拉雅文化復振，立基於西拉雅新港社群，並與多個西拉雅社群保持連結。

自2002年起，協會透過將17世紀文獻轉化為教材、字典、文學與教育資源，成功推動西拉雅語復興。透過語言教育、出版、音樂與表演，這門語言重新回到校園、社區、舞台與公共空間。

協會的 Onini 合唱團成為文化傳遞者，在跨社群與國界之間傳遞聲音。歷經二十多年文化工作與身份重建後，西拉雅族於2022年獲得憲法法庭判決勝訴，2025年取得法律承認，並於2026年完成正式審查程序。

楊爾文（Er-Wen Yang）

楊爾文是具漢人背景的臺灣人，希望成為連結台灣原住民族與其故事走向國際舞台的橋樑。她曾走訪超過20個原住民族社群，也在荷蘭發現荷蘭殖民時期的台灣歷史在荷蘭社會中鮮為人知。

這促使她策劃首次展覽《看不見的福爾摩沙：17世紀VOC與台灣原住民族的碎片》，分別於2025年6月在瓦赫寧根大學，以及2025年9月在海牙NGO DEI展出。

在「成為西拉雅」進入最後籌備階段之際，你也可以透過下方影片與媒體連結，認識 Onini 的聲音與楊爾文過往作品《看不見的福爾摩沙》。