The Atayal (Chinese: 泰雅; pinyin: Tàiyǎ), also known as the Tayal and the Tayan,[1] are a Taiwanese indigenous people.

[2][3] The preferred endonym is "Tayal"[citation needed], although official English translations of documents supplied by the Taiwanese government name them as "Atayal".

[6] However, genetic analysis suggests that the different peoples may have different ancestral source populations originating in mainland Asia, and developed in isolation from each other.

The Atayal people are believed to have migrated to Taiwan from Southern China or Southeast Asia.

[7] Genetic studies have also found similarities between the Atayal and other people in the Philippines and Thailand, and to a lesser extent with south China and Vietnam.

[9] Studies on Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) polymorphisms suggest ancient migrations of two lineages of the various peoples into Taiwan approximately 11,000–26,000 years ago.

[12] According to stories told by their elders, the first Atayal ancestors appeared when a stone, Pinspkan, cracked apart.

In a practice illegal since the Japanese Colonial Era (1895–1945), for a man to earn his facial tattoo, he had to bring back at least one human head; these heads, or skulls, were highly honored, given food and drink, and expected to bring good harvests to the fields.

Gaga functioned as a way of living and an unwritten set of rules that governs all aspects of life.

In Atayal culture, the horizontal lines represent the rainbow bridge which leads the dead to where the ancestors' spirits live.

In the past both men and women had to show that they had performed a major task associated with adulthood before their faces could be tattooed.

For a man, he had to take the head of an enemy, showing his valor as a hunter to protect and provide for his people, while women had to be able to weave cloth.

A girl would learn to weave when she was about ten or twelve, and she had to master the skill in order to earn her tattoo.

The Atayal Tribe The community of Smangus in Jianshi Township had become well known as a tourist destination, and an experiment in communalism.