Kong-kài

A Kong-kài (Taiwanese: kong-kài; Siraya: Kuwa; Taivoan: Kuba, Kuva), literally "the Public Hall" in Taiwanese Hokkien, is a temple or shrine where indigenous peoples like the Siraya, Taivoan or Makatao hold rituals for their ancestral spirits.

[1] In the Taivoan language, the Kong-kài is generally called Kuba or any similar spelling among different communities.

For example, in Siaolin, the older generation still refers to the highest ancestral spirits in the Kong-kài as Kuba-tsóo, literally "the ancestors of the Kuba".

The pre-Kuomintang government Kong-kài in Siaolin came with different parts and materials such as:[3]

For example, in Laonong and Lakku, there is no central pillar in the shrine, and the Sacred bamboo basket is placed in the corner as in Laonong or under the offering table as in Lakku.The Makatao Kong-kàis are currently mainly distributed along the mountainous areas of Pingtung.

Estonian-Russian traveler Paul Ibis 's depiction of the interior of a Kong-kài (1877).
The renovation of the Kong-kài of Siaolin in the morning of the annual Taivoan Night Ceremony.
Taivoan men are sitting around the central pillar and the Sacred fishing basket in the center of the Kong-kài to welcome the highest ancestral spirits with ceremonial song in the evening of the Night Ceremony.