Salamati, God of Soil and Crops
Paiwan · deity · Paiwan traditional religion; continuing · deity
Salamati is the god of the soil and of agricultural fertility among the Paiwan, named in the enumeration of Paiwan deities recorded by the Paiwan minister-scholar Chun-fa Masegseg Tung and reported in the survey literature on Aboriginal Taiwanese religion. He is the soil god 'who helps crops to grow', sustaining the millet (vaqu) and taro on which Paiwan subsistence and ritual life centred; millet in particular is the focus of Paiwan agricultural ceremony. Salamati belongs to the group of nature gods that, with the creator god and alongside the mountain god Sakina and the river-and-sea god Volaluval, constitute the at-least-eight gods of the traditional Paiwan pantheon.
Domains
- soil and agriculture
Powers
- to make the crops grow from the soil
Epithets
- Salamati
Relations
- subordinate to: Naqemati, the Creator
Sources
- Chun-fa Masegseg Tung, 'The Power Confrontation between Paiwan Traditional Religion and the Gospel of Jesus Christ' (Fuller Theological Seminary, School of World Mission, 1984), 13-15.
- 'Religious Beliefs in "Aboriginal Taiwan"', International Journal of Taiwan Studies 7, no. 1 (2024): 118ff., naming Salamati as a Paiwan soil god who helps crops grow (citing Tung 1984: 13-15).