July 2026 Ita Thao Area Cultural Activities Performance - Classic Pestle Music Performance

The New Year of the Thao people falls on the first day of the eighth lunar month. On the night before New Year's Eve, the Thao gather at the home of the Yuan chieftain for mashtatun (ritual pestle music). Women use wooden pestles and bamboo tubes of different lengths and thicknesses to strike stones, producing sounds in a fixed rhythm and cadence. Besides informing the tribe that the New Year is approaching, it also lets hunters still in the mountains hear the pestle sounds and hurry home to welcome the New Year. The performances now seen in daily life are the Thao's most famous mashbabiar (performative pestle music). Fun fact: the difference is that performative pestle music includes singing the welcome song izakua in the middle, while ritual pestle music continues non-stop until morning. In case of rain or other events, the venue will be announced separately.