*3.3. The Social Organization*

The age organization of males is an important social structure in Amis society; men are distinguished by age; with every 5 years, a new age set is established. Each age set will be given a collective name by the leader and the elderly according to the major events that occurred during their adulthood, and the females follow their husbands' age to become members of the specific age set (see Table 1) [29] (pp. 33–39). The age organization of males in A'tolan is based on the niyaro' level and is a system for taking care of community affairs, including public ceremonies and rituals. The age organization in A'tolan is still functional not only in terms of the rituals or ceremonies in the village but also the public affairs, including marine management. It is obvious that freediving spearfishing is a way to connect each individual into one integrated team (or age set) to take responsibility for the public affairs in a niyaro'. When the age set reaches the Mihiningay stage, it is time to prepare to take over the responsibility of public affairs, which happens at the Mikumoday stage. During the Mihiningay stage, the members go spearfishing together to cultivate tacit understanding. It is a training system that organizes the Amis as a team to manage public affairs, including marine management.


**Table 1.** The structure of the age organization of males in A'tolan (2016–2010) [29] (pp. 31–32).

#### *3.4. The Belief Context of the Sea*

The rituals related to the sea in Amis society are ocean rituals and pakelang (a ceremony in which Amis go fishing and eat fish on the coast to transfer the sacred into daily life for coastal Amis), for which each coastal Amis tribe has different words (mikesi', misace'po (which means ocean ritual in Makuta'ay village), pafafoy (which means ocean ritual in Torik village), etc.). Both ocean rituals and pakelang play a critical role in the social and cultural life of Amis. In A'tolan, mikesi' is on the last day of the annual ritual: all the males except Ladihif and Las'fi go to the coast to catch fish; women are not allowed to participate in the ritual. As for pakelang, coastal Amis get together in the coastal area to catch and cook fish at the close of a social or cultural event, e.g., a wedding, funeral, etc.

The A'tolan Amis believes that two mythical ancestors came from the ocean, so when they perform rituals and ceremonies by the coast, they call upon those two ancestors to protect the people and pray to them for fish. The two ancestors are Lepang (male) and Dongi (female). Some spearfishing men in A'tolan also call upon the ancestors' names when praying for safe diving and a rich catch of fish.

In other words, the ocean is not only a social space but also a cultural landscape for the A'tolan Amis.
