私人宗教仪式与社区关系——莆田东华“谢恩”仪式的田野考察

Privates Rites as Communal Relations:The Rites of Repentance in Fujian’s Putian Region

本文考察福建莆田民间的"谢恩"仪式,描述"谢恩"家庭的乞化、师公的醮仪和仪式剧《愿》的演出,呈现当代莆田乡村地方庙宇和仪式活动的复杂性,仪式形式对当代社会的适应,仪式对乡村道德经济的调制,以期考察乡土社会中的私人宗教仪式与社区环境的关系。

The rites of repentance in the folk society of Putian in Fujian are a ceremony held by rich families to reward deities for wish fulfillment, and are therefore religious rites of a private nature. However, these rites are normally conducted in the village temple, and the alleged recipients of sacrifices are communal deities. During the ritual process, the family is supposed to go out begging in the neighborhood, and the neighbors as well as relatives are also supposed to take part in the ritual process in various manners. As such, the rites of repentance actually nvolve the clan, the in-laws, the neighbors and other social relations. It therefore bears vast amount of social significances. This paper gives a detailed account of how various social relations are enterwined in the perfor-mance of the repentance rite.