从1934年旱灾看民国时期的巫术救荒——以《申报》为中心

On the Sorcery Relief in the 1934 Drought of the Republic of China——Based on Materials of Shen Paper

1934年,江南各地遭遇了近百年不遇的旱灾,巫术救荒在此次救灾中大行其道。人们举行各种仪式祈求天降甘霖,消弭旱魇。既有乡民自发组织的祈雨活动,也有以团体的形式组织的规模更大的祈雨仪式,官方也成为这一活动的组织者和参与者。巫术对于救荒本身并无实际意义,但对安慰民众,保持社会稳定起了一定的作用。

In 1934,parts of southern China were hit by the worst drought in a century.Sorcery played an important role in this drought relief process.In order to relieve this drought,people held a lot of activities of praying for rain.Not only the villagers prayed spontaneously for rain,but the social groups and authorities were involved on a larger scale.Sorcery itself was materially useless to the draught relief,but it acted positively in comforting the people and maintaining social stability.