神圣与爱尔兰圣井的身体政治

The sacred and the body politic at Ireland's holy wells

圣井是作为精神敬奉焦点的泉水或其他水资源,正如考古纪录所表明的,千百年来,虽然在井边加以庆祝的宗教信仰时起时落,圣井却始终是这样的一个焦点所在。爱尔兰经济在20世纪90年代的繁荣以及农业改革已使许多圣井遭到了破坏。剩下的圣井则一直是天主教徒的日常敬奉之地,也是每年一度的"既定巡行日"(即主保圣人日)所在地。该节日旨在向受到当地或地域尊敬的圣徒致敬并加强社区认同感。水井以其治疗性能而著称于世,因此它与特殊疾病的联系吸引着那些特殊的朝圣者,他们会按顺时针方向绕井环行,举行综合性的民间礼拜仪式,并且常在此寄放还愿供品。在长时段的历史之中,这种井边的礼拜仪式一直交替地得到鼓励或受到压制。如今,来自世界各地的心灵旅行者和新异教徒越来越多地出现在这些地方,并且将新型的井边礼拜仪式介绍过来,这引起了有关这些超自然风景地的神圣性和社群拥有权的争论。对于世世代代用仪式敬奉特殊水井的爱尔兰家族而言,风景地、礼拜仪式和认同感是互为支撑的。这些家庭守护者担心,"不恰当的"来访和仪式也许会导致水井失去其神奇的力量。

Holy wells are springs or other water sources that are foci for spiritual devotion, and as the archaeological record indicates, have remained such for millennia though the religious beliefs celebrated wellside have come and gone. The Irish economic boom of the 1990s and agricultural reforms have resulted in the destruction of many wells. Others remain sites of daily Catholic devotions and of annual"patterns", or Patron days, honouring locally- or regionally-venerated saints and affirming community identities. Known for healing properties, a well's association with specific ailments attracts particular pilgrims who perform syncretic folk-liturgies in a clockwise circuitand often deposit votive offerings. Wellside liturgies have been alternately encouraged and suppressed over the longue durée. Today, the increasing presence of international spiritual tourists and neopagans, and their introduction of newtypesofwellsiderituals,conteststhesacrality and community ownership of these numinous landscapes. For Irish families who have ritually maintained particular wells for generations,landscape, liturgy and identity are all mutually constitutive. These family stewards worry that"inappropriate"visitation and rituals may cause wellstolosetheirthaumaturgicalpower.