从“亡灵”到“祖灵”或“英灵”:清明墓祭的文化逻辑

From “the soul of the dead”to“ancestral soul”and“spirit of a martyr”:A study of the cultural logic of the Tomb-sweeping Day

清明节的复兴和法定假日化,为上坟扫墓和祭祖之类的民俗提供了不容置疑的合法性,也使得"慎终追远"的中国传统价值观有了可靠的传承依托。与此同时,清明的法定假日化还使得各地对"烈士"的公祭有了正当性的依据。清明为烈士扫墓固然是革命话语体系的一部分,但同时却又有传统民俗文化的依据。本文探讨与清明扫墓、祭祖有关的"亡灵"问题,在具体分析人死后其"亡灵"的"祖灵化"和"英灵化"过程的基础之上,试图更加深入地理解清明墓祭的深层文化逻辑,并进一步追问在现代中国的社会文化体系中,"灵魂"这一类范畴的意义。

With the revitalization of the Tomb-sweeping Day as a national holiday, this festival pro- vides the indisputable legitimacy for the folk customs of the tomb-sweeping ritual and ancestor wor- ship, and guarantees the reliable inheritance of the memorial ceremonies for ancestors as a part of the Chinese traditional values. At the same time, the legitimacy of the Tomb-sweeping Day also lays the legitimate basis for the public memorial ceremony for ＂martyrs＂ all over the country. The tomb- sweeping ritual on Qingming Day for the martyrs is indeed a part of the revolutionary discourse, but it is also held on the basis of the traditional custom and culture. This paper studies the problems con- cerning the tomb-sweeping ritual and the offering of sacrifices to ancestors. It focuses on the transfor- mation of the soul of the dead and the process of his/her becoming an ＂ancestral soul＂ and ＂spirit of a martyr＂, and reveals its deep-rooted cultural implications as well as the category of ＂soul＂ in the so- cio-cultural system in modern China.