蜡祭:从“大蜡飨农”到“岁终聚戏”

The Zha Worship: from the Grand Zha Worship for Agriculture to Together for A Drama at the End of the Year

蜡祭是中国古代的一种礼仪体制,是中国古代先民于年终岁末,将一年积存的食物(主要是肉类)合聚起来报答神灵保佑,以食腊味、饮佳酿的形式完成"新故交接"的仪典。蜡祭中的人物包括祭祀对象、祭祀者——其中又包括司祭者和扮祭者以及观祭者。"扮祭者"扮演的人与物,包括"上而至尊至吉之先啬"和"下而至贱至凶之虫害",所扮演的人和物,既有人物扮演的戏剧性,又有情绪感染的戏剧性;既有矛盾冲突的戏剧性,又有寓教于乐的戏剧性。蜡祭不仅是古代的一种礼仪体制,而且是包含着"乐"的"礼",它以"戏礼"之形态迈开了中国"戏剧"的最初步履。

The Zha worship was an etiquette system in ancient China. At the end of the year,Chinese people gathered the food( usually meat) they accumulated for one year to thank the gods through a worship. This is a transition between the old and the new which is practiced in a form of eating cured meat and drinking wine. The figures in the Zha Worship concern the object of worship and the worship practitioner,which further include priests,worship actors and observers. The figures and objects played by the worship actors include "the superior ancestors and gods"and "the inferior beasts and evils". There is a theatricality of the figure playing,as well as a theatricality of emotional affection in the figures and objects in the performance.Also,there are theatricality of conflicts and theatricality of edutainment. The Zha Worship is not only an etiquette system in the past but also a "Li"which includes "Yue". Thus,it was the beginning of keywords Chinese theater in the form of "theatrical etiquette".