意义断裂与面子竞争:农村丧葬仪式的变迁逻辑——基于关中S村的个案分析

Meaning Fracture and Face Competition:The Logic of Changing Rural Funeral Ritual——A Case Study on Funeral Ritual Vicissitude in Village S in Guanzhong Plain

丧葬仪式作为个体生命历程的组成部分,传达的是"慎终追远""事死如事生"的观念。受村庄中经济分化的影响,当代中国乡村的丧葬仪式越来越成为面子竞争的舞台,发生了名与实的分离。传统的丧葬仪式在保留基本仪式的前提下被不断简化,丧事花费却越来越高。究其原因,村庄中不同年龄群体对生命意义认知发生断裂,50岁以下的村民更加关注从现世生活获得意义,积极参与对生者之社会性价值的获取与积累,丧葬仪式的文化意涵也因此出现了一定程度的异化。

As an integral part of the individual life course,funeral rituals convey the idea of＂Shen Zhong Zhui Yuan＂and ＂Shi Si Ru Shi Sheng＂. Affected by economic differentiation in villages,funeral rituals are increasingly becoming stages of face competition. As a result,the essence of funeral rituals has been deprived. Traditional funeral rituals have been simplified while funeral expenses have been increasingly high. The reason of the changes is the cognitive fracture of meanings about life among different age groups in villages. Villagers who are 40 to 50 years old and younger abandon the imagination of the world after death inherited from their ancestors while paying more attention to meanings from present life and actively participating in acquisition and accumulation of social values of the living. Therefore,there is a certain degree of alienation of the cultural meaning of funeral rituals.