信仰、狂欢、冲突:明清苏州的酬神赛会与大众文化

Faith, Carnival and Conflict: Suzhou’s Thanksgiving Tournament and Popular Culture in the Ming and Qing Dynasties

民间信仰作为明清时期大众文化的重要表现之一,是我们开展日常生活史和大众文化史研究的绝好切入点,成为我们了解当时普通民众的生活方式、观念世界和心态价值的一面镜子。明清时期苏州地区普遍流行的在节庆日的酬神赛会活动,不仅仅是民间信仰的一种表征,也是传统社会异质元素的行动呈现。因为在明清特定的历史背景下,此类民间信仰活动出现了繁多的新鲜事物,涵括了从祭祀性向娱乐性的转变过程。尤其值得注意的便是,在普通大众的娱乐狂欢中往往会产生出一系列的矛盾与冲突,这些都构成了明清苏州大众文化的重要内容,集中显示出其中的文化内涵与时代特征,也揭示出不同于甚至背离于儒家大传统之外的民间小传统的文化意义。

Folk religion as one of the important manifestations of the mass culture of the Ming and Qing dynasties, is an excellent entry point for us to study daily life history and popular culture history. and is the mirror to understand ordinary people's way of life, world of ideas and their world outlook. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, thanksgiving game activities were prevalent in festivals in Suzhou region. It's not just characterization of the folk belief, but also practical showing of heterogeneous elements of the traditional society, in that a variety of novelty occurred in the specific historical context of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, inculding the process of change from the worship aptitude entertaining. It is noteworthy that it always produce a series of contradictions and conflicts in the general public carnival. These constitute an important part of the popular culture in Suzhou in the Ming and Qing dynasties, show the cultural meaning and characteristics of the times, and also reveal cultural significance of the minor folk culture which is different and even deviated from the Confucian traditions.