“人”的再生产——清末民初诞生礼俗的仪式结构与社会意涵

Reproducing Men:The Traditional Postpartum Ritual and Its Social Meaning

在传统诞生礼俗中,初生的胎儿并不是从一开始就被接纳为家庭谱系中的成员,而是通过"隔离"、"净化"、"重组"、"聚合"等四个相互独立但又彼此依存的仪式环节,实现从"超自然彼岸世界"的脱离,经由"自然之母"的托举与过渡,最终达到与此世人伦社会的聚合。产后的一系列"通过仪礼"让人类生物繁衍的过程附加上社会文化意涵,从而实现了真正意义上"人"及其社会关系的再生产。这一发现对我们反思工具理性背景下的产育期照料模式和家庭关系亦有启发。

In the traditional Chinese postpartum ritual,newborn baby was not accepted as family member from the beginning.It was through the four ritual periods of the“isolation”,“purification”,“reorganization”and“incorporation”,which separated newborn baby from the supernatural world,passed it through the transition of“Mother of Nature”,and finally incorporated it to this world s human society.“The Rites of Passage”after childbirth made human biological reproduction process have more social and cultural meaning,and realized the real reproduction of human beings and their whole social relationships.This research is also inspiring to nowadays postpartum care work and family relationship in the background of instrumental rationalization.