庙宇塑造与地方记忆:芷江天后宫的空间建构

Temple Shaping and Local Memories:the Significance Construction of the Sacred Space of Tianhou Palace in Zhijiang

清代以来,国家对西南苗疆开始了大规模经济开发,沅水流域迅速商业化。芷江天后宫是闽籍客商进入该区域创建的十余间天后宫中唯一仍以庙宇角色存在者。如今,芷江地区妈祖信众基础不再,天后宫的核心神明被置换成观音,但其“内陆最大妈祖庙”的角色并未被放弃。不仅政府将之作为地方旅游名片打造,民众亦围绕遗存文物以生动的口述故事讲述妈祖参与区域开发的历史记忆,其背后隐含着“会馆-客民/庙宇-信众”的意义结构。这一结构中与庙宇相对应的“信众”包含土民与客民两个群体,作为庙宇的天后宫于是承载着土客共同创造地方历史的记忆。在各种宗教和非宗教因素的交互之下,芷江天后宫被塑造成一个神、庙分离却富有地方意义的神圣空间。

With the massive economic development of the Miao Frontier in the southeast China since Qing Dynasty,the region started its commercial progress,and the Yuan River Basin has been commercialized rapidly.Zhijiang Tianhou palace is the only one that still exists as a temple among the more than ten Tianhou palaces created by Fujian businessmen.Nowadays,the foundation of Mazu believers in Zhijiang area is no longer available.The core God of Tianhou palace has been replaced by Guanyin,but its role as“the largest Mazu temple inland”has not been abandoned.Not only does the government create it as a local tourism card,but people also tell the historical memory of Mazu’s participation in regional development with vivid oral stories around the relics,which implies the meaning structure of“Guildhall-businessmen/Temple-believers”.In this structure,the“believers”corresponding to the temples include two groups of local people and Hakkas.As a temple,Tianhou palace bears the memory of local history created by local businessmen together.Under the interaction of various religious and non-religious factors,Zhijiang Tianhou temple has been shaped into a sacred space which the God and temple is separate but with a local significance.