“过渡礼仪”——解读墓室壁画的一个视角

"The Rites of Passage":A Perspective on Interpretation of Tomb Murals

过渡礼仪是法国学者范热内普(Arnold van Gennep)(1873—1957)提出的民俗学理论,用于解释礼仪的结构与意义,他将丧礼分为分离、临界、聚合三个阶段,象征着从生到死的状态转化。过渡礼仪理论为我们解读中国古代的墓葬遗存提供了一个有意义的视角,有助于找到碎片化的考古遗存之间的逻辑联系,从而对其叙事方式与叙事主题做出更深入的解读。本文尝试以过渡礼仪理论解读汉唐时期的墓室壁画,认为墓室壁画是丧葬礼仪的结果,具有明确的叙事特征,不同时期的图式皆围绕生死过渡这一主题展开。

"The Rites of Passage"is a folkloristic theory proposed by French scholar Arnold van Gennep(1873-1957)to explain the structure and meaning of rituals.He divided funerary rituals into three stages:separation,marginality,and aggregation,symbolizing the transformation of states from life to death.This theory provides a mean-ingful perspective for our interpretation of ancient Chinese burial remains,and helps to find logical connections be-tween the fragmented archaeological remains,so as to make a deeper interpretation of their narrative mode and narra-tive themes.This paper attempts to interpret the tomb murals of Han to Tang dynasties with the theory of"The Rites of Passage",arguing that the tomb murals are the result of funerary rituals and demonstrate clear narrative fea-tures,and that the diversified iconography of different periods all revolves around the theme of transition from life status to death status.