地母节与古典时期雅典妇女的身份塑造

Thesmophoria and the Construction of Women's Identity in Athens during the Classical Age

地母节是雅典已婚妇女参加的主要节日之一。该节日的最基本特征和功能在于祈求丰产,但这尚不能完全解释节日中相互矛盾的两类仪式元素,即禁欲和淫秽放纵元素。这说明,地母节的内涵与意义不只有“丰产”。对立又统一的仪式元素以及参与者的感受表明,该节日对妇女的性别和公民身份塑造发挥了重要促进作用。一方面,两类元素共同维护婚姻制度的合法性,使妇女接受了社会文化对理想妻子的要求:既控制性欲,又繁育子嗣;另一方面,由于宗教参与是妇女公民权利的核心,地母节强化了妇女对自身公民身份的想象,却也通过模仿原始时代,使妇女接受了自己无政治权利的必然性和必要性。可见,地母节的社会功能不仅是祈求丰产,更在于维护城邦的延续与秩序。

Thesmophoria was a prominent festival attended by married citizen women in Athens during the classical age.While its primary purpose was to promote fertility,the festival's internal structure contained both elements of abstinence and obscenity,suggesting that it served multiple functions.The festival's paradoxical features,which affected the participants'experience and feelings in the same way,indicated that it was pivotal in constructing women's gender roles and citizenship.Its emphasis on abstinence and obscenity served to reinforce the institution of marriage,compelling women to adhere to societal expectations of being ideal wives who controlled their sexual desires and bore legitimate children.Meanwhile,the festival was central to women's civil rights and reinforced women's sense of citizenship by allowing them to participate in religious rituals.However,it convinced women to accept the inevitability and necessity of them lacking of political rights by emulating the customs of the distant past.Therefore,the festival embodied and reinforced the existing social order instead of challenging it.Its social function was not only to promote fertility,but also to maintain the continuity and order of the polis.