“乡饮酒礼”与早期新年节日的仪俗形态

“Village Drinking Ceremony” and the Ritual Forms of Early New Year Festivals

“腊”或“蜡”被普遍认为是早期新年节日的原始形态。根据礼学文献,岁末“蜡祭”是“乡饮酒礼”的四种应用场景之一。在“蜡祭”之时举行的“乡饮酒礼”中,乡党范围内的“序齿”仪规,具有明显的表演性质与化俗意义。《仪礼·乡饮酒礼》内容并非传统注家认为的“三年宾贤能”,故可作为文本依据观察早期新年节日的仪俗形态。战国以后,“蜡”“腊”合流,汉代“腊祭”已具备年俗特征,并吸纳了岁末“乡饮酒礼”兼及宗族与乡党的伦理本义,现代新年节日的仪俗含义正源于此。

La Sacrifice(腊祭)or Zha Sacrifice(蜡祭)is widely considered to be the primitive form of the early New Year festivals.According to the ritual documents,there are four application occasions for the “Village Drinking Ceremony”,among which the “Village Drinking Ceremony” held during the “Zha Sacrifice” at the end of the year,which is conducted within the scope of the local community to be arranged by age,has a distinct performative nature and the significance of transforming customs.The content of “Village Drinking Ceremony” in The Rites is not what commentators traditionally believed to be “entertaining the virtuous and the capable every three years”,hence it can be used as a textual basis to observe the ceremonial forms of early New Year festivals.After the Warring States period,La Sacrifice or Zha Sacrifice merged.The Zha Sacrifice during the Han Dynasty already had the characteristics of New Year customs and absorbed the ethical essence of the “Village Drinking Ceremony” at the end of the year,which involved both the clan and the local community.The ceremonial significance of modern New Year festival originates from this.