族群边缘的神话缔造:湘西的白帝天王信仰(1715-1996)  

Myth Making on an Ethnic Frontier The Cult of the Heavenly Kings of West Hunan (1715-1996)

作　　者：苏堂栋 申晓虎[2] 

机构地区：[1]美国卡内基-梅隆大学 [2]云南曲靖师范学院西南边疆民族中心

出　　处：《民族学刊》2013年第3期1-24,共24页Journal of Ethnology

摘　　要：自清朝以来,湘西地区的苗人、汉人移民、汉人士兵和土家族人都普遍信仰"白帝天王",白帝天王的庙宇遍布各处。然而在不同信众群体的心中,这个神灵的形象以及对它的理解很可能是不同的。尽管如此,白帝天王信仰在当地却起到了次官方政治的作用。无论信徒是谁,尽管信仰仪式的对象相同,但是神话阐释可以是多种多样的。对一个群体来说,神话解释之所以灵验,是因为它的某个版本满足了此群体的意识与需求。湘西地区不同信众群体在不同时期所缔造的关于白帝天王的故事就鲜明地呈现了此条规则。他们采用"挪用"与"叙事化"的双重手法,把借用的或原创的事件与本群体中已经存在的符号和神秘历史融合起来,再加上别处而来的口传或文本元素,然后加入与本群体相关的地点、事件和共同记忆,完成神话的本地化。在湘西这个动荡多变的社会中,对秩序和身份之另类形式的讨论,就体现在关于白帝天王的神话圈以及其中的各个叙事里。Living in west Hunan during the Qing or Republican periods,one could not ignore the Three Kings—the White Emperor Heavenly Kings (Baidi tianwang),to give them their full popular title. No other gods had a comparable presence. Their shrines dotted the landscape,and their worship bridged all ethnic groups. Villages and zhai (Miao hamlets) lacking their own shrines sought palanquin visits by the Kings’images. Miao travelers away from home set up temporary altars in the open. At the great centers of worship,signs ordered riders and sedan passengers on the roads to alight and walk,out of respect for the Kings. Before setting out on campaigns,Han soldiers prayed to them at camp altars and also gave thanks on their safe return. Days of rigorous fasting and abstention from normal activities accompanied the annual festival celebrating these gods. In times of violent conflict, Miao and Han would bring the Kings’images,banners,or vestments into battle against each other. In peaceful times,disputants from all groups settled quarrels with oaths sworn in the presence of the Kings; they would be less likely to violate such oaths,it was reported,than the magistrate's judgments. So,to ease the burden of court cases in this remote area with its many inmigrants and conflicts over land,officialdom tolerated the shrines and their attendants,the parale- gal ritualists who officiated over a sort of divine high court,its very this - worldly decisions sanctified by blood oaths before the Heavenly Kings.

关 键 词：湘西 族群 白帝天王 神话 

分 类 号：C912.4[经济管理]