中西方丧葬习俗差异及文化透视

死亡是人生的最后归宿,丧葬是对一个生命结束的最后处置仪式和对生命体死亡超越的一种寄托。中西方传统丧葬在举办主体及程序、墓地选址及建设、丧葬基调、丧葬用具等习俗方面存在着巨大差异,从中可以折射出中外文化的不同。受中国城市化建设以及西方文化在华传播的影响,中国现代丧葬仪式开始呈现出程序化、中西文化交融的特征。在文化多元化的今天,摒弃封建迷信的同时,中国应该继承发扬优秀的传统文化,发出文化最强音。     

科举制度对中国传统礼俗的影响及启示

科举制度作为古代一项重要的选官制度,不仅对帝制中国隋唐以后的政治制度、士习民风、文化教育产生了广泛影响,而且还对在人们社会生活中发挥着极其重要功能的社会礼俗产生了深刻影响。其影响体现在：礼俗内容纳入科考范围,使得社会礼俗得到广泛宣传与普及;遵循能力本位,促使礼制下移;造就数目庞大的士绅阶层,担当传统礼俗的实践者与传播者;衍生出了众多富有科举色彩的传统礼俗。     

空间流变与文化持守:一个移民羌村信仰习俗空间化表征的案例研究

表征的空间是列斐伏尔空间生产理论的重要议题,但在民族村寨领域还未引起足够重视。民族村寨空间生产是关于空间－人－文化三者共存秩序的复杂建构过程,其中村民弱小、碎片的空间实践机制研究有待加强。本文以一 个移民羌村为案例,在田野调查基础上,从空间生产的微观视角出发,对羌村的居住信仰、释比信仰、习俗信仪、羌年祭典四个方面信仰习俗的空间化表征展开研究。研究发现,在空间－人－文化三元互动中,羌民弱小、碎片化的空间实践使特定信仰习俗得以自洽地存续,新村表征的空间背后既是羌民“化他乡为故乡”的主体性呈现,更是羌民对本民族文化的坚定持守。     

明清之际启蒙思想家论风俗、教化和国运兴衰

中国历代的英明统治者和有识之士都重视风俗和教化在国家治理和社会控制中的作用,并有大量论述。顾炎武、王夫之和唐甄等明清之际的启蒙思想家深刻反思和总结明亡的惨痛教训,认为明代、特别是明末风俗和教化衰坏和士习窳败是其中的重要原因。他们在全面考察中国历代风习变迁、教化行废与国运兴衰关系的基础上,继承和发展中国儒家重视以风教治国的思想,从不同角度和层面对风俗(气)变迁与国家兴衰、行教化与正风俗、振士风与兴国运等问题进行了新的理论思考与阐发。他们的思想不仅具有重要理论价值,也有积极的现实借鉴意义。     

论明清世情小说的宗教文化与婚丧习俗

明清世情小说以描写日常生活为主要特点,其中蕴含了丰富的文化内涵,在一定程度上可补经史之不足,《金瓶梅》与《红楼梦》堪为其中代表.二书中涉及宗教文化的描写带有鲜明的世俗化倾向,反映出当时民间信仰与实用功利的关系,同时塑造了不少逐利鄙俗的师尼僧道形象,亦是当时释道逐渐衰落的真实写照.而与人物家庭相关的婚丧习俗也是小说的重要组成部分,书中各种形态的婚事描写、完整周详的丧礼叙述等,均反映出明清时期真实的社会风气.     

刘禹锡与巴山楚水

刘禹锡之佳诗多产生于贬谪时期 ,其中描绘巴山楚水的部分 ,自然景观与人文景观相融 ,景物色彩明丽 ,寓含乡国之思。其描述当地的民俗风情 ,呈现出鲜明的地域色彩 ,充盈着浓郁的生活气息 ,真实地反映了当时、当地的劳动生产习俗、崇巫好祀风俗、喜好歌舞风情。这些与诗人坚定的信念、豁达的心态 ,及其心系朝廷、关心百姓疾苦 ,受南方文学、文学传统的影响有着密切的关系。     

汉唐“风土记”中的西域风土映像——兼论华夷文化观在汉唐时期的转变

汉唐时期,由于中外文化交流的兴盛,涌现出诸如《高僧法显西行记》、《佛国记》、《奉使高丽记》、《大唐西域记》等大量僧俗士人的西域行纪。这些著作的作者,以亲身的见闻和阅历,记载了大量的异域见闻,对于向中原人介绍异域风俗,促进西域文化在中原地区的传播,起了重要的作用。借助这种生动的西域风土映像,中原士人传统的华夷文化观念也发生了微调,变得更为开放,对西域文化也更易于理解、认知和接受。     

多维视角下的元杂剧研究述评

20世纪元杂剧研究成就巨大,元杂剧研究更成为一门体系性的学科。关于元杂剧的研究文献相当丰富,研究者从各方面对元杂剧进行研究,如元杂剧的题材来源、元杂剧中所体现出的民俗文化、元杂剧所体现的语法、元代文人与杂剧兴盛相互关系等。总体看来,研究者研究方法的多样性和研究视角的多维性是20世纪元杂剧研究的主要特点。     

盖天保墓砖铭考

以大同城东南（平城东南八里）新出土的北魏盖天保墓志志文为据,对墓主人盖天保的籍里、官职、北魏平城的地理位置进行了考证。特别是从志文提供的新资料,“向定州大道东一百六十步,”对平城东南通向中山（今定州）的官道作了详细推考,首次提出自平城直达定州进而南向中原的战略要道总称定州大道,而史书所载直道、莎泉道、灵丘道则是它的异名或分段修筑时使用的名称。从“墓中无棺木,西葙（厢）壁下作砖琳”的记述,对照同时期墓葬,特别是大同地区出土的诸多北魏官僚墓葬的形制,指出在北魏平城中后期,随着墓室的逐步扩大并向房室化、厅堂化发展,葬制也随之更多地再现着夙兴夜寐的现实生活。空旷的墓室替代了局促的棺椁,床榻、灰枕也给行将就木者以精神的慰藉。这种颇具生活意味的葬制可能与这一时期河西走廊以远的葬俗有关。     

韩国全罗南道岁时风俗研究

Seasonal customs, also called“performances that take place within a one year cycle”, refer to a series of customs, patterns or norms practiced periodically and habitually on spe-cific days within the regular cycle of the four sea-sons. Seasonal customs are found in every month, such as the Spring Festival in the first month, Laborers’ Day in the second month, The 3rd day in the third month, the birthday of Sakyamuni in the fourth month, the Dano Festival in the fifth month, etc. ( all dates mentioned in this paper are in the lunar calendar) . As the years go by, the seasonal customs change constantly. Many of them have been faded as society has changed, and they have been replaced by National Holidays or other legal holidays which regulate people’s lives. In addition, as western and other cultures filter in, holidays like Valentine’s Day, and Christmas have stepped into people’s lives. Because these festivals are no longer linked with traditional religious meanings found in the old customs, and place more emphasis on entertainment, they have been accepted almost instantly, taking up social space, and changing people’s activities and behaviors. Apart from these, festivals in some particular areas became popular and spread nationwide as the result of na-tional policies. As an important constituent, seasonal customs can reveal the cultural state and spiritual world of a country or region. Jeollanam-do in South Korea, known as the treasure house of customs, possesses rich customs and heritage and various annual cus-toms can be seen here. This paper, by making a general investigation of the customs in Jeollanam-do, can help us further understand the state of this region’s history and ideology, and the cultural im-plications hidden within it. In the first month of the lunar calendar, the primary festivals are the Spring Festival, the First Day of the First Lunar Month, and the Fifteenth Day of the First Lunar Month. 1 ) In the Spring Festival, the most important activities are offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors, sweeping tombs, and paying New Year’s visits. People also believe that this is the proper time to avoid the“three dis-asters”, keep away night ghosts, burn hair, and go to fortune tellers, etc. There are also games played in this period, such as the see-saw and board-turning. 2) the First Day of the First Lunar Month cannot be counted as a traditional festival. However, a day’s rest is taken in the countryside when every house sticks spring couplets on their doors or pillars. These are pairs of long strips of paper on which auspicious words or sayings are written. 3 ) In traditional society, when farming dominated, people observed the Fifteenth Day of the First Lunar Month with grand ceremony, main-ly through engaging in entertaining activities. In Jeollanam-do, the festival atmosphere is warmly created by playing folk or peasant music, flying kites, playing tug-of-war games, or Gohssaum, and so on. In addition to the group activities, indi-vidual families might offer sacrifices in their hou-ses. Each village also offers sacrifices together, known as the Tangshan Sacrifice and Dragon King Sacrifice. There are various superstitions related to this day. For example, many people will buy a strainer and hang it at home, believing that it will bring blessings. Or, on the eve of this day people might set fires on field ridges, believing that this will bring a good harvest. People might also set up Changsheng or Changganzi, along the borders or milestones separating villages from each other, which are known as the patron gods protecting their territory. On this day the staple food is supposed to be“Wugufan”, literally“Rice with Five Grains”, which actually includes more than five kinds of va-rious grains. It is so-called because all the main grains are collectively called “five grains”. In ad-dition, people also cook the“Eight Treasures Rice Soup” which contains glutinous rice, Chinese dates, chestnut, honey, pine nuts, an beans, etc. In the second lunar month, there are the Laborers’ Day and the Yongdung Festival. On the 1st of the second month, Laborers’ Day, laborers used to be given a day’s rest when people made a kind of dessert known as “Agecake”. However, because no one hires laborers nowadays, this cus-tom has actually disappeared. It is said that on 1st day of the second month, Yongdung Halmoni de-scends from the sky, and returns there on the 15th or 20th day. Yongdung Halmoni is said to be the goddess in charge of wind, so, in fishing areas where wind matters a lot, people will offer sacri-fices to her. It is said that if Yongdung Halmoni descends with her daughter-in-law, the wind throughout the whole year will be too strong to guarantee a good harvest, but good sailings can be counted on if she descends with her daughter. On the 3rd day of the third month, women in Jeollanam-do bring simple cooking equipment to the riverside, and pass a pleasant day there. They mix glutinous rice powder with rhododendron petals to make pancakes which they call “flower pan-cakes”. While they eat, they sing songs about flower pancakes or other folk songs. Around 3 rd day of the third month, butterflies start to appear and “dance”. It is believed that if yellow butter-flies are seen first, the coming year will be smooth, but if white butterflies are seen first, there will be many funerals or other inauspicious things. On the 8 th day of the fourth month the birthday of Sakyamuni, many people go to the temples and hang Buddhist lanterns. The display of lanterns on that day is truly grand. It is attended mainly by women who pray for happiness, safety, good health, success and prosperity for their family members. In the temples, people perform the ritu-al of“circumambulating the stupas”, spending the entire night sleepless walking around the stupas, praising gods’ merits and credits, and repeating their wishes in their hearts. While circling the stu-pas, people usually listen to Buddhist chants,some places may play the traditional music with tradi-fional instrument. On the 5th day of the fifth month, on the Dano Festival, the following activities are found in Jeol-lanam-do. 1 ) wrestling, a competitive game played mainly by males; 2 ) swinging, played mainly by females; 3 ) washing hair with acorus calamus. It is believed that hair becomes smooth and shiny if washed with water boiled with acorus calamus. Therefore, many women wash their hair in this way on the 5th day of the fifth month. 4) imbibing herbal medicine. During the Dano Festi-val, all things on the earth are said to be suitable for medicine. There are drinkable herbal juices made from Leonurus heterophyllus, or Ay Tsao. People pluck all kinds of herbs and dry them for future use. The 15 th day of the sixth lunar month is Yudu Day. It is believed that if you wash your hair with clear stream water on this day, bad luck is kept a-way and you will not suffer heatstroke in summer. According to local folklore, the Dragon God and God of the field ditches check on the crops on this day, so no fieldwork is allowed, and a day’s rest is required. If people insist on going to work, it is said they will not have a good harvest. Rice cakes are also prepared on this day and placed in the crop fields as simple offerings to the Dragon God for a good harvest. In June, which has the hottest days in the year, the month is divided into the ini-tial, middle and final hottest days. In order to build up their health, people cook delicious gin-seng chicken soup by putting ginseng, jujubes and glutinous rice into the chicken’s abdomen. Or, for the sake of vitality, some men may drink a body-protecting soup, the so-called dog meat soup. The 7 th day of the seventh month is the Chilseok Festival. Since Chilseok is closely con-nected with the Chilseok God, every family will pray to the Chilseok God for blessings, or go to temples to offer sacrifices. In this festival some families may offer sacrifices to Chengzhu God as in other festivals, but not many offerings are required except for some rice and vegetable dishes. On the 15th day, the Baekjung Day, all kinds of fortune-telling activities prevail. All fieldwork stops and a day’s rest is taken. On this day people also prepare food to offer to the ancestors. The 15th day of the eight month, the Mid-Au-tumn Festival, is characterized by harvest and thanks-giving. Various activities can be seen in Je-ollanam-do, among which offering sacrifices and sweeping tombs are given priority, even more than during the Spring Festival. During the mid-autumn days everyone, rich or poor, makes Songbing, which is very much like a Chinese moon cake, and it is still the most representative festival food for the Mid-Autumn Festival Day. After finishing mak-ing the Songbing with newly harvested rice, people will carry them together with many fruits to offer sacrifices in the early morning and sweep tombs. Some people may go to the cemetery to pull weeds before sweeping tombs. At night, during the full moon, in order to liven up atmosphere, women will perform traditional dance . There is also a custom observed on the Mid-autumn day—married daugh-ters will meet with their own parents and relatives in a place located mid-way between the two homes. Sometimes, female neighbors may agree to meet with each other at a certain appointed place and bring food along to spend a pleasant day to-gether. The 9 th day of the ninth month is the Jungu Festival. It is no longer regarded as a particular festival, but it is still considered a lucky day. In the past, on this day, people would make wine, rice cakes and even medicine, out of chrysanthe-mums. Moreover, literati would appreciate poems as well as maple leaves, which were quite scenic. There are no special festivals during the 10 th lunar month, though this is considered a lucky month because many things forbidden in other months are permissible during this month. The 15th day is a day for some families to offer sacrifices to ancestors or drive away disasters. In rural areas, one of the family customs is for women to bathe and change their clothes before replacing the old rice in ancestor pot with newly harvested rice. This is re-garded as a recommended ritual to domestic gods of new rice. In the 11th lunar month, at the winter sol-stice, it is customary to have red bean soup, which is cooked with glutinous rice powder and red beans mixed together. Its red color is believed to protect people against evil spirits. People offer the red bean soup to their ancestors, and, splash it in front of doors, on walls, around the kitchen, and in their yards. This is all done in order to keep ghosts outside. The 30th day of the 12th month, New Year’s Eve, is the time to stay up late to see in the New Year. So, every house has lights on overnight. It is customary to visit elderly people and inquire a-bout their physical condition and to show care on this eve. This is called “paying an old year’s call”. In olden times, snow which fell in the 12 th month was put into bottles, and when the snow melted the water was believed to be a good medi-cine for curing heatstroke in summer. To sum up, seasonal customs in Jeollanam-do are multi-functional, including the following five aspects:1 ) worshipping the ancestors;2 ) praying for a good harvest and good fishing;3 ) keeping a-way bad luck and calling for blessings;4 ) sharing happiness and improving harmony;5 ) hygiene and health care. Folk customs in Jeollanam-do are diversified. While taken as the concrete outward representa-tions of seasonal customs, these folk scenarios car-ry distinctive features of local customs: 1 ) rural music is the most important factor constituting these seasonal customs by enriching the functions and connotations; 2 ) With its keen local charac-teristics, distinctive quality of including spells, and carrying a religious sensibility, games are part and parcel to seasonal customs; 3 ) Different cul-tural circles are accompanied by different customs and habits. So there are differences between inland and coastal or island areas, and even within the coastal area, differences can occur among particu-lar sea areas.