Special Issue on “Folklore
Practices, Objects, and Notions of Time” (民俗實踐、物與時間觀)
何兆華。〈找吃找穿的時間：貴州施洞苗人曆法實踐中的我群建構〉。《民俗曲藝》166
(2009.12): 7-59。
Ho
Zhao-hua. "Time for Food and Clothing: The Construction of In-Group in the
Shidong Miao Calendar." Journal of
Chinese Ritual, Theatre and Folklore 166 (2009.12): 7-59.
Abstract
從中國貴州省台江縣施洞鎮的田野中，我們看到表面上，施洞苗人運用農曆與陰陽相合的概念，似乎是受到漢化的影響；然而，若從祭儀與節慶的時間、方法與過程來看，並無法合理解釋多項在時機與做法上的根本差異，以及其表達對「我群」及「他群」界定上的不同內容。本文認為，在苗漢長期接觸的歷史脈絡下，苗人以外來的陰陽概念，細緻並幽微地結合其在人觀、季節與物的分類理念，創造了一個以「找吃」「找穿」季節區分的新曆法，突出苗人族群的自我認同。全文討論當地苗人，用其自身對時間上冷熱的經驗以及社會性建構上「找吃」「找穿」的理想，選擇性地混用苗曆與農曆，在不同時間點上，適切地透過節慶與祭儀創造「陰陽相合」，以達到生產與再生產的目標。
From
the field work conducted in Shidong,
Guizhou, one may perceive an
ostensible Han-Chinese influence on the Miao people's calendrical practice of
combining lunar calendar with the theory of yin
and yang. However, a closer
examination of their festival time, ritual practices and procedure fail to give
a reasonable explanation regarding the many fundamental differences in time and
course of actions between the two parties. Neither can one explain away the
different content expressed in their concepts of in-group and out-group. In
this article, I propose that the Miao people incorporated the imported notion
of yin and yang and delicately combined them with their classification
concepts of personhood, seasons and objects. Subsequently they created a new
calendar based on the seasonal division of ait
nongx "looking for food" and ait
nangl "looking for clothing" that accentuates the Miao people's
self-identification. I discuss in the article how the Miao people selectively
adopt both Miao calendar and lunar calendar according to their bodily sensation
of "hot" and "cold" as well as the socially constructed
ideals of ait nongx and ait nangl. At appropriate points of
time, they employ festivities and rituals to create a "yin-yang harmony" that help them
reach the goals of production and reproduction.