義民信仰在頭份地方社會脈絡下的轉變

Abstract

本文先從頭份地方社會的歷史背景談起，以頭份義民廟的母廟－枋寮義民廟為依歸來探討義民爺信仰在不同社會脈絡下的轉變與差異。在拓墾早期竹南五榖宮整合了閩、粵族群，成為頭份地區的信仰中心，但是因為跨越了兩個族群，在閩、粵衝突不斷，林爽文等事件後，義民爺信仰則強化了客家人的族群意識，使當地信仰逐漸產生了變化，此時媽祖扮演了弭平紛爭的角色，義民爺也因當地人的認知，與媽祖共同取代了神農大帝躍升成為頭份地區的信仰中心。 在地人提到頭份義民廟都會和四月八劃上等號，一個歷史事件所創造的地方活動「四月八」不但成為地方特色，也讓頭份義民廟在參與活動過程中藉由和社群間的互動，強化信仰的認同及廟宇的社群地位—藉由宗教信仰活動，間接形成了該空間的象徵性文化，釐清地方廟宇的勢力範圍，也形成了與其他族群的區隔及差異，亦可凝結地方居民的向心力及認同感。 全文共分成五個章節，第一章緒論說明研究的動機與目的、相關文獻探討以及研究方法。第二章則是深入頭份地方社會的歷史背景、地理環境、拓墾開發、行政劃分、信仰概況等各個面向來了解孕育頭份義民廟的自然環境、人文環境與地域關係，以期更能夠掌握整體發展脈絡。第三章筆者主要是以兩座義民廟之背景資料為主，分別就其歷史沿革、祭典儀式與地方社群的互動進行探討，以了解傳統民間信仰在面對現代化衝擊之調適方式與內容之變遷以及當地人對義民爺信仰的崇拜方式。第四章探討每年農曆的四月八同為庄頭廟的永貞宮與頭份義民廟是如何將這些新、舊的傳統元素揉含在一起，如何互助合作？義民廟、永貞宮在活動中各自所扮演角色？第五章則是總結本論文的研究結果，將透過頭份義民廟與地方社群的互動，分析義民信仰的變遷、社群的形塑、整合及連結的性質，以及象徵系統與社群結合的方式，來進一步探討當地人認知它的方式，也就是頭份義民廟的地方感。

ABSTRACT In this article we begin from the Toufen’s local historical background, focusing on the I-min Temple to discuss the changes of I-min belief throughout different social contexts. In the early periods of immigration from China, the Five-grain Temple in Chunan integrated people originated from Fukien and Guangdong, becoming the center of belief in Toufen. Following the conflicts of the Fukien-Guangdong immigrants and the Lin Shaun-wen incident, the I-min belief enhanced Hakka’s group ideology, changing the local belief gradually. At the same time, the Ma Zu belief also played a role to remove these conflicts. As a result, the beliefs I-min and Ma Zu both became the center of religion in Toufen, replacing the traditional folk religion of Shen-Nung.

The I-min Temple in Toufen is synonymous with the “April Eighth”, a local activity originated from the historical incident and takes place on 8th April in lunar calendar each year. April Eighth not only becomes the symbol of Toufen, but also enhances the identification of belief and temples. This activity indirectly becomes the symbol of culture in Toufen, identifies the influential range of a temple, distinguishes Hakka from other groups, and enhances the group cohesion and identity.

This article is organized in the following five chapters. The first chapter presents the motivation, the main purpose, literature review, and research method. The second chapter investigates the effects of natural environment, built environment, and region division on the development of the I-min Temple in Toufen by studying this area’s historical background, geography, early exploitation, administration division, and religion. In this way we can capture the whole development for this area. The third chapter studies how the traditional folk religion adjusts in face of modern challenge and how local people worship the I-min relief. We focus on two I-min Temples’ historical backgrounds, religion ceremony, and their interaction with local groups. The fourth chapter discusses how two major temples responsible for the April Eighth in Toufen—the Yongjhen Temple and the I-min Temple—cooperate to combine the new and old cultures. In addition, we study the role each temple plays in this activity. The fifth chapter concludes this paper. Through the analysis on the interaction between I-min Temple and local group, we analyze the change of the I-min relief, the development of groups, integration, connection, symbol system and group connection to further study how local people identify the I-min Temple.

Keywords: Toufen , I-min Temple, I-min belief, integration, community