苗栗三山國王信仰及其地方社會意涵

Abstract

本文以苗栗縣四座三山國王廟為主要觀察對象，採文獻分析法、田野調查法、參與觀察與訪談，探討苗栗三山國王信仰與地方社會之關聯。論文包含三大主軸，一為地方社會的探討，其二為廟宇組織之透視，再者是宗教儀式活動之記錄與比較分析，據此討論三山國王信仰的實質意涵。 筆者觀察四座三山國王廟的重要歲時祭儀，主要針對起福還福、遶境、主神聖誕、中元普渡等記錄之，並聚焦於活動中的三獻禮與犒將儀式，具體比較與分析四座三山國王廟儀式的差異性。 在分析了儀式的差異性後發現，苗栗縣三山國王廟的面貌可以分成兩種類型，峩崙廟傾向於一種類型，儀式偏向「武」的一面，盛行犒將，且其宗教儀式改變最少；大化宮、國王宮和苗栗市三山國王廟這三座屬另一種類型，儀式偏向於「文」的一面，盛行三獻禮，宗教儀式相對變遷甚大；而細究此三座廟，又可發現其儀式亦產生不同層次的質變。 本研究發現，四間廟都是三山國王廟，但此一信仰卻有著極為不同的面貌，而此不同的面貌係建立在各地方社會的拓墾發展史、廟宇建立的背景與沿革的脈絡下產生。是故，如欲深入探究三山國王信仰，則必須回到三山國王廟所在的地方社會，了解該地方社會的拓墾發展與變遷，如此便能理解，三山國王的實質意涵係由其所在的地方社會所決定

This article is focused on the observations and investigations of the four temples of Three Mountain Kings in Miaoli County. Methods of investigation the author has applied are document study, field survey, and participant observation and interview to discover the connection between the belief of Miaoli Three Mountain Kings and the local societies. This essay includes three major parts to discuss the influences and implications of local societies to Three Mountain Kings belief in Miaoli, Taiwan. They are, first, to investigate the local societies, second, to observe the operation of temple organization , the third, to study and analyze the ritual activities and records. The author has observed and recorded important annual rituals of four Three Mountain Kings temples, such as worshiping (he-fu), giving thanksgiving (huan-fu), attending pilgrimage (yang-nau-ngied), holding birthday celebration for the Kings, and the ritual to worship the ghosts (pu-du). Specifically, a detailed comparison and analysis of the differences of the activities of offering rituals to thank the Kings and to reward the Kings’ troops in these four temples is focused. The analysis of these rituals of the four Three Mountain King's temples displays two perspectives of the belief. Er-lun Temple inclines to be a type of force based ritual whose offering is more of rewarding the Kings’ troops, and the forms of its rituals have been changed the least. Whereas the other three Three Mountain Kings temples (Da-hua, Kuo-wong, and Miaoli-xi) incline to another form of rituals which are more of literacy perspective, the ritual of Three Consecrations has been prevalent. And their rituals are relatively changed greatly. With an in-depth observation on the rituals of these three temples, one can find that they also demonstrate different levels of change. The conclusion of this research is that these four temples are of the same Three Mountain Kings belief, yet of different perspectives on the presentation of their rituals due to historical and cultural background of the establishment and the evolution of different social societies. Therefore it implies that the influences of the cultural of local societies play significant role on the belief.