| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺南大學 === 台灣文化研究所教學碩士班 === 98 === In the religious festivals of Taiwan, gods are always the core of action and attention, and processional troupes (tin-thau 陣頭, literally “introducing the deity’s army”) tend to be considered as subsidiary if approached from their entertaining appearance and the immediate meaning of their function ; but they conceal other important meanings. Compared to the situation in the rituals of other places, the traditional processional troupes of Hsikang (西港) (Tainan county) are the objects of considerable respect and are allotted indispensable functions to accomplish. The processional ritual called koah-hiun (刈香), coordinated by Kheng-an Temple (慶安宮) at Hsikang is often taken as a reference by other similar rituals in the southwest coast area of Taiwan. Because of the disasters that often took place in the living environment of this area and the process of opening up new land, this ritual holds a long history, huge participation and wide scale, the same reasons also led to the need for inspection, patrol, exorcism, purification, and rites of propitiation.
The traditional troupes of this religious ceremony are composed by the members of the ninety-six-odd participating communities or temples which are sending a formation (hiun-tin香陣, literally “ritual army”) to play a part in the procession. They rehearse in their villages and get prepared for ritual needs according to the indications of deities or following old traditions and habits.
On the one hand these troupes still reflect the dual spirit of cooperation and competition that has prevailed in the experience of early pioneers; on the other hand, these troupes represent a religious position for the disciples to fulfill their worship to Chhian-soe-ia (千歲爺) (the main deity of this ceremony), and to help directly deities to inspect and expel evil spirits out of the ritual territory.
The abilities of these troupes rely on a regular training and a series of legitimate rituals which include the rites called jip-koan (入館) marking the formation of the troupes, khui-to 開刀 (starting using arms), khui-koan 開館 (qualification appraisal for the troupes), ka-pen架棚 (registering process in the case of the troupes called ge-koh (藝閣)), sia-koan謝館 marking the discharge of the troupes, etc. The troupes also need to obey several taboos that protect the safety of their members or that of the external people and at the same time assert their sacredness.
From various characteristics manifested during the training and other ritual activities, one can understand that the religious nature of the troupes of Hsikang constitute the very base of their existence. However researchers seldom pay attention to this inherent and deep meaning.
In order to approach the religious nature of these traditional processional troupes and to write this dissertation we used the following methods: consultation of documents, observatory participation, direct observation and interviews.
The dissertation is divided into six chapters:
Chapter One states the motives, goals, range, method and structure of the research. Besides it examines the development of the Hsikang area and the evolution of its “ritual region” (hiun-keng香境).
Chapter Two begins with the development of the background of the religious ceremony, then analyzes the purpose of the koah-hiun ritual, the composition of processional formations (hiun-tin) and the characteristics of the traditional processional troupes’ culture.
Chapter Three and Chapter Four try to understand and to find the differences and similarities of each traditional processional troupes’ genre based on the analysis of the series of rituals and training the troupes go through.
Chapter Five explores the religious abilities and the taboos manifested by the troupes when marching and performing and from this angle distinguishes the different genres of troupes (bun-tin (文陣), bu-tin (武陣) or ge-koh). Besides this chapter explores farther the rite sia-koan, concluding the activities of the troupes.
Chapter Six is the conclusion of the dissertation and summarizes the results of the entire research.
|
|---|
