Folklore Religion and Building Identity of Place—take Hsin Kang Feng Tian Temple as an example

• Main Author: 何文榮
• Other Authors: 池永歆
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/yf5824

碩士 === 國立嘉義大學 === 史地學系研究所 === 102 === Mazu belief has close relationship of Taiwanese immigrant community. Ancestors crossed the dangerous “Black Strait” to Taiwan and brought the traditional way of faith from their hometown. Therefore, Mazu was led in Taiwan by immigrants. Meanwhile, people pioneered hard in this land, also building the temples to seek releasable mentality. The believers would burn joss sticks and worshiped sincerely Mazu, hence the temple gradually became the main medium for gathering local consciousness. It recorded local history and be the cornerstone of the maintenance of social stability as well. Besides, temple is the space holding the ritual, letting people get into conversation with gods and transfer the sacred and regular space, so people will get the religious experience and personal religious recognition intensity. Hsin Kang Mazu is the spiritual symbol to residents and Feng Tian Temple is a vital pivot of gathering this power. The article has three separate parts to discuss the relationship between Hsin Kang Feng Tian Temple and local. First, the origin of Feng Tian Temple and the connection with local development. Moreover, Feng Tian Temple as the spatial configuration of the religious landscape, causing sense of space and local experience. Second, the residents participated the ritual and made the collective memory of local emotion and recognition, then how sacred ritual transferred between the sacred and regular space. Third, in recognition of Mazu, religion is a cultural phenomenon and how to affect people's daily life, even was promoted and heritage further. Mazu almost be a part of life to Hsin Kang residents since they were young, and the Feng Tian Temple not only was the living space of them but also the precious memory landscape. By these religious elements, residents would increase the personal and local recognition, setting up their place belong to local memory. To them, Feng Tian Temple is not purely worshiped, it is a symbol of recognizing oneself.