摘要
从宗教社会学的角度讨论海外华人的民间信仰,是目前国内学术界关注较少的课题。本文从新加坡华人的祖神崇拜切入,以新加坡蓬莱寺的六个姓氏庙为研究个案,考察跨境“分香”的祖籍神明如何在新加坡移民社会环境下“定居”即“再社群化”,与建构新加坡华人社群“祖神”的历史过程。在这一历史过程中,承载着祖籍原乡历史记忆的祖神崇拜对于新加坡华人社会内部社群认同与整合的意义,以及历经从移民时代到本土社会历史发展变迁的沉淀,“祖神”逐渐成为当代维系华人与祖籍地关系的象征符号和“祖籍认同”对象的历史演化。在新加坡华人社会发展和华人与祖籍地互动关系中,涵盖了祖籍地和移居地两方面历史记忆的“祖神”崇拜,将作为一种具有历史延续性和动态发展的文化纽带持续地发挥作用。
Using the Six-Surnames Shrine in the Penglai Temple of the Anxi society in Singapore as a case study, this essay examines the worship of these deities among Singapore Chinese. First, it outlines the historical process whereby individual migrants ＂took incense from the home shrine＂ across territorial boundaries （that is, took their deities with them）, so that these deities ＂settled down＂in a new place, establishing a distinctive form of worship distant from but nonetheless linked, through the deity, to the migrants＇ancestral home. Second, it considers the significance of the worship of these ＂ancestral-home deities＂ （zushen） for the social integration of Singapore Chinese. Finally, it traces how, in the course of social development and change, ancestralhome deities gradually evolved into symbolic markers linking overseas Chinese to their ancestral home, providing a focus for the expression of native place or ancestral-home identity （ zuji rentong）. Thus, by encompassing historical memories of both the ancestral home and the site of overseas migration, worship of ancestral-home deities played an important role in the integration of Singapore Chinese and in the ongoing relationship between the overseas Chinese and their ancestral homes.
出处
《文史哲》
CSSCI
北大核心
2006年第1期14-21,共8页
Literature,History,and Philosophy
基金
2005年国家社科基金项目"海外华人宗教信仰研究:东南亚华人民间宗教之建构与现状"的成果之一
项目编号:05BZJ017
新加坡李氏基金
关键词
新加坡
华人
祖神崇拜
社群整合
祖籍认同
ethnic Chinese in Singapore
worship of＂ ancestral-home deities＂
social integration
ancestral-home identity
