Research on Wedding Customs of Southern Fukien in Kinmen

• Main Authors: Li-Kuan Lin, 林麗寬
• Other Authors: none
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/n898fs

博士 === 逢甲大學 === 中國文學所 === 100 === The issue of wedding ceremony is the harmonization of two clans, also considered to be the utmost of “Five Rites,” and also the fundamental of human ethics. For times immemorial, it has been enlisted as the most important event of life for it has not only helped to maintain the continuation of a clan but also bonded the prosperity and development of a family. Zhu Xi, a major Confucius scholar of southern Song Dynasty, had worked to cultivate people with “Fukien study,” and he had spent quite some time at Kinmen and further devoted much effort to promote “Family Ritual” when he worked as secretary general of Tung An. As such, he had rendered residents of Kinmen with cultivation on study of poetry and classics, turning folk custom frugal, and community humble and sincere. For daily events of wedding, funeral service, celebration, festival, worshipping sacrifice, they would base on “Family Ritual” for conduct. Thus, the marriage in Kinmen is deeply featured with Fukien culture. Nevertheless, “Family Ritual” is a yet finished representative work of rite after the death of Zhu Xi, he had hardly taken note of the work in his personal anthology. After textual researches, Mr. Ying of Yuan dynasty, Wang Mao-hong and Ji Yun of Ching dynasty, confirmed that it is a fake book. However, scholars of later generations had incessantly discovered from anthology and analects clues of evidence indicating that the work of “Family Ritual” was written by Zhu Xi. For now, it has been substantiated that “Family Ritual” is not a fake book. Though Kinmen is a small island, it has played the role as gangway when people from mainland China migrated to Taiwan since Wei-Jing and South-North Dynasties, and it had also turned itself into the utopia for it directly accepted inhabitation of these immigrants. With the introduction of “indigenous belief” along with immigrants, folk custom and communal atmosphere of southern Fukien with immigrants to Kinmen can be retained with model of indigenous belief, and even become popular throughout the island. Most of all, when Kinmen was implemented of “battlefield administration: from 1956 to 1992, it was profoundly affected by the isolationist confinement of battlefield administration, directly and indirectly exposed to the drastically significant maintenance influence for traditional culture of southern Fukien. With the impact of Cultural Revolution in 1966, by contrast, traditional rituals and music cultures in mainland China has drastically been devastated, ending up traditional rite and music entirely destroyed. On the other hand, community of Taiwan has, once and again, been exposed to shock of western and foreign culture blending with it. As such, it has helped to turn Kinmen as the land of origin in reflection against traditional southern Fukien culture and as the best place to put the southern Fukien marriage and customs into practice. Traditional Chinese marriage ceremony, approximately, is based on the “Six Rites” in “Ceremony Ritual.” It’s complicated and surplus. Though the original “Six Rites”—proposal, birth-asking, soothsaying, present-giving, date-choosing, and bride-greeting—has been simplified in “Family Ritual—Marriage Ritual” by Zhu Xi into “Three Rites,” still the ceremony may be too much according to the southern Fukien marriage in “Family Ritual” by Zhu Xi. The ceremony also reflects the feature of large amount of details in common southern Fukien marriage. Every ritual also implies the feature in local commercial activities and the similar pronunciation of a merry and wonderful marriage. Most of all, the ritual of wedding is considered as beginning of human ethics and long-lasting generations. As such, this article has based on it as the starting point in focus on marriage ritual of Kinmen for exploration. In such a way, we have made much effort for investigation in this study, and if we would like to explore the essence of culture for southern Fukien, Kinmen is definitely the best choice! As is well noted, when ritual is lost it can be recovered from the civilian and after much investigation of clues within this article we discover that the connotation and endowment of marriage rite of southern Fukien at Kinmen has been greatly affected by “Family Ritual” of Zhu Xi as it is displayed with much organization. Furthermore, we can also put forth observation system of marriage with epoch stage in terms of dynastic perspective and aspect of historical study as we supplement further new pages to comprehensively appreciate and understand the culture of marriage ritual, helping to expand the research domain of Kinmen.