dc.description.abstract | Abstract This thesis is about the progression of "Hakka marriage and funeral custom vocabulary", which refers to the terms used by the Hakka people in marriage, funeral ceremonies and related activities. This vocabulary basically follows the classic Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial, Book of Rites, and Rites of Zhou. Marriage and funeral activities are important transitions in life. Whether it is the order of ancient parents, the words of matchmakers, to modern free love and marriage, or the funeral customs, traditional society is eagerly awaiting "the goodness of two surnames", "One hundred children and a thousand grandchildren", "Longevity for a hundred years". In a modern society like Taiwan, the traditional marriage and funeral customs face many changes, some of its original meaning and value is being lost. Fortunately, the Hakka people pays attention to traditional rituals, optimizes the original custom vocabulary, and immerses in the etiquette festivals with a strong enlightenment meaning, and still inherits the responsibility and the burden of the family. The transformation of traditional marriage and funeral customs and culture includes: the downward shift of the right to marry, the choice of spouse from passive to active, the purpose of marriage is changed, the matchmaking system has declined, the wedding and funeral ceremonies have changed from complicated to more simple. These rituals reflect people′s expectations such as having a male heir, consummation, longevity, wealth and fame. There are also other factors to affect the rituals such as socio-political, economical, and personal values. Today’s Hakkas can be said to have developed a distinctive set of marriage and funeral patterns adapted to contemporary customs on the basis of traditional etiquette and customs. The traditional usage and vocabulary of the older generation will be lost unless being consulted and duly recorded. In the future, how to make the younger generation understand the core meaning of Hakka traditional marriage and funeral culture will be an important topic worthy of efforts. This thesis discusses Hakka marriage and funeral custom vocabulary. The fieldwork area includes Yangmei, Xinwu, and Guanyin districts in the Taoyuan Municipality. We analyze the usage of Hakka marriage and funeral custom vocabulary in the Hailu dialect and its cultural connotation. Marriage etiquette and customs are classified according to the different stages in the marriage ritual processes. The funeral rituals are described in terms of dying rites to funeral sacrifices and taboos. The purpose of this research is to do a more comprehensive collection and also to sort out and clarify the lexicon of marriage
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and funeral customs, to explore the meaning of their existence and use. And we also carry out a comparison between ancient classics and modern Hakka ritual to show the similarities and differences.
Keywords: Hakka, marriage, funeral, etiquette, vocabulary | en_US |