摘要: | 漢民族對於祖先鬼神祭拜的宗教習俗,是沿用著人們生活脈絡所編成,其組織不是僅有單一的宗教目的的團體,而是以家庭、宗族和地域社會等既存的生活組織為母體形成的。因此,在社會生活中,時常可以找出與民俗信仰相融的成果,如食衣住行、婚喪喜慶、排憂解難、消災解厄、驅邪治病、團結宗族、地方文化發展等,都可以看到民俗宗教融入社會生活的情景。 在臺灣的開拓史中,移民冒險渡海來臺。這些移民離鄉背井,為了尋求寄託與慰藉,便在臺灣建立起「原鄉模式」的新天地。桃園景福宮便是隨著漳州移民的披荊斬棘、努力拓墾中,建立起來。拓墾移民在桃園地區成立聚落,這些聚落帶有移民社會的烙印,同時也保留母體文化的型態。移民各自帶來了他們家鄉的生活習尚、宗教信仰,因而形成臺灣各地多彩多姿的不同文化,這些地方色彩亦透過寺廟加以呈現。桃園景福宮不僅消極的是漳州移民精神的慰藉與寄託,更轉而為移民披荊斬棘、團結互助的所在。漢人移民生活中,舉凡治安、產業、交通、教育、聯誼、娛樂等,莫不透過寺廟以推行,一部臺灣史可以說濃縮在寺廟史中。 初期開墾告一段落,農業繼續繼續進展,社會結構、階層漸趨完成,各項生活日益繁榮,桃仔園地區逐漸發展成為街肆,繼而擴大成為大村市。桃園景福宮草創於「虎茅庄」之庄心,桃仔園形成街肆後,景福宮更成為地方的商業、聚落中心。透過信眾、香客帶來人潮,使得街肆、商業、交通更加繁榮。 景福宮內所祀奉神祇往往為有功鄉梓、剷奸除惡的人物。寺廟建築中的木雕、石雕、彩繪、壁畫等文物,皆為忠孝節義的歷史故事或演義小說,除了供信眾欣賞之餘,無形中亦有薰陶倫理道德的意涵,這也正是我國的文化精神通俗化的表現,亦是寺廟對於社會教育的無形貢獻。再者,寺廟又為村落居民休閒的好去處,每逢開漳聖王誕辰或作醮之時,形成熱鬧繁華的「廟會」活動。而這時必有搭設戲棚以酬神還願的活動,所演出的戲碼都是勸誡教化以及忠孝節義的故事,實在寓教於樂。寺廟提供民眾一個休閒娛樂的場所,讓民眾、香客在欣賞遊樂中,並給予無形的教育與薰陶。另外,景福宮也致力於地方慈善事業的推動,如清寒補助、老人照顧以及方建設發展等。這些仁民愛物的義舉,透過口傳或報導,除了使地方社會風氣趨於淳厚外,更成為地方民眾的榜樣,對於地方之學子,有好良好的教化功能。總歸來說,桃園景福宮蘊含宗教、教育、娛樂、休閒等功能。 隨著人口日益繁多,廟宇日益擴大。地方菁英透過支持廟宇的具體行動,展現自己的才能,參與建設與建構地域社會,也藉此提昇自己在地方的聲望及地位。因此,寺廟的發展與擴張與地方菁英的協助支持有密切的關係。這些地方菁英透過對廟務的參與,除了替景福宮向地方傳播信仰,也為其在個人或家族增進在地方社會的地位和聲望。而景福宮透過這些支持,亦更加強化了其成為桃園十五街庄的地方公廟。 The Han people have a religious custom of worshiping ancestors and supernatural beings, and this is a custom interweaved by the life networks among people. The organization of this religious custom is not simply formed by a group of religious purposes, but by the matrix of inherent life organizations, such as family, clan, and regional society. Therefore, the fusion of folk customs with religions can be found frequently in social life, such as in food, clothing, housing, transport and occasions like weddings, funerals, problem solving, the removal of misfortunes, exorcism, disease healing, clan unity, and local cultural development. In the exploration history of Taiwan, the immigrants took adventures and sailed across the sea to come to Taiwan. To seek consolation, they constructed a new land in the mode of their “original hometown” in Taiwan. The Jing Fu Temple in Taoyuan is an example. The immigrants from Zhangzhou built the Jing Fu Temple when they immigrated to Taoyuan and tried hard to develop the uncultivated land. These pioneer immigrants established villages in Taoyuan area. These villages had sears of immigrant society and preserved the original cultural state of their hometowns at the same time. The immigrant brought their life customs and religious beliefs of their hometowns to Taiwan; hence the culture in every place in Taiwan is quite diversified and the local diversified culture can be revealed by local temples. The Jing Fu Temple in Taoyuan is not only the spiritual consolation of Zhangzhou immigrants, but also further transformed into a place where immigrants work hard and become united. In the life of Han immigrants, almost every activity such as public security, industry performance, traffic, education, sodality, and entertainment is promoted by temples. It can be concluded that the history of a temple is the miniature of the history of Taiwan. In the end of early exploration, the agricultural development continued to progress and the social structure and social stratum gradually evolved. Each kind of life activity gradually prospered, and the Taoyuan area evolved to streets and roads and eventually further expanded to a big city. The Jing Fu Temple in Taoyuan was founded in the center of Hu-mao Village. After Taoyuan evolved into a bigger city, the Jing Fu Temple further became the local business center, and the stream of people brought by believers and visitors made the streets, business, and traffic here more prosperous. The Gods worshipped in Jing Fu Temple tend to be figures who had contributions to their hometowns and were the embodiment of justice. The cultural relics, such as wood carving, stone carving, painted sculptures, and wall-paintings are all related to the historical stories or fictions of loyalty, filial piety, moral integrity, and justice, which are not only for appreciation but also imply the meaning of cultivating morality. This is also the representation of popularization of cultural spirit in our country, and is a kind of invisible contribution that a temple makes to social education. In addition, a temple is a good place for village residents to spend to leisure time. On every birthday of developer of Zhangzhou or during the Taoist Chiao-making activity, there would be a bustling temple fair. And a theater would be built up around for people to redeem their vows. The plays performed are the stories of educational meanings or of loyalty, filial piety, moral integrity, and justice. The temple activity truly combines entertainment with education. The temple provides the public with a leisure place of entertainment, which enables the public and visitors to experience the invisible education and cultivation when they watch the plays or play in the temple activity. Furthermore, the Jing Fu Temple is also devoted to the promotion of local charities such as helping the poor, taking care of the elder and assisting local development, which makes it a good model for the local and edifies the local students and children. In brief, the Jing Fu Temple is a temple of religious, educational, entertaining, and leisure functions. With the gradual increase in population, the temple has gradually expanded. The local elites have elaborated their talents through concretely supporting the activities of the temple, and improved their reputation and status by participating in the construction and constructing the regional society. As a result, the development and expansion of a temple is closely related to the assistance of local elites. These local elites can improve the local social status and reputation of themselves or their family through participating in activities in the temple and spreading the belief of Jing Fu Temple to the local. With these supports, Jing Fu Temple’s status as a local public temple among 15 villages in Taoyuan is also strengthened |