摘要
不分中外，當人們談到古代中國的社會生活時，常常都會用到“禮俗”一詞。而什麼是“禮俗”呢？大家又往往莫衷一是。其實“禮俗”這個詞的涵義，非常含糊。古人說“禮不下庶人”，意思是禮只通行于貴族之中，這是因爲古代禮儀非常複雜，行禮者需要許多時間和一定的財力。對于絕大多數庶民而言，他們只有習俗，也就是人們常說的“風俗”或者“民俗”。但是，這幷不等于說禮與俗是毫不相關的東西，恰恰相反，兩者有密切的淵源關係，幷且從某種意義上來說，禮是從某些風俗發展來的。本文先探討「禮」和「俗」的性質、意涵與功能，再進而論述禮與俗的關係。蓋因人類之各項活動，均是一種相當複雜的有機行為，禮、最初固然是從俗當中提煉出來，經過日日的流衍，它也可能還原成為只流行於某一地的「奇風異俗」；相反地，一件起初被目為奇風異俗的行為，也可能經過風雲人物的身體力行，或刻意渲染，乘虛而入而成為一種「禮」；再加上禮、俗本來就會隨著時代、空間、物資……的改變而產生變化，這幾種因素湊在一起互相激盪之後，後人要將禮俗做一個很清晰的分辨，實在困難；因此，「禮俗」二字便常被當做一個辭彙，用來泛稱人類行為規範、生命儀式、生活習慣、社會風氣等，有時甚至於等同於「風俗」，而不易做出明白的分辨。
並列摘要
Around the world, when people talk about ancient Chinese culture, ＂courtesy＂ and ＂customs＂ are commonly reviewed, while vaguely defined. Back in the ancient days, the ＂courtesy＂ only applied to the upper level of society, meaning it requires necessary wealth and social status to practice such; for most civilians, they know about ＂customs＂, which means traditions or folk habits. However, this does not mean ＂courtesy＂ and ＂customs＂ are not related; on the contrary, they have close connections, while some of the ＂courtesy＂ may derive from ＂customs＂. This essay will have detailed discussions and insight on these two categories. Among all human behaviors, these are all complicated social activities. Even though some of the ＂courtesy＂ may derive from ＂customs＂; as time goes by, some may become unique customs in specific areas. On the other hand, some ＂unique customs＂ may become a generally accepted courtesy after some key people's continuous practicing. Therefore, with such subjective and objective reasons factoring in, it is rather difficult to clearly separate ＂courtesy＂ and ＂customs＂. Hence it is common to refer these two words as one single phrase, to generally refer to behavior conduct, rituals, social traditions and trend, similar to social customs.