近代民間婚禮或不親迎問題之研究

婚姻厥為人生大事，自先秦以來，《儀禮．士昏》早已為士人婚禮明訂「六禮」儀節，其中尤以「親迎」（新郎親自前往女家迎接新娘）為重要節目。歷代禮書大致相沿不改。而經生禮家不僅崇隆昏義，更以為親迎禮大，最能彰顯「敬之親之」的夫婦倫理。然在民間婚禮當中，親迎的實行率似遠不及想像。從近代方志的抽樣統計，即可清楚反映此一事實，其間並透露幾許有趣的訊息－在官方二分的傳統中國社會裡，相對應地並存著「禮」（菁英文化）／「俗」（庶民文化）的兩種分野；而見於禮書經注的「婚禮首重親迎」，與見於方志紀錄的「民間不尚親迎」，就在「學理」與「現實」間形成了值得玩味的對照現象。究竟尋常百姓如何面對婚姻大事？除了受制於具體可知的社經條件外，是否有其他隱微不彰的深層心理？本文試圖為「俗不親迎」的問題提出幾種解釋－近代民間婚禮不尚親迎，受有以下幾種因素的制約：（一）地域風尚之習染（二）當事人之家庭背景（包含經濟能力及文化教養）（三）婚姻兩家距離之遠近（四）禮俗觀念之演變（古時重親迎／後世重納采）（五）民俗禁忌心理之影響（禮不言禁忌而主親迎／俗多拘禁忌而不親迎）

關鍵字

禮俗；婚禮；親迎

並列摘要

Wedding ceremony is considered as one of the most important events in one's life. Before the Chin Dynasty, the official documents ”Yi Li (儀禮) ; Weddings” listed six traditional rites along Chinese history. Among all details, bride -receiving, a bridegroom goes to his bride's home to greet her by himself, played the most important part. Upper level elite, such as Jing (經) scholars, advocated bride-receiving because they believed that it carried out the Chinese traditional relationship ”Respect your wife and love her.” However, according to the folklord records ”Fong Chi (方志),” statistics data showed that from mid-Ming Dynasty to the Republic Era, bride-receiving was not always adopted by as many people as believed. Thus, an interesting fact can be pointed out: Two contrasting customs existed in traditional Chinese society: ”rites” were believed by upper level emperor officials and scholars while ”folklore” were what common people actually did as customs. All official ritual documents along history pointed out that bride-receiving was the most important detail in the wedding ceremony. But on the contrary, folklord record ”Fong Chi” observed that bride-receiving was not popular among common people. Thus, there exists the contrast between ”emperor advocacy” and ”folk customs.” How were wedding ceremonies faced by common people traditionally? Could there be other factors attributed to this fact in addition to the limits of their backgrounds and status? This article discuses the reasons why bride-receiving was not always practiced in folk wedding ceremonies from the following aspects: 1) regions, 2) backgrounds and status, 3) special distance between the two families 4) ritual evolution, and 5) the conservative nature of folk customs.