花的民俗文化研究

中國自古以來為泛靈信仰的民族，認為天地萬物皆附有精靈或靈魂的存在。而臺灣的民俗及信仰形成有許多原因，由於歷史及地理位置特殊，早期人們為因應生活中許多不可解釋及非人為事件；或是極欲改善生活狀況及品質，卻又無所適從時，便轉往尋求第三方的協助，希望藉此從中得到解決的方法及身心靈上的慰藉。無論結果如何，其實都已間接地使身心靈達到一個轉換及放鬆的作用。花與民俗間的關係最早可從自然崇拜中的花神信仰開始追溯起，花是植物自然美之表現，因此不論是在東、西方，皆會使用花卉來表達或歌頌人、事、物，亦或是用來裝飾生活與祭祀空間，甚至是自身，藉此來表達各種思想及情感。自然與花草樹木有著密切關係，因此有許多與花相關的器物、傳說、文學及諺語等等。從花神信仰到信仰儀式的栽花換斗，乃至供奉用之花卉及生活習俗中的飯春花與春仔花，無論是在物質、社會或是心理層面皆可找到其蹤跡，而這些也無非是期望生活更加美好。因此本論文嘗試從臺灣人在信仰及空間中所大量使用的「花」分為花與信仰、花與空間、花與民俗生活三章來做探討，試圖透過觀察來分析臺灣民俗與信仰中與花卉相關的元素，從其本質中歸納出花在各層面的基本形式，並進一步探討其內在本質與涵義，將其形成與轉化意義做一探究與分析。

關鍵字

花神；供花；花朝節；花公花婆；春仔花

並列摘要

China since ancient times is an animistic nation, believing that everything in the universe lives peacefully with a spirit or a soul. With a distinctive history and geography, the folk customs and faith in Taiwan have formed for many different reasons. For instance, in the early times, people could not cope with or explain non-human events, or they were eager to improve their living conditions and quality, but did not know what to do, so they turned to a third party for solutions and physical, mental and spiritual solace. Whatever the result was, they did get some refreshment and relaxation indirectly. The earliest connection between flowers and folk customs may date back to the flora faith of the nature worship. As a representative of Nature’s beauty, either in the East or in the West, people use flowers to eulogize figures, events and things, to decorate living space, rituals, and even themselves, so as to express their different thoughts and emotions. With a close relationship with Nature, flowers and trees are associated frequently with artifacts, legends, literature, proverbs and so on. From the Flora faith to the boy baby praying ritual by growing flowers, the sacrifice flowers, paper-made spring flowers and paper-made spring flowers on meals, flowers are found at the material, social or psychological levels and all are about wishes for a better life. Therefore, this paper attempts to explore flowers seen widely in Taiwanese faith and space in three chapters: flowers and faith, flowers and space, and flowers and folk life, aiming to analyze the flower-related elements in Taiwan folk life and faith by observation, to sum up the basic form of flowers at all levels, to further explore the inherent nature and meaning, and to dig more of its formation and transformational significance.