臺灣女性神明服飾之刺繡圖樣─以臺南地區為例

臺灣民間宗教神明的神衣因承襲臺灣的刺繡技藝及特殊的民間宗教文化，而形成美麗的宗教藝品。其宗教十分重視神靈的形象，於是把凡人的物質生活套用在神明上面，如同凡人需要穿著衣物來打扮自己一般，另外為表達尊崇之意，更為其製作神衣來顯現神威，無形間發展出一套具有規範的神衣製作規則。然而，神衣的色彩及圖紋規範是如何而來?其又是如何進行設計之搭配以顯現神威?引發了本研究對其探討的動機。近代臺灣宗教的相關研究開始重視陰性書寫，在研究記載中，其宗教裡的女性神明通常為「從祀神」，皆是探討主神時，才附帶討論的，但因女性愛美的個性，使女性神明神衣的設計多樣化，又保留傳統刺繡藝術，其對設計形式之理解及傳統文化的保留極具討論的價值。因此本研究據此採用臺灣民間宗教裡的女性神明的神衣刺繡圖樣為主要的探討主體，分別從臺灣內政部宗教資訊系統裡，統計出女神主祀神的寺廟數量最多的五位，為王母娘娘（瑤池金母）、臨水夫人（註生娘娘）、媽祖（天上聖母）、觀音（觀音菩薩）、九天玄女等五位女神作為研究對象，使用文獻探討法、田野調查法與訪談法進行研究。研究步驟，首先進行文獻資料收集，從相關書籍、期刊、論文、網路等蒐集相關主題的資料，其次把訪談內容逐字成稿及田野調查所收集的樣本，對其成果作整體比對、探討與分析，最後所得的結論，可了解到女性神明之神衣的色彩與圖紋變化規則。本研究發現五位女神的神衣色彩並非是因女性身分而選用黃、橘、紅三色，而是因為了區分祂們的官階地位高低而使用之，此三色也是代表地位的顏色，黃、橘、紅由高至低排序，且通用於男神、女神神衣上。從圖紋面向發現雙龍圖紋可適用於女神身上，而鳳凰牡丹圖則只是用於女神，其原因是這些圖案具有吉祥之意而流傳至今，並沒有太多深刻含意了，另外發現到女神神衣特質其最重點的元素是披肩，披肩圖案可不與神衣圖紋相同，而披肩只有女神才有的配件，是最能表現女性之美的象徵，因此大多用鳳凰牡丹之圖紋；從早期臺灣社會所傳承下來刺繡工藝裡，神衣色彩及圖紋傳承在至今，還是存在著一定的潛規則，但近年來消費者意識高漲，悄悄改變傳統的規則，使現今社會出現更多色彩繽紛的神衣，本研究之研究結果可提供民俗學者對於宗教藝品的研究上的參考，以及相關文化創意產業在相關設計上應用之依據。

關鍵字

刺繡、宗教藝術、神衣

並列摘要

The clothing worn by deities in Taiwanese folk religions inherit the legacy of Taiwan’s embroidery art and unique folk culture, forming beautiful religious artworks. The religion places great emphasis on the image of the deities, thus the material life of ordinary people are applied to the deities, just as ordinary people need to clothe themselves. In addition, for expressing respect, divine clothing is made to reveal their prestige, and gradually developed a set of regulations and principles about making divine clothing. However, how were the colors and patterns of divine clothing created? How are they designed and matched to show divine prestige? These are the research motivations. Contemporary study of Taiwanese religion has begun to emphasize women’s writing. In records of literature, female deities tend to be “auxiliary deities,” who are only discussed in conjunction with main deities. Yet, due to the nature of women in pursuit of beauty, design of female deities’ clothing has become diversified, while maintaining traditional embroidery art; the understanding of design forms and maintenance of traditional culture have great value in discussion. Based on this concept, the study uses the embroidered divine clothing images on female deities in Taiwanese folk religions as the focus of discussion, computing the five main female deities with the highest number of temples according to the information system on religions by the Ministry of the Interior. They are Queen Mother (Golden Mother of the Shining Lake), Water Margin Lady (The Maiden Who Brings Children), Mazu (Heavenly Holy Mother), Guanyin (Guanyin Bodhisattva), and Goddess of Nine Heavens. These five female deities are the research subjects; study methods include literature exploration, field surveys, and interviews. For the research steps, first this study collects literature and data on related themes from relevant monographs, journals, theses, and the internet. The interview content is transcribed, and the samples collected from field surveys are used in overall comparisons, exploration, and analysis. The final conclusions are used to understand the rules governing the color and pattern changes in the divine clothing of female deities. The study finds that the colors of the five female deities’ clothing are not yellow, orange, or red due to their female role, but are used to differentiate their position. The color of yellow represents the highest position, followed by orange and red, and it can be used in the divine clothing for both male and female deities. In terms of patterns, it is found that the double dragon patterns can be applicable to female deities, but the pattern of phoenix and peony is exclusive for female deities. The reason is that these images are auspicious; there’s no significantly profound meaning. In addition, it was found that the focal element in the divine clothing for female deities is the shawl, and its image cannot use the same pattern as the rest of the divine clothing. Shawls are exclusive accessories for female deities, as well as the symbol of feminine beauty, thus they generally have phoenix and peony images. The embroidery craft passed down from early Taiwanese society includes the colors and patterns of divine clothing, in which there are certain tacit principles. However, in recent years, the rise in consumer consciousness has quietly changed the traditional rules, so that more colorful divine clothing can be found in the contemporary society. Research results can be provided as a reference to folk scholars in studying of religious artworks, as well as to relevant cultural and creative industries for design application.