媽祖之傳說故事與形象美學探析

媽祖信仰屬於民間信仰，民眾受到媽祖生平傳說、各種傳奇神話如救難助人、建立廟宇，及與儒、佛、道有關故事的影響，對媽祖產生特殊的敬奉，累積成特別的生活形態與社會習俗，成為普及的媽祖文化，加上宋元明清各朝代屢賜媽祖封號，於是媽祖從福建莆田區的地方神，傳播至台灣與世界各地。媽祖造型呈現民眾心中美好的現實形象，其造型藝術含整體造型、塑材、冠帽、容顏色彩、手勢與手持配件、衣飾等，其象徵意涵反映出神話中救苦救難的女神形象、具生殖意義的母神形象、母儀天下的帝后形象，並轉化為更富神能的女神。媽祖的傳說故事和造型藝術所隱藏的象徵意義與審美價值，共同形成媽祖形象的人文美學，包括：現實形象的象徵意涵、神話表現的形象美學、具儒佛道思想的審美精神，因而協助民眾創造自我生命的價值，實現生存需求與人生理想。

關鍵字

媽祖；民間信仰；傳說；造型藝術；美學

並列摘要

The worship of Mazu falls into the field of folk beliefs where the public established their special worship towards Mazu after affected by the legends and myths of Mazu rescuing others and building temples as well as the tales related to Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, forming a particular lifestyle and social customs over the years and developing into the popular Mazu culture. In addition, titles of Mazu were granted separately during Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, enabling the Mazu culture to spread to Taiwan and the rest of the world from Putian, Fujian Province, where Mazu is a local goddess. Mazu modeling presents the real and beautiful images in the minds of the public and its plastic arts incorporate the overall design, plastic materials, crowns, color of appearance, gesture and handheld accessories, clothing and so on, a symbol to reflect the image of goddess who helps people in distress, the image of mother goddess with reproduction significance and the image of a Queen being a motherly model of the nation, all together translated into a goddess with more divine power. The implied symbolic meaning and aesthetic value of the legends of Mazu and its plastic arts constitute the humanistic aesthetics of Mazu image including the symbolic meaning of real image, image aesthetics expressed in myths and the aesthetic spirit of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, which in turn helps the public to create value of their own life and to achieve living needs and ideals.