中国传统风俗观的历史研究与当代思考

“风俗”是中国传统社会大众生活文化特性的词语概括 ,在传统风俗观下 ,“风俗”是风与俗的合成词。“风”强调风土等自然地理条件对人的行为的影响 ,“俗”是一种习以为常的社会生活模式。风俗具有自然与人文兼备的二重性。古代学者的风俗观关注风俗发生的地域性与政治性 ,对风俗的教化功能有着特别的强调。近代社会发生了急剧变化 ,人们对风俗进行了重新的思考 ,认为风俗可以救世 ,虽然对待传统风俗的态度明显不同。传统风俗观认为风俗具有三种特性 :一、风俗具有较强的伦理品性。二、风俗具有流动贯注的传习性与扩散性 ,又有着难于变化移易的凝固性。三、风俗习惯虽然难于改变 ,但它还是能够移易的。当代社会是一个文化转型的时代 ,传统风俗观有关风俗的理解与评述对于当代社会的民俗文化建设以及民俗学研究仍然具有启示意义 ,我们的民俗学应该关注现实社会风气时尚的研究 ,从自己的学术立场出发 ,阐释自己对民俗文化价值的看法 ,区分民俗的美善与丑陋 ,注意与国家政府合作培育、提倡“良风美俗” ,为社会的良性运行提供学术支持

A Historical Study of Traditional Chinese Custom and Its Current Significance

Fengsu, i.e. custom, is a generalized conception of the cultural characteristics of traditional Chinese public life. In the traditional view, fengsu is a compound word out of feng (practices) and su (habits), the former of which emphasizes the influence of the natural geographical conditions upon human behaviors while the latter the accustomed social lives. Then fengsu has a duality of both natural and humanistic characteristics. The antique view upon custom concerns the locality and politicality where a custom takes place, and holds a strong opinion upon the cultivation function. The modern society, however, has witnessed rapid changes, which urges scholars to re-conduct a consideration of it, assuming that custom could save the world, though the attitude towards the traditional custom are apparently different. On the one hand, the traditional view of custom believes in three properties: (i) custom possesses a strong moral feature; (ii) custom has the inheritability and diffusibility with dynamic coherence, along with fixability; and (iii) custom is anyhow changeable. On the other hand, the contemporary society is experiencing a cultural transition, through which the traditional custom suggests an interpretative significance for the current cultural construction of the social folk-custom and for the folklore studies. That is, the practical social custom should be taken into account and the cultural value of the folk-custombe newly interpreted. Thus a distinction of the good from the evil of custom is needed and the ”virtue and goodness” should be co-advocated and cultivated together by the national government, so as to provide an academic support to the benign operation of the society.