祖先的节日、子孙的节日——香港新界粉岭围彭氏的太平洪朝、清明和太平清醮

在家庭和祠堂里祭祀祖先是有选择的。祖先因为子孙的成长和增加,面对被新去世的子孙取代、失祀或失去个人性格的危机。因此,祖先可以是善意的、泽惠子孙的,也可以是恶意的、嫉妒子孙的。祖先和子孙之间是合作的、也是竞争的。香港新界粉岭围彭氏宗族通过太平洪朝、清明和太平清醮等周期性的节日,一方面组织地域社会人群、确认宗族成员身份;另一方面调合地域宗族里的祖先和子孙之间的紧张关系,在＂祖先＂和＂孤魂野鬼＂之间,小心翼翼地祭祀拥有集体性格的、既亲近又疏远的＂先祖＂,免使其沦为无祀的游魂野鬼,危害生生不息的子孙。

Ancestor＇s Festivals,Descendants＇ Festivals——Hongchao Lantern Festival,Qingming Ancestral Worship Festival and Jiao Salvation Ritual of Peng Lineage of Fenling in New Territory,Hong Kong

Ancestors worshipped at home and ancestral hall are limited and selective.With the growing number of descendants,ancestors will encounter the possibility of being replaced by the newly death and becoming wandering spirits with no dedicated worshipper.Therefore,it is always a puzzle that ancestors could be benevolent and compassionate as well as malevolent and jealousy.Ancestors and descendants could be cooperative as well as competitive.The Peng Lineage of Fenling in the New Territories of Hong Kong uses three periodic festivals,the Hongchao Lantern Festival,Qingming Ancestral Worship Festival and Jiao Salvation Ritual,to tackle this dilemma.On the one hand,these festivals serve to organize local communities and re-identify lineage memberships.On the other hand,they serve to mitigate tension between ancestors and descendants with the latter carefully grouping those unattended ancestors into a general ＂previous ancestor＂（xianzu） category,hence,avoiding their becoming harmful wandering spirits.