朱關良

端午，被大多數(shù)人認為是吃粽子、劃龍舟、紀念屈原的節(jié)日。其實它的內(nèi)容遠不止這些，它有著很豐富的文化意義。比如浙江海寧至今遺存的吳越端午民俗事象，近年來引起了國際文化界的廣泛關注。

懸掛鐘馗像和張貼靈符，是中國傳統(tǒng)節(jié)日端午在民間流傳很廣的民俗事象。《浙江風俗簡志》介紹：“傳說五月是‘惡月，端午是‘鬼日，有惡鬼作祟，故民間家家貼驅(qū)鬼符于其室?！睂Υ耍P者在浙江海寧作過兩次采集調(diào)查。

第一次采集（1985年端午節(jié)）

海寧以前有各類祠廟340多座，后來一一廢去。斜橋凌家亭子的云林寺，是在1985年由當?shù)匕傩兆园l(fā)籌資重建的。寺內(nèi)供奉張六相公菩薩，開光儀式就在這一年端午節(jié)，屆時有“撇符”。筆者得知消息，專程前往采訪。

張六相公是宋代一兵部侍郎，因治理浙西海潮捐軀而被謚“海潮王”。鄉(xiāng)人感恩，為之修廟作民間祭祀。

新落成的云林寺有些規(guī)模，那天里里外外人山人海，一片繁勝。正殿上搭起了戲臺，演出海寧“非遺”項目皮影戲《鬧龍宮》等劇目以助興。據(jù)說，過去云林寺舉行廟會，分三天迎游，故事（節(jié)目）近百堂，牽動海寧、桐鄉(xiāng)兩縣十多個鄉(xiāng)鎮(zhèn)的百姓數(shù)萬人，是海寧廟會中的典范。

偏房內(nèi)一位七旬有余的道士正在揮毫“撇符”，需求者排起了長長的隊伍。老人兩三分鐘撇一張，分發(fā)一張，以滿足需求者祀求國泰民安的心愿。

凌家亭子附近盛行端午貼靈符驅(qū)鬼神的風俗，因此每到端午，云林寺廟祝便將靈符相送百姓，作為一件善事來辦。

近中午，老人坐下休息，筆者的一位在該廟做事的熟人乘機介紹。老人叫張應昌，是一位火居道士。他說，如今廟宇靠當?shù)孛癖娀I建，所以今天他一早開始，撇符不止，也是為著回報民眾。他強調(diào)，端午貼靈符是當?shù)匕傩找荒晟钪械牧曀状笫?，希冀吉祥平安?/p>

撇符這等高超的手藝，當時在海寧全市范圍內(nèi)幾乎無存，當然在28年后的今天基本絕跡。張應昌用較多的時間講述端午貼靈符禳災避邪的風俗。他說，此等事人有則有、人無則無，完全是一種信仰，時間長了，就變成了一種非做不可的風俗。他還談到張?zhí)鞄熎卜焦砗顽娯蛤?qū)邪禳災的靈異故事，都是這個意思。至于撇符本身的手藝，他說這完全是熟能生巧或者功到自然成。談到此，筆者的朋友王祖德把筆者也想得到他這一墨寶的事，很客氣地提了出來，張應昌欣然答應，還說給你撇一套四張，叫“四季平安符”。說完，他站起身來，提筆醮墨揮毫，僅用七八分鐘時間，四張靈符撇成，并蓋上了“凌家亭子三寶大”的紅印，作為端午節(jié)云林寺張六相公開光儀式之禮物相贈。

靈符分別書畫朱天君、岳天君、趙天君、哪吒天君，尤以朱天君一張，筆致特殊，似書法非書法、似繪畫非繪畫的，兩者結(jié)合更勝一籌，也更為傳神。張應昌下筆果斷，起筆輕易，粗中有細，速度之快，尤似一筆通天。故所以說其筆法不能稱“畫”，也不能謂“書”，只有用它的傳統(tǒng)專用名字叫“撇”，即“撇符”才恰如其分。

第二次采集（2011年5月1日）

筆者曾草涂《端午節(jié)儀式符號研究》的拙作，參加“2011端午習俗國際學術研討會”征文活動，得到了嘉興市民間文藝家協(xié)會的重視。他們特地來電告知，認為該文很有特色，但略顯單薄，最好還能增加一些分量，比如再作調(diào)查采集，內(nèi)容上得到補充，觀點更鮮明，論據(jù)更充分。筆者聽后思考許久，感到難辦，因為目前能撇符的老人實已難找。

正當為難，筆者卻在一次到鹽官春富鎮(zhèn)拜訪友人張鹿亭時，無意中見到了他家大門上貼著兩張已經(jīng)破舊、漶漫的靈符。筆者趕快問明情由，方知是出自斜橋鎮(zhèn)東九旬高齡的散居道士王雪寶之手跡，是2010年端午節(jié)貼上去的。

張鹿亭平素里喜好堪輿之學、留意“風水”之說，與王雪寶一直有些往來。

筆者當即托張鹿亭與王雪寶聯(lián)系，選定在5月1日登門拜訪，采集撇符這一民俗事象。那天上門，王雪寶一身俗裝，體格強健。相談之后得知，他原來是前文所提的道士張應昌的師弟，平時家居，民間有祭祀，他就會合伙拜懺，穿著道衣戴著道巾做道場法事。當筆者提出請教“撇符”一事后，他滿口答應，拿出了紙墨筆硯，不到半個小時撇了四張靈符。

王雪寶告訴筆者，靈符是鎮(zhèn)邪惡之寶。他說，端午是個“鬼節(jié)”，五月之時鬼出來作惡，靈符上撇了“天神四將”，貼在大門上，鬼見了便逃。據(jù)王雪寶介紹，每張靈符的結(jié)構(gòu)，分上、中、下三個部分組成。他說，靈符上端稱謂“九筆符頭”，必須由九筆完成，不可多一筆，也不可少一筆。靈符下端是正符人物“天神四將”，分別是三眼馬（靈耀）天君，手持武器為戟；二是暴眼趙（元壇）天君，手拿武器為藤鞭；三是青面溫（瓊）天君，手持狼牙棒；四是岳（飛）天君，手握長槍。每張靈符中段蓋有一枚“道經(jīng)師寶”的大紅印章，使之穩(wěn)如泰山。端午節(jié)將靈符貼在門上，保護全家一年平安。目睹王雪寶的手藝，聽了端午靈符的來由，筆者體會到了民俗文化的作用、地位和影響。

不過，筆者問起一直站在旁邊看的王雪寶兒子王春光是否繼承了父親的技藝時，得到的回答是否定的，這使筆者感到有點遺憾。

進入國際論壇（2011年6月）

風俗內(nèi)容的豐富與流行，是和原始崇拜、迷信禁忌有關，繼而滲入神話傳奇故事和對一些歷史人物的紀念，融合凝聚了歷史感和文化色彩。吳越端午風俗另起一端，應從紀念春秋伍子胥而展衍，源頭遠于紀念戰(zhàn)國屈原。清雍正年間，海寧鹽官建海神廟，祭祀治理潮患的五代吳越國錢和“潮神”、春秋吳國伍子胥，百姓將斜橋凌家亭子云林寺張六相公與伍子胥相提并論。道教曾將伍子胥以中華名將列忠武戰(zhàn)神，百姓也就把張六相公以忠孝節(jié)義之士列人鬼之神、非正式納入道教多神崇拜譜系，或稱地方俗神。之后，云林寺廟祝也著道袍戴道巾，行一些道觀儀軌，保留了“撇符”這一民俗事象。以前，“撇符”反映了民眾文化心理，本質(zhì)上是先人對世界的應付、對未來的思考；當下，這一活動更多地轉(zhuǎn)為娛樂禮儀型，圖個節(jié)日歡快喜慶、豐富多彩，并延續(xù)發(fā)展。

讓人欣喜的是，海寧端午靈符已經(jīng)引起了國際文化界的關注。

兩年前，由中國民俗學會、嘉興市人民政府主辦了“2011端午習俗國際學術研討會”。當時，中國民俗學會會長、中國社會科學院民族文學研究所所長、非物質(zhì)文化遺產(chǎn)專家朝戈金以及65位來自日本、越南、馬來西亞和全國各地的教授、學者出席了研討會。

論壇上，筆者宣讀了自己的論文《關于采集端午靈符的調(diào)查》。由于論文深入淺出、圖文并茂，大會效果非常強烈，許多代表紛紛采訪作者或座談，都認為論文視點獨特、圖片珍貴、資料來之不易，評價較高。

會后，與會代表去桐鄉(xiāng)烏鎮(zhèn)考察民俗，日本東京大學教授吉川真司帶著翻譯專門有約，采訪了筆者，要求今后多多聯(lián)系，對海寧端午靈符這一民俗事象作進一步的研究。可以肯定，這種民俗事象將會越來越被有識之士所關注。

（除署名外，本文圖片由作者提供）

Presentation on Symbols of Exorcism at International Forum

By Zhu Guanliang

Posting a portrait of Zhong Kui and exorcism symbols at Duanwu Festival， which falls on the fifth day of the fifth month on the lunar Chinese calendar， is a tradition that goes back to ancient times. In folk faith in many parts of ancient China， the fifth month was a month of evils and the fifth day of the month was a day of devils. Exorcism symbols were a part of folk ritual on the day in many households. To find out exactly how local people do this， i have done two field studies in Haining， now a county-level city in northern Zhejiang Province.

First Field Study on the Festival in 1985

Local documentation records that there were about 340 temples of various sorts across Haining before 1949， the year the New China was founded. That was， there was a temple in almost every village. They disappeared gradually over decades. It was not until the 1980s that temples staged a comeback thanks to the adoption of a religious policy when the country began to open to the outside world again. Yunlin Temple， a village religious sanctuary， was constructed in 1985 with funds donated through private channels. The buddha worshiped at the temple is called Duke Zhang Liu. I visited the temple on Duanwu Festival shortly after the temple was opened.

Local legend has it that Zhang Liu， a general of the Song Dynasty （960-1279）， came to Haining in a bid to bring destructive tides under control. He died for the project. Local people built a temple in honor of the heroic general. In good old days， the sacrificial ceremony was a big event for local people from more than ten townships. During the ceremony， people paraded for three days， traveling about 50 kilometers in three days. And there were about 100 events. Tens of thousands of people participated. It was one of the biggest temple affairs in Haining.

Posting exorcism symbols was a popular practice in the neighborhood. On the day I visited， there was a leather-silhouette showoutside the temple， watched by a large audience. A long queue of people were waiting for their turns to get an exorcism symbol from an old Taoist in a side room of the temple. The old man drew a set of four symbol s every two or three minutes and distributed them fast.

While the Taoist took a break during the lunch time， i chatted with him. He was Zhang Yingchang. He declined to talk about himself. He said the temple was built thanks to the donations and endeavors of the local people. To express his appreciation， he had come to distribute exorcism symbols the first thing in the morning. He considered these symbols as the way he thanked local people. He explained that posting exorcism symbols on Duanwu Festival was a top priority of local people.

Zhang spent a lot of time explaining the custom and symbols to me. He said that local people believed in exorcising evils and devils during the Duanwu Festival. It was a folk faith and people just did it. As for the art of drawing symbols， he said practice makes perfect. I politely asked him to draw me some symbols. He gladly obliged， drawing a set of four. It took him about 8 minutes to create all four symbols. After finishing the drawing， he stamped the symbols with a red seal.

The four symbols look powerful. They are something between painting and calligraphy. Zhang Yingchang made them almost at one stroke. The four symbols are 26 years old now.

In 1985， he was one of the few people in Haining who knew how to create exorcism symbols. Now， twenty-six years later， in all probability， there is no one in Haining who is able to draw such symbols in a traditional way.

Second Field Study on May 1， 2011

Before the festival in 2011， i wrote a paper on symbols of exorcism in Haining and presented it to the organizing committee for qualifying to participate in the 2011 International Forum on Duanwu Customs. The paper was highly appreciated. I received a call from the Jiaxing Folk Artists Association and I was asked to flesh out the paper with more materials. I ran into difficulty， thinking it was extremely hard to locate a man specialized in drawing such symbols. However， i happened to see two symbols， which looked extremely old on the door of a friend i was visiting. I learned that they were created by Wang Xuebao， a Taoist in his 90s. The symbols were posted on the door on Duanwu Festival in 2010.

Through the arrangements of a friend， i made an appointment with Wang Xuebao and visited him on May 1. In good health， Wang still practiced Taoist ceremonies. It turned out that he and Zhang Yingchang had studied under the same master and he was junior to Zhang in seniority. He agreed without hesitation to create symbols. It took him less than 30 minutes to create a set of four symbols.

He elaborated on the symbols， explaining who these four gods were and how they exorcised devils and evils. I asked Wang Chunguang， a son of Wang Xuebao， if he inherited his father's art. Quite disappointingly he said no.

International Forum in June， 2011

In June 2011， i was invited to attend the international symposium. Participants included 65 domestic and international experts and scholars. I presented my paper. The paper caused a sensation. It was unanimously greed that the paper provided a unique angle and valuable pictures， which were hard to come by.

After the symposium， a Japanese professor chatted with me through an interpreter and he earnestly suggested we keep in touch in the future. He was eager to further the exploration of the subject.