臺灣客家「年初三送窮鬼」習俗試探

Exploration of Taiwan Hakka custom-Sending away the spirits of Poverty on the third day of Chinese New Year

台灣客家流傳的「年初三送窮鬼」故事，是古風「送窮」習俗口頭敘事的表現。本文藉此傳說故事，探討其習俗由來，而傳說的流傳與習俗區域相當，顯見 兩者有相輔相成、互相依存、彼此強化的現象。再者探討與「送窮鬼」故事情節相似的灶君傳說，分析兩者故事情節異同，實有結構相似而主題不同的情形。「送窮鬼」故事藉由送窮鬼行為，表達民眾祈求財富的願望，以故事闡釋民俗，其情節也吻合民俗的意涵。灶君故事雖常與此類故事複合，然卻不是灶君故事必要的情節，由此可見民俗之間存有交叉混同的情形。

Sending away the spirits of Poverty on the third day of Chinese New Year is a popular story of the Hakka Culture in Taiwan. Since this story has the same spirit as the traditional custom of sending poverty away, it is most probably the oral narrative of the custom. The purpose of this article was to explore the origin of the traditional custom by analyzing the story. The regions in which the oral story is spread overlap the regions that have these traditional customs. Therefore, the two are complementary, interdependent, and mutually reinforcing. Furthermore, the structure of this story and the structure of the legend of Zao Jun are also similar. Hence, the two share the same structure but different themes. The story of sending away the spirits of Poverty expresses general people’s wishes for wealth. Although the stories of Zao Jun often resemble these types of stories, they aren’t necessarily identical. This situation shows that different cultures are often entwined with each other.