「鞭石祈雨」考

A Textual Inspection on ''Whipping the Stone for Rain''

杜甫夔州時期的詩歌《雷》中有句云「暴尪或前聞，鞭石非稽古」，與夔州相鄰的峽州有「鞭石祈雨」之俗。該習俗或最早見載于東晉虞喜《志林》，但尚存疑。後劉宋盛弘之《荊州記》、南齊劉澄之《永初山川古今記》、佚名《荊州圖副記》、北魏酈道元《水經注》亦載，庾信更將其作為典故運用於詩歌之中，此後詩賦家迭有引用。從現有材料來看，此風俗的形成可能並非如此前學者所認為的那樣，是土家族祖先的原始巫俗，而最可能形成於戰國或秦漢時期之楚人。它與「囊血射天」之類傳說一樣，有著同樣的「以人制天」的哲學意義。另外，雖然各種載記及詩賦對此種習俗的奉行地域有明確的指向，但不排除它以種種變形的方式流傳於其他地區，甚或其他地區因種種原因也發展出類似習俗。

There is a sentence in Du Fu's poem Thunder written in Kuizhou: Insolating wizard for rain might be heard, but whipping the Stone for Rain has no ancient evidence. While the custom whipping the Stone for Rain really exits in Xiazhou, which adjoined Kuizhou. This custom might be originally recorded in Yu Xi's work Zhilin in East Jin Dynasty. After that, it was narrated in Sheng Hongzhi's Jingzhou Ji, Liu Chengzhi's Yongchu Shanchuan Gujin Ji, anonymous work Jingzhoutu Fuji, and Li Daoyuan's famous work Shuijing Zhu. Furthermore, Yu Xin and other poets used it as a classical allusion in their poems. According to the data we can find now, this custom maybe came into being in the time of War States or Qin and Han Dynasties, by people in Chu area, not as some scholars said it was primitive witchcraft of Tujia ancestors. Like shooting at the sky, this custom also philosophically means ‘the human beings can control the sky’. Although all records and literary works pointed the region of this custom, it might be spread to other areas, or similar customs could be created in other areas for various reasons.