Ritual Change in a Taoist Tradition: The Development of the Jiao in Northern Taiwan

Abstract

Taoist ritual is often presented as an unchanging relic of past times, transmitted by generations of masters. While many rites carried out by modern-day Taoist priests in Taiwan do indeed have a long history, a focus on historical continuity may conceal the fact that Taoist ritual can and does change over time. In this paper, I discuss changes in the practice of the jiao, one of the most important Taoist ceremonies, as it is carried out in northern Taiwan. Basing myself on scholarly descriptions of jiao from different eras, records by temples and ethnographic fieldwork carried out between 2013 and 2017, and focusing on the appearance of several new elements in the jiao, I argue that particular historical circumstances may lead to the inclusion of new elements in the program of a jiao and that such elements, once introduced, will quickly become a fixed part of the program.

道教儀式時常被描述成是歷久傳承不變的活化石，由歷代祖師傳承至今。許多台灣道士至今仍在展演的儀式的確有長久的歷史，但若只聚焦於儀式的歷史延續性則容易忽視儀式能夠隨時代變化並確實有變遷的事實。本文以台灣北部為例，討論醮儀中出現的幾種新元素在特定歷史情境下如何被醮儀吸收成為醮儀節目的一部分，並在被吸收後迅速成為節目中固定的一部分。主要資料為不同學者於不同時期觀察醮儀的學術筆記、廟方出版的醮志，以及筆者自己於2013－2017的田野紀錄。