传统文化的流失与交融: 新加坡潮州人婚嫁礼俗的个案研究 = THE EROSION AND FUSION OF CHINESE TRADITIONAL CULTURE: CASE STUDY ON THE TRANSITION OF SINGAPORE TEOCHEW'S MARRIAGE CUSTOMS

Abstract

Wedding Ceremony is one of the rituals that the Chinese has been placing great emphasis on since ancient times. To the Chinese, a wedding ceremony does not only mean the union between two individuals, but also the establishment of new family ties. Therefore, a traditional Chinese wedding ceremony often comprise of various customs and regulations for the household to follow. However, it is noticed that several traditional customs are neglected in various countries' Chinese marriage ceremonies due to the transition of the society. Singapore is one of those countries that have reflected this phenomenon. Since most marriage rituals and customs are established in the ancient times, it is believed that the traditional customs and mindsets of the Chinese are embedded within these marriage rituals and customs. Hence, the change in the way marriage rituals are performed is believed to be capable of mirroring the erosion of the Chinese traditional culture. However, taking into consideration that it will be rather challenging to evaluate the wedding customs from the various dialect groups in Singapore, this paper will therefore only focus on the Singapore Teochew's wedding customs. This dissertation will use Singapore Teochew's wedding ceremony as a model for the analysis on the erosion of the Chinese traditional culture in Singapore. It will mainly comprise of four sections. The first section serves as an overview of the rituals listed in the highly acclaimed Chu Hsi's Family rituals and the customs in Teochew's wedding ceremony. The second section will proceed to give an overview of the Singapore Teochew marriage ceremonies in the past and present, through materials obtained from various interviews and fieldtrips. The third section will aim to provide an analysis on how the differences in the adoption of marriage rituals are capable of reflecting Singapore's failure in preserving Chinese traditional culture. The final section will focus on evaluating the factors leading up to such a change.