清代臺灣北部的三官大帝信仰源流小考──以新竹縣新埔鎮的大茅埔三元宮為例

Abstract

臺灣的三官大帝信仰盛行於北部丘陵地區，特別是今日被視為主要由客家族群開墾的新竹縣，三官大帝信仰的分布數量與密度更是高於全臺。這個現象曾讓部分學者將三官大帝視同三山國王，歸類為客家移民的祖籍神。然而，翻閱清代廣東與福建的地方志後，卻發現廣東一帶幾乎沒有三官大帝的信仰紀錄，反而是福建一帶的方志紀錄中，可以找到三官廟宇的紀錄。即使在今日，新北市一帶的三官大帝信徒，也曾前往福建漳浦地區的三官大帝廟參拜，將該廟視為臺灣三官大帝廟宇的祖廟。由此可知，客家地區的三官大帝信仰與發展，實值得重新討論。本文將以新竹縣新埔鎮內的大茅埔三元官作為個案，一方面從現有的歷史文獻討論臺灣的三官信仰發展，另一方面結合地方社會的實證考察，釐清三官信仰與客家族群移墾活動之間的關聯性。

The Three Divine Officials worship in Taiwan is popular in hilly area ofnorth area, especially in Hsinchu County where is considered to be mainlycultivated by Hakka people nowadays. The amount and density of Three DivineOfficials temples in Hsinchu County are higher than the average. Thephenomenon makes some researchers regard Three Divine Officials asThree-mountain-Kings, native worship of Hakka immigrant. However,information of Three Divine Officials worship in Guangdong can hardly befound in local records of Guangdong and Fujian. The information of ThreeDivine Officials temples can be found in local records of Fujian instead. Evennowadays, Three Divine Officials believers in New Taipei City had pilgrimedto The Three Divine Officials temple in Zhangpu County, Fujian, and regard itas the origin of Three Divine Officials temples in Taiwan. Therefore, theworship and development of Three Divine Officials in Hakka area are worth toexplore again. Based on the case of San-Yuan Temple in Damaopu, XinpuTownship, Hsinchu County, the essay is going to discuss the development ofThree Divine Officials worship based on existing historical literature,meanwhile, to combine the empirical investigation of local society in order torecognize the connection between the Three Divine Officials worship and Hakka's immigration and reclamation.