本文以明清之際廣東省東部著名的近海帆船貿易港口樟林鄉四座媽祖廟 及其相關傳說的變化為例，討論華南地區民間信仰與地域歷史變遷之密切聯 繫，說明華南地區普遍存在的天后信仰，在不同時期特定的社區歷史場景中， 其功能與意義的變換。文章表明，據說在社區發展不同階段建立的四個媽祖 宮，其相關的傳說正好反映了不同階段地域社會歷史的特點。這樣的研究或 許可以說明，在一個有較長時期的文獻性歷史記錄的社會裏，對靈驗傳說的 解讀，也有助於對社區發展歷史的理解。文章還力圓說明，歷史這隻「無形之 手」實際上可能對林林總總的各種各樣傳說進行了某種「選擇」，使傳說與文獻 記載的歷史過程相契合的內容，在漫長的流播過程中，得以保留下來。在其背 後起作用的，實際上是人們對社區歷史的「集體記憶」。從樟林的故事還可以 看出，這種「集體記憶」，在不同的人群之中有很大的不同，所反映的實際上 是不同人群對社區歷史的不同感受和理解。所以，對廟宇傳說的解讀，實際上 也是對不同人群有關社區歷史的「集體意識」的瞭解。

This article discusses the relationship between folk religion and changes in local history by examining the examples of four Mazu temples in Zhanglin village, a port for the coastal junk trade in eastern Guangdong. In so doing, it explores the changing functions and meanings of the Tianhou (the queen of heaven) cult, which has been popular in south China, different historical contexts within a single community. It shows that the legends related to the four temples, which were, according to the local people, built in different phases of the community’s history, represent the characteristics of local society in different times. This study shows that decoding the legends of the Mazu goddess’s efficacy can help us to understand the history of local community in a county that has a long documented history. It also tries to explain that the “invisible hand” of history may have “selected” the contents of legends that matched what had really happened, preserving them in the long river of history. The force behind such a process, in effect, is people’s “collective memory” about their community. We can see from the story of Zhanglin that “collective memory” is different among different groups of people. Effectively, it represents different people’s feelings and understandings about their communities. Therefore, our understanding of temple legends is actually an understanding of different groups of people’s “collective consciousness” about their community.