土家族西兰卡普文化内涵探究

Exploring the Cultural Connotations of the Tujia Xilankapu

摘要: 西兰卡普是土家族世代传承的手工织锦技艺，是第一批国家级非物质文化遗产，被誉为土家族的“无字史诗”。作为武陵山区土家文明的物质载体，西兰卡普并非单纯的手工艺制品，而是集历史记忆、图腾信仰、审美观念、民俗礼仪与族群认同于一体的文化综合体。本文以文化内涵为核心研究视角，从历史叙事、纹样符号、色彩审美、民俗社会四个维度系统拆解西兰卡普的深层文化内核，剖析其背后蕴含的天人合一生态观、万物有灵信仰观、质朴刚健的精神特质与维系族群的文化纽带作用。研究表明，西兰卡普的每一处工艺、每一类纹样、每一组色彩都根植于土家族的生存实践与精神世界，是承载民族集体记忆的核心视觉符号。

Abstract: Xilankapu is a hand-woven brocade technique passed down through generations of the Tujia people. As one of the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage items in China, it is widely acclaimed as the “wordless epic” of the Tujia ethnic group. Serving as a material carrier of Tujia civilization in the Wuling Mountain region, Xilankapu is far more than a mere handicraft artifact; rather, it constitutes a cultural synthesis that integrates historical memory, totemic beliefs, aesthetic concepts, folk customs and rituals, as well as ethnic identity. Taking cultural connotation as the core research perspective, this paper systematically deconstructs the deep-seated cultural essence of Xilankapu from four dimensions: historical narrative, pattern symbolism, color aesthetics, and folk society. It further elucidates the ecological view of the unity of heaven and humanity, the animistic belief system, the plain yet robust spiritual traits, and the function of cultural bonds in sustaining the ethnic community embedded within this art form. The findings indicate that every detail of craftsmanship, every category of patterns, and every combination of colors in Xilankapu is deeply rooted in the livelihood practices and spiritual world of the Tujia people, thereby functioning as a core visual symbol that carries the collective memory of the ethnic group.