Korean shamanism
Template:Short description
Korean shamanism, also known as Template:Transliteration (Template:Korean) is a religion from Korea. Scholars of religion classify it as a folk religion and sometimes regard it as one facet of a broader Korean vernacular religion distinct from Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. There is no central authority in control of musok, with much diversity of belief and practice evident among practitioners.
A polytheistic religion, Template:Transliteration revolves around deities and ancestral spirits. Central to the tradition are ritual specialists, the majority of them female, called Template:Transliteration (Template:Korean). In English they have sometimes been called "shamans", although the accuracy of this term is debated among anthropologists. The Template:Transliteration serve as mediators between paying clients and the supernatural world, employing divination to determine the cause of their clients' misfortune. They also perform Template:Transliteration rituals, during which they offer food and drink to the gods and spirits or entertain them with storytelling, song, and dance. Template:Transliteration may take place in a private home or in a Template:Transliteration shrine, often located on a mountain. The Template:Transliteration divide into regional sub-types, the largest being the Template:Transliteration or Template:Transliteration, historically dominant in Korea's northern regions, whose rituals involve them being personally possessed by deities or ancestral spirits. Another type is the Template:Transliteration of eastern and southern regions, whose rituals entail spirit mediumship but not possession.
Elements of the Template:Transliteration tradition may derive from prehistory. During the Joseon period, Confucian elites suppressed the Template:Transliteration with taxation and legal restrictions, deeming their rites to be improper. From the late 19th century, modernisers – many of whom were Christian – characterised Template:Transliteration as Template:Transliteration (superstition) and supported its suppression. During the Japanese occupation of the early 20th century, nationalistically oriented folklorists began promoting the idea that Template:Transliteration represented Korea's ancient religion and a manifestation of its national culture; an idea later heavily promoted by Template:Transliteration themselves. In the mid-20th century, persecution of Template:Transliteration continued under the Marxist government of North Korea and through the New Community Movement in South Korea. More positive appraisal of the Template:Transliteration occurred in South Korea from the late 1970s onward, especially as practitioners were associated with the Template:Transliteration pro-democracy movement and came to be regarded as a source of Korean cultural identity.
Template:Transliteration is primarily found in South Korea, where there are around 200,000 Template:Transliteration, although practitioners are also found abroad. While Korean attitudes to religion have historically been fairly inclusive, allowing for syncretism between Template:Transliteration and Buddhism, the Template:Transliteration have nevertheless long been marginalised. Disapproval of Template:Transliteration, often regarded as charlatans, remains widespread in South Korea, especially among Christians. Template:Transliteration has also influenced some Korean new religions, such as Cheondoism and Jeungsanism.
Definition
The anthropologist Chongho Kim noted that defining Korean shamanism was "really problematic".Template:Sfn He characterised "Korean shamanism" as a largely "residual" category into which all Korean religious practices that were not Buddhist, Confucian, or Christian were placed.Template:Sfn Scholars like Griffin Dix, Kil-sŏng Ch'oe and Don Baker have conversely presented Korean shamanism as just one facet of "Korean folk religion",Template:Sfnm the latter sometimes called Template:Transliteration in Korean.Template:Sfn
Korean shamanism has varyingly been labelled a vernacular religion,Template:Sfnm a folk religion,Template:Sfnm a popular religion,Template:Sfnm and an indigenous religion.Template:Sfn It is a non-institutionalized tradition,Template:Sfnm rather than being an organized religion akin to Buddhism or Christianity.Template:Sfnm It has no doctrine,Template:Sfnm nor any overarching hierarchy,Template:Sfnm and is orally transmitted.Template:Sfn It displays considerable regional variation,Template:Sfnm as well as variation according to the choices of individual practitioners.Template:Sfn Over time, the tradition has displayed both continuity and change.Template:Sfn
One term commonly used for this tradition is Template:Transliteration ("Template:Transliteration folklore"), coined by the folklorist Yi Nŭnghwa.Template:Sfnm Although developed during the Japanese colonial period, when it was employed with derogatory connotations,Template:Sfn the term has since become popular with the Korean population and with scholars;Template:Sfn the Korean studies scholar Antonetta L. Bruno for instance capitalised it as Template:Transliteration to serve as a name for the religion.Template:Sfn Alternative terms include Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfnm Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfn and Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Template:Transliteration was a neologism introduced in the 1970s by a Protestant theologian Yu Tong-sik.Template:SfnTemplate:Page number needed In Korea, the term Template:Transliteration ("superstition") is sometimes used for this religion, but is also applied to other religious and cultural practices like geomancy.Template:Sfn While Template:Transliteration carries negative connotations in Korean culture, some Template:Transliteration use it to describe what they do.Template:Sfn
Since the late 19th century, English language studies have referred to the Template:Transliteration as "shamans" and their practices as "Korean shamanism",Template:Sfn a label rendered into Korean as Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Introduced to English from the Tungusic languages at the end of the 17th century, the term "shamanism" has never received a commonly agreed definition and has been used in at least four distinct ways.Template:Sfn A common definition uses "shamanism" to describe traditions involving visionary flights to perform rituals in a spirit realm,Template:Sfnm a practice not found in Korean traditional religion.Template:Sfnm Many scholars avoid the term "shaman" as a cross-cultural category altogether.Template:Sfn Its application to Korean religion is controversial,Template:Sfn with Chongho Kim deeming it "often unhelpful".Template:Sfn The scholar Suk-Jay Yim proposed mu-ism as a more appropriate label than "Korean shamanism",Template:Sfn while Dix thought "spirit mediumship" more suitable than "shamanism".Template:Sfn
Prior to Christianity's arrival in the 17th and 18th centuries, Korean religion was rarely exclusivist, with many Koreans practising Daoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Template:Transliteration simultaneously.Template:Sfn Despite shared underlying beliefs, these traditions undertook a "division of ritual and cosmological responsibility" between each other.Template:Sfn Confucian rituals were for example primarily concerned with ancestor veneration and tended to be simpler and more regular, whereas the Template:Transliteration would be brought in on rarer occasions.Template:Sfn Korea has seen particular syncretism between Template:Transliteration and Buddhism;Template:Sfnm Template:Transliteration often identify as Buddhists,Template:Sfn and commonly worship Buddhist deities,Template:Sfnm while some Korean Buddhist temples venerate deities traditionally associated with Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn In contemporary South Korea, it remains possible for followers of most religions (barring Christianity) to involve themselves in Template:Transliteration with little censure from their fellow religionists.Template:Sfn Meanwhile, Template:Transliteration based in Europe have merged the tradition with New Age elements.Template:Sfn
Terms and types of practitioners
Central to Template:Transliteration are those whom the anthropologist Kyoim Yun called "ritual specialists who mediate between their clients and the invisible" forces of the supernatural.Template:Sfn The most common Korean term for these specialists is mudang,Template:Sfn a label that encompasses various "folk religion practitioners" across the peninsula.Template:Sfn
Although commonly used, the term Template:Transliteration carries derogatory connotations in Korean culture and thus some practitioners avoid it.Template:Sfnm An alternative term is Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfnm the latter synonymous with the Chinese word wu (Template:Hanja), also used for ritual specialists.Template:Sfn Several modern Template:Transliteration advocacy groups have adopted the term Template:Transliteration, meaning "people who do Template:Transliteration".Template:Sfnm While the term Template:Transliteration can apply to a man or woman,Template:Sfn specific terms for male Template:Transliteration specialists include Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfnm or, more commonly used in the past, Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Modern advocacy groups have also described supporters as Template:Transliteration (believers, Template:Hanja) or Template:Transliteration (believers in the ways of Template:Transliteration, Template:Hanja).Template:Sfn
Template:Transliteration are often divided into two broad types: the Template:Transliteration, or "god-descended" Template:Transliteration, and the Template:Transliteration or "hereditary" Template:Transliteration. The former engage in rituals in which they describe being possessed by supernatural entities; the latter's rituals involve interaction with these entities but not possession.Template:Sfnm The former was historically more common in northern and central parts of the Korean peninsula, the latter in southern parts below the Han River.Template:Sfnm The Template:Transliteration tradition later spread and by the late 20th century was dominant across South Korea,Template:Sfnm with its ritual costumes and paraphernalia being widely adopted.Template:Sfn
Lines between the Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration are nevertheless blurred.Template:Sfn Although the Template:Transliteration are typically presented as inheriting the role in a hereditary fashion, not all Template:Transliteration do so,Template:Sfn while some Template:Transliteration continue the role of a family member as if maintaining a hereditary tradition.Template:Sfnm Yun commented that dividing the Template:Transliteration into distinct typologies "cannot explain complex reality".Template:Sfn
Certain regional terms are also used for the Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration are often called Template:Transliteration in Jeolla Province,Template:Sfn and Template:Transliteration on Jeju Island.Template:Sfn The latter term was first recorded in the 15th century, used for Template:Transliteration on the Korean mainland, but by the early 19th century was exclusively used for practitioners on Jeju.Template:Sfn An alternative term for the Template:Transliteration is Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfnm a term meaning "ten thousand spirits/gods",Template:Sfnm and which has less derogatory connotations than the label Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn
Other terms sometimes used for Template:Transliteration may elsewhere be restricted to different types of Korean ritual specialist. The term Template:Transliteration, describing a spirit medium, is sometimes used synonymously with Template:Transliteration but at other times describes a distinct group of practitioners.Template:Sfn Another term some Template:Transliteration adopt for themselves is Template:Transliteration (Template:Transliteration), originally a Korean term for a Buddhist bodhisattva,Template:Sfnm and which is favored more by female than male practitioners.Template:Sfn Conversely, some Template:Transliteration maintain that the term Template:Transliteration should be reserved for diviners who are possessed by child spirits but who do not perform the Template:Transliteration rituals of the Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfnm
Beliefs
Theology
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Template:Transliteration is polytheistic.Template:Sfnm Supernatural beings are called Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfnm or Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfnm The Template:Transliteration divide these beings into two main groups, the gods and the ancestral spirits, although many use the term Template:Transliteration for all of them.Template:Sfn Supernatural beings are seen as volatile; if humans do well by them, they can receive good fortune, but if they offend these entities then they may suffer.Template:Sfn Devotees of these deities believe that they can engage, converse, and bargain with them.Template:Sfn
Each Template:Transliteration will have their own personal pantheon of deities, one that may differ from the pantheon of the Template:Transliteration they trained under.Template:Sfn This individual pantheon is the Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfn and a Template:Transliteration may add new deities to it during their career.Template:Sfn Some will be considered guardian deities,Template:Sfn each referred to as a Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn These deities bestow Template:Transliteration ("divine energy") upon the Template:Transliteration, enabling the latter to have visions and intuition that allows them to perform their ritual tasks.Template:Sfn
Template:Transliteration
In Korean traditional religion, the deities are called Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfn and typically take human form.Template:Sfn The pantheon of deities, which has changed over time,Template:Sfn is termed Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfn with over 130 Template:Transliteration divinities having been identified.Template:Sfn The deities can be divided into those embodying natural or cosmological forces and those who were once human, including monarchs, officials, and generals.Template:Sfn Some derive from Daoist or Buddhist traditions and others are unique to Korean vernacular religion.Template:Sfn They are deemed capable of manifesting in material forms, as in paintings or statues,Template:Sfn or as inhabiting landscape locations such as trees, rocks, springs, and stone piles.Template:Sfn The anthropologist Laurel Kendall suggested that the relationship that Template:Transliteration had with these spirit-inhabited sites was akin to animism.Template:Sfn
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The highest deities are often deemed remote and little interested in human affairs.Template:Sfn The governing god in Korean tradition, referred to as Hananim, Hanallim, or Hanŭnim, is deemed to rule the heavens but is rarely worshipped.Template:Sfn Some of the more powerful deities can make demands from humans without any obligation to reciprocate.Template:Sfn Other deities are involved in everyday human concerns and prayed to accordingly.Template:Sfn Many of the deities desire food and drink, spend money, and enjoy song and dance, and thus receive these things as offerings.Template:Sfnm Spirits of the dead are thought to yearn for the activities and pleasures they enjoyed in life;Template:Sfnm spirits of military generals are for instance believed to like dangerous games.Template:Sfn The associations of particular deities can change over time; Hogu Pyŏlsŏng was for instance a goddess of smallpox, but after that disease's eradication in the 20th century retained associations with measles and chickenpox.Template:Sfn
Popular cosmological deities include Ch'ilsŏng, the spirit of the seven stars of the Big Dipper, who is regarded as a merciful Buddhist figure that cares for children.Template:Sfnm Yŏngdŏng is a goddess of the wind, popular in southern areas including Jeju.Template:Sfn The mountain god, or mountain gods more broadly, are called Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfnm or sometimes Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfn and are typically seen as the most important spirits of the earth.Template:Sfn Template:Transliteration is typically depicted as a man with a white beard, blue gown, and accompanying tiger.Template:Sfn Water deities, or Template:Transliteration, are dragons deemed to live in rivers, springs, and the sea.Template:Sfn The most senior dragon is the Yong-Wang (Dragon King) who rules the oceans.Template:Sfn Spirits of military generals are Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfn and include the Template:Transliteration, the generals of the five cardinal points.Template:Sfn Among the Template:Transliteration are historical figures like Ch'oeyŏng, Im Kyŏngŏp, Oh, and Chang,Template:Sfn as well as more recent military figures; around Inchon, various Template:Transliteration have venerated General Douglas MacArthur as a hero of the Korean War.Template:Sfn Child deities are Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn The Korean traditional cosmology also includes mischievous spirits called Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfn and entities called Template:Transliteration that can lodge in the family compound and cause trouble.Template:Sfn
Village and household spirits
Villages traditionally had Jangseung, timber or occasionally stone posts representing two generals that guard the settlement from harmful spirits.Template:Sfnm On Jeju, these were constructed of volcanic rock and were respectively called the Harubang (grandfather) and Halmang (grandmother).Template:Sfn Historically, villages would often hold annual festivals to thank their tutelary deities. These would often be overseen by local men and reflect Confucian traditions, although sometimes Template:Transliteration did participate.Template:Sfn In Korean society, rapid urbanisation has radically changed how people interact with their local deities.Template:Sfn
Korean vernacular religion includes household deities,Template:Sfn the chief of which is Sŏngju, the principal house guardian.Template:Sfnm Others include T'oju taegum, who patrols the precincts of the household, Chowang the kitchen spirit, and Pyŏnso Kakssi, the protector of the toilet.Template:Sfn Keeping these entities happy was traditionally regarded as the role of the housewife,Template:Sfn and is achieved through offering them food and drink.Template:Sfn These informal rituals do not require the involvement of Template:Transliteration, who would only be called in for special occasions.Template:Sfn Pollution caused by births or deaths in the household are believed to result in Sŏngju leaving, meaning that he must be encouraged to return through ritual.Template:Sfn Sŏngju may also require propitiation if expensive goods are brought into the home, as he expects a portion of the expenditure to be devoted to him.Template:Sfn
Ancestral spirits are called Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Tutelary ancestors are termed Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Ancestors who may be venerated in Template:Transliteration rituals are broader than the purely patrilineal figures venerated in formal Korean ancestor veneration rites, the Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn These broader ancestors may for instance include those from a woman's natal family, women who have married out of the family, or family members who have died without offspring.Template:Sfn While both the Template:Transliteration rites and the Confucian-derived Template:Transliteration entail communication with ancestors, only the former involves direct communication with these spirits, allowing the ancestors to convey messages directly to the living.Template:Sfn Certain ancestral spirits can also form part of a Template:Transliteration personal pantheon.Template:Sfn A personal spiritual guardian is the Template:Transliteration (plural Template:Transliteration).Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration of male Template:Transliteration are usually deemed female; those of female Template:Transliteration are typically male.Template:Sfn
Cosmology and mythology
In Korean religion, a "fundamental cosmology" has influenced various traditions, including musok.Template:Sfn Korean shamanic narratives include a number of myths that discuss the origins of shamans or the shamanic religion. These include, the Princess Bari myth, the Gongsim myth, and the Template:Transliteration myth.[1]Template:Sfn Origin myths are often called Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn These narratives have been extensively collected and studied by Korean scholars.Template:Sfn During a Template:Transliteration ritual held for the dead, an epic ballad called the Tale of Princess Pari is often recited.Template:Sfn
One of the most widespread myths in Korean Shamanism is known as the Myth of Dangun, the legendary founder of the first Korean kingdom Gojoseon.Template:Sfn Dangun is sometimes considered the first Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn This myth refers to the belief that God would come from heaven. This would result in the earth and heaven being unified. God and human beings would be unified as well. Korean Shamanism believes that the goddess mother of earth is married to the heavenly God.Template:Sfn
The Myth of Dangun has become the founding myth of the Korean nation.[2]
Birth and the dead
A common belief in Korean vernacular religion is that spirits of the dead wander the human world before entering the afterlife.Template:Sfn After death, the soul must stand trial in court and pass through gates kept by the Ten Kings.Template:Sfn At this court, the dead are judged for their conduct in life.Template:Sfn The Ten Gates of Hell are regarded as places of punishment for the wicked, typified by grotesque and gory scenes.Template:Sfn According to the Princess Bari narrative, Ascension from Hell to Paradise is possible through prayer and devotion.Template:Sfn
The dead are regarded as intrinsically dangerous to the living as their touch causes affliction, regardless of whether they mean harm or not.Template:Sfnm Those who died prematurely or who feel their life was unfulfilled, such as grandparents who never saw their grandchildren, a first wife who was replaced by a second wife, those who died by drowning, and young people who died before they could marry, are all considered especially antagonistic to the living and thus particularly dangerous.Template:Sfnm Meddlesome ghosts are thought to often enter the house on a piece of cloth, clothing, or bright object.Template:Sfn A dead ancestor who has not been appropriately cared or has been given an unsuitable burial place is deemed likely to cause trouble for its living descendants.Template:Sfn
If a person suffers a tragic or untimely death, it is believed that their soul hovers between life and death and can cause misfortune for their family; they thus need to be dealt with through ritual.Template:Sfn Terms for wandering spirits include Template:TransliterationTemplate:Sfn and Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfn and Template:Transliteration are deemed best suited for dealing with them, because they can determine what they want and tell them to go away.Template:Sfn
On Jeju Island, since the late 1980s there have been public lamentations of the dead involving Template:Transliteration to mark those killed in the Jeju uprising of 1948.Template:Sfn
Practices
Mudang
The Template:Transliteration mediate between the human and supernatural worlds,Template:Sfn doing so in an attempt to decrease human suffering and ensure a more harmonious life.Template:Sfn Specifically, they interact with gods and ancestral spirits by divining their presence and will, performing small rituals to placate them and gain their favor, and overseeing the Template:Transliteration rituals to feast and entertain them.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration's ability to perform their rituals successfully is deemed to come from Template:Transliteration ("divine energy") bestowed upon them by the deities.Template:Sfn Thus, divine favor must be gained through purification and supplication, prayer and pilgrimage.Template:Sfn Individual Template:Transliteration can be regarded as having particular specialities.Template:Sfn
For the Template:Transliteration, ritual is an economic activity,Template:Sfn and they operate as free agents rather than members of an ordained clergy.Template:Sfn For many practitioners, being a Template:Transliteration is a full-time job on which they financially depend,Template:Sfnm although some fail to earn a living through this ritual vocation.Template:Sfn To succeed financially, Template:Transliteration must attract regular clientele,Template:Sfn and to that end modern South Korean practitioners have advertised their services in brochures, fliers, newspapers, and on the Internet.Template:Sfn Some followers of Template:Transliteration are unhappy with this situation, believing that the practice has degenerated under capitalism and modernisation; they feel that modern Template:Transliteration display a more materialistic and self-interested approach than their historical predecessors.Template:Sfn
Becoming a mudang
Many Template:Transliteration report that they never wanted to take up the profession, resisting the calling due to the social disapproval that practitioners often face.Template:Sfnm However, Template:Transliteration teaches that it is the deities who decide if a person is to become a Template:Transliteration and that they will torment an individual with misfortune, illness or madness to encourage them into adopting the profession.Template:Sfnm This process is termed the Template:Transliteration ("the drought caused by the gods"),Template:Sfn Template:Transliteration ("spirit possession sickness"),Template:Sfnm or Template:Transliteration ("Template:Transliteration sickness").Template:Sfn Template:Transliteration have for instance reported partial paralysis and hallucinations before turning to this ritual vocation,Template:Sfn or else a compulsion to go to a shrine or sacred mountain.Template:Sfn Alternatively, they have described encounters with spirits, sometimes while wandering in a wild environment,Template:Sfn or otherwise through dreams,Template:Sfn with dreams and visions sometimes revealing which deities the future Template:Transliteration is expected to serve.Template:Sfn
Once the person has accepted the calling, they must find an established Template:Transliteration willing to train them.Template:Sfn They become this person's apprentice, the Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Apprentices are usually aged over 18, although there are examples of children becoming apprentices.Template:Sfn The apprentice of a Template:Transliteration may be called their Template:Transliteration or Template:Transliteration (spirit daughter) if female,Template:Sfnm or Template:Transliteration (spirit son) if male.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration will be that novice's Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn The neophyte must ultimately perform an initiation ritual to open up Template:Transliteration (the "gates of speech") that will allow them to receive the words of the spirits.Template:Sfn This rite is called the Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfnm It involves the neophyte performing the appropriate chants, dances, and oracles to invoke and convey inspiration from the deities.Template:Sfn If the initiate fails to perform this correctly, with the deities failing to open their Template:Transliteration, they will have to perform it again.Template:Sfn Many Template:Transliteration perform multiple Template:Transliteration before being recognised as properly initiated ritual specialists.Template:Sfn Those Template:Transliteration who fail to learn how to deal with supernatural entities correctly are sometimes called Template:Transliteration by other practitioners.Template:Sfn
In the Template:Transliteration tradition, teachings are often passed down hereditarily although in other instances a Template:Transliteration adopts a non-relative, rather than their child, as an apprentice.Template:Sfn Not all practitioners want their children to follow them into the profession, however.Template:Sfn When Template:Transliteration do not wish a family member to continue their vocation, they may ensure that their ritual paraphernalia is burned or buried at their death; doing so severs any connection between their person deities and their surviving family.Template:Sfn
Clients of the mudang
Serving private clients is the core practice for most Template:Transliteration, even those who have built celebrity status through their performance of staged Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn In some areas, including Jeju, clients are called Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfnm Clients seek solutions to their practical problems,Template:Sfn typically hoping that the Template:Transliteration can ascertain the cause of misfortune they have suffered.Template:Sfn Common reasons for doing so include recurring nightmares,Template:Sfn concerns about a child getting into university,Template:Sfn financial woes,Template:Sfn business concerns,Template:Sfnm or physical ailments.Template:Sfnm Some clients turn to the Template:Transliteration after being dissatisfied with the diagnosis or treatment administered by medical professionals.Template:Sfnm
Although both sexes do consult Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfnm most clients are female.Template:Sfnm From his fieldwork in the 1990s, Chongho Kim found that most clients were women in their late fifties and early sixties,Template:Sfn while that same decade Kendall noted that most clients in Seoul and its environs were small entrepreneurs, such as owners of small companies, shops, and restaurants.Template:Sfn By the early 21st century, Sarfati observed, many young people had become clients of Template:Transliteration as part of a spiritual search or for counselling.Template:Sfn Clients do not generally regard themselves as being committed exclusively to Template:Transliteration, and may deem themselves Buddhists or Christians,Template:Sfn but Template:Transliteration often think that their rituals will please the spirits regardless of their client's beliefs.Template:Sfn
A client will often arrive, greet the Template:Transliteration, and then engage in an introductory conversation. Through this, the Template:Transliteration will hope to ascertain more about the client and their problems.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration then uses divination and trance visions to determine the source of their client's trouble;Template:Sfn in Template:Transliteration, neglecting ancestors and gods is seen as the primary cause of affliction.Template:Sfnm The Template:Transliteration may then try to convince their client of the need for a particular ritual to treat their problem.Template:Sfn
If a ritual fails to produce the desired result, the client may speculate that it was because of a bad performer, errors in the ritual, the presence of a ritually polluted attendee, or a lack of sincerity on their part.Template:Sfn If the client feels the Template:Transliteration has not successfully solved their problem, they may turn to another Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn They may be disappointed or angry given their substantial financial investment; in some rare cases clients have sued Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn The payment of money is often a source of mistrust between clients and Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Concerns about money are heightened by the lack of an "institutional buffer" between the client and ritual practitioner, such as a temple or church.Template:Sfn
Altars and shrines
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Most Template:Transliteration rituals center around altarsTemplate:Sfn—referred to as Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, or Template:TransliterationTemplate:Sfn—and which serve as places for Template:Transliteration to engage with supernatural beings.Template:Sfn Template:Transliteration typically have a shrine in their home in which they host various gods and ancestors,Template:Sfnm sometimes set up in a cabinet.Template:Sfn Shrines might alternatively be found outdoors, often incorporating a stone or old tree,Template:Sfn while a Template:Transliteration will often establish a temporary altar in a client's home.Template:Sfn
While each altar often has its own idiosyncratic elements,Template:Sfn they are typically dominated by bright, primary colors, in contrast to the muted earth tones traditionally predominant in Korean daily life.Template:Sfn This home shrine may include paintings of deities, called Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfnm Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfnm Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfn or Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn These paintings are particularly important in the Template:Transliteration traditions of Seoul and of the northwest provinces Hwanghae and P'yŏngan;Template:Sfn they were traditionally not found in parts of the south.Template:Sfn Hanging above the altar,Template:Sfn they are usually considered the most important objects present.Template:Sfn They are regarded as seats for the deities, literally manifesting the latter's presence rather than just visually depicting them,Template:Sfnm an idea similar to those found across much of Asia, as in Buddhism and Hinduism.Template:Sfn As well as being invited to inhabit a painting, a deity may also be petitioned to depart it; they are sometimes believed to leave of their own accord, for instance if they abandon a Template:Transliteration who keeps the image.Template:Sfn
Template:Transliteration paintings range from being crude to more sophisticated.Template:Sfn Traditionally they use colors associated with the five directions (Template:Korean): red, blue/green, yellow, white, and black.Template:Sfn Painters who produce Template:Transliteration are traditionally expected to adhere to standards of purity while producing these artworks,Template:Sfn bathing beforehand and refraining from eating fish or meat.Template:Sfn Since the 1970s, Template:Transliteration have commonly been produced in commercial workshops,Template:Sfnm although a small number of traditional artists remain in South Korea.Template:Sfn After a Template:Transliteration's death, their Template:Transliteration were often ritually de-animated and then burned during the 20th century.Template:Sfn Some Template:Transliteration have been donated to museums; certain Template:Transliteration practitioners believe that the deity leaves the image if that occurs.Template:Sfnm
On the shrine, deities may also be represented by Template:Transliteration, statues made of wood, plastic, clay, straw, or metal.Template:Sfnm Alternatively, deities may be represented by a white piece of paper, the Template:Transliteration or Template:Transliteration, onto which the entity's name is written in black or red ink.Template:Sfn The deity may instead be seated in physical objects, including stones, clothing, coins, dolls, or knives;Template:Sfn these may be concealed from view, for instance being wrapped in cloth or inside a chest.Template:Sfn In addition to entities associated with Template:Transliteration specifically, shrines may also include images of Buddhist deities.Template:Sfnm Alongside representations of such beings, shrines typically have candles, incense holders, and offering bowls;Template:Sfnm there may also be toys or dolls to amuse the child gods.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration altar will also often be a place to store or display their ritual paraphernalia, such as costumes.Template:Sfnm
To sustain their ongoing favor, Template:Transliteration often worship their deities daily.Template:Sfn Thus, they often bow when in the presence of their home shrine,Template:Sfn and then place offerings upon it.Template:Sfnm Some offerings, such as cooked rice, fruit, and water, may be changed daily; others, such as sweets, cigarettes, and liquor, may be replaced more infrequently.Template:Sfn Template:Transliteration maintain that they provide offerings in thanks for the work their deities have brought them.Template:Sfn For visiting clients, who may also place offerings at a Template:Transliteration home-shrine,Template:Sfnm a large assortment of offerings thus gives the impression of a financially successful ritual specialist.Template:Sfn
Deities are often believed to be present in all houses.Template:Sfn Historical accounts often reference the presence of earthen jars (Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration) filled with grain, or smaller baskets or pouches, as offerings to household deities and ancestors.Template:Sfn This practice was declining in South Korea by the 1960s and 1970s.Template:Sfn By the latter decades of the 20th century, cardboard boxes had become common receptacles for these household offerings.Template:Sfn Some Template:Transliteration have suggested that, because most South Koreans now live in apartments, the Sŏngju must be venerated in a way that ensures it is mobile and can be transported to a new home.Template:Sfn
Guttang and pugundang
Specialised buildings at which Template:Transliteration rituals are performed are called Template:Transliteration or Template:Transliteration (Template:Korean) and are typically located on mountains.Template:Sfnm Template:Transliteration are often identified on the exterior by a Template:Transliteration symbol, a circular swirl of red, blue, and yellow that symbolizes the cosmos.Template:Sfn The main ritual room is called the Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfn and often contains a table on which offerings are placed.Template:Sfn Template:Transliteration often rent a Template:Transliteration to perform their rituals, especially if they do not have space for such rites in their home.Template:Sfn
Practitioners often believe that deities communicate with humans through dreams as a means of choosing specific locales for the placement of Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Some are located at especially auspicious places, such as at an area below a mountain, the Template:Transliteration, where positive spiritual energy is thought to congregate.Template:Sfn Template:Transliteration sometimes move over time.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration, which Kendall described as "Seoul's most venerable Template:Transliteration",Template:Sfn for instance was originally on South Mountain, before being displaced by a Shinto shrine during the Japanese occupation, at which it moved to Inwangsan, a mountain to the north of the city.Template:Sfnm The growing urbanisation of South Korea since the late 20th century has meant that many are now surrounded by other buildings, sometimes including other Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn The increasingly cramped nature of Korean urban living may have encouraged the increasing popularity of Template:Transliteration in isolated locations like mountains.Template:Sfnm
Template:Transliteration often operate as businesses.Template:Sfn They rent out rooms for Template:Transliteration to use, a practice perhaps originating in the late Joseon period.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration will have a shrine keeper,Template:Sfn who may be a Template:Transliteration themselves.Template:Sfn Other staff based there may include musicians called Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfn cooks who prepare food for Template:Transliteration rituals,Template:Sfn and a maid, the Template:Transliteration, who is a trainee Template:Transliteration yet to undergo their initiation rite.Template:Sfn As well as spaces for ritual, Template:Transliteration also provide places for networking, allowing Template:Transliteration to witness the rituals of other practitioners and observe different regional styles.Template:Sfn
Shrines dedicated to significant tutelary spirits are known as Template:Transliteration or Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Historically, these were often the foci for local cults, such as those devoted to apotheosised heroes.Template:Sfn In parts of South Korea, as on Jeju Island, new village shrines have continued to be created into the early 21st century,Template:Sfn with various Jeju villages having more than one shrine.Template:Sfn
Template:Transliteration rites
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The central ritual of the Template:Transliteration is called Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn These are large-scale rites,Template:Sfn characterised by rhythmic movements, songs, oracles and prayers.Template:Sfn They are the only rituals in traditional Korean religion believed to give supernatural entities the ability to speak directly to humans,Template:Sfnm and are meant to create welfare, promoting commitment between supernatural beings and humankind.Template:Sfn The purpose of a Template:Transliteration is to get the supernatural beings to communicate, expressing what it is that they want and why they are angry.Template:Sfn There is regional diversity in the styles of Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfnm although some Template:Transliteration mix these different styles,Template:Sfn with each Template:Transliteration displaying features unique to its particular circumstances.Template:Sfn Central to Template:Transliteration rituals is a reciprocal transaction between humans and supernatural entities.Template:Sfn These rituals are typically performance-focused, rather than being rooted in a prescribed liturgy,Template:Sfn and can last for up to several days.Template:Sfn
A Template:Transliteration is sponsored for a specific purpose.Template:Sfn A Template:Transliteration may be arranged due to an illness, domestic quarrel, or financial loss.Template:Sfn It might be undertaken to propitiate the spirit of a deceased family member,Template:Sfnm or to increase prosperity and good fortune;Template:Sfn in the 21st century, it has become increasingly common to sponsor a Template:Transliteration to mark a new financial venture, such as the opening of a mall or an office building.Template:Sfn As well as being performed for clients, the Template:Transliteration will sometimes perform these rituals for their own personal reasons;Template:Sfn in the 1990s, for instance, the prominent Template:Transliteration Kim Kŭm-hwa performed a Template:Transliteration for Korean reunification.Template:Sfn
Financial payment for a Template:Transliteration is typical,Template:Sfn although the fee varies between Template:Transliteration and the circumstances of the rite.Template:Sfn However, a Template:Transliteration is usually very expensive for the client of a Template:Transliteration;Template:Sfnm based on his fieldwork in the 1990s, Chongho Kim noted that a Template:Transliteration in Seoul typically cost between 2 and 5 million won, whereas in the rural area of Soy it cost between 300,000 and 2.5 million won.Template:Sfn The precise fee may be negotiated between the Template:Transliteration and their client, sometimes involving haggling.Template:Sfnm This will usually be agreed at a pre-Template:Transliteration consultation.Template:Sfn As well as paying for the Template:Transliteration time, the fee also covers the wages of any assistants and the costs of material used in the rite;Template:Sfn it may also reflect the years of training they have undertaken to be able to perform these rituals.Template:Sfn
The Template:Transliteration is usually held in private, and few have a larger audience than the direct participants like the client,Template:Sfnm although there are instances where those paying for a Template:Transliteration will invite neighbors to observe.Template:Sfnm On occasion, a busy client will not attend the Template:Transliteration they have sponsored.Template:Sfn These rituals are typically regarded as unsuitable for children to attend.Template:Sfn Often it will take place outdoors and at night, in an isolated rural location,Template:Sfn at a Template:Transliteration shrine rented for the occasion,Template:Sfnm or in a private home,Template:Sfnm either that of the Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfnm or that of their client.Template:Sfn Setting up the Template:Transliteration may involve not only the Template:Transliteration but also their apprentices, assistants, musicians, butchers, and cooks.Template:Sfn Preparing and decorating the space is deemed a meaningful part of the ritual process,Template:Sfn with those setting it up often concerned so as not to offend the spirits.Template:Sfn
Colorful paintings of the gods will often be brought into the space where the Template:Transliteration is to be performed;Template:Sfn this is not part of the Template:Transliteration performed by Jeju Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn God paintings are usually paper, although in modern contexts are sometimes polyester, ensuring that they are resistant to rain and tearing. Other practitioners regard the use of polyester images as a corruption of tradition.Template:Sfn These images are then often hung on a metal frame.Template:Sfn In Taejŏn City and Ch'ungch'ŏng province, a traditional practice involves decorating the ritual space with handmade mulberry paper cut into patterns.Template:Sfn Various ritual items may be included in the Template:Transliteration ritual, including swords, the Template:Transliteration, a drum, drum stick, and the spirit stick.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration is a three-pronged spear.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration is a prayer card used in the Template:Transliteration onto which information like the name of the client may be written.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration may then be attached to a drum.Template:Sfn
Offerings at the gut
At Template:Transliteration, food is offered to the spirits.Template:Sfn This will often include fish, rice, tteok rice cakes, eggs, sweets, nuts, biscuits, fruit, and meat.Template:Sfnm Some of this food will be cooked, some will be offered raw.Template:Sfn To provide meat, animal sacrifice occurs at most Template:Transliteration, although is rare in televisual, cinematic, and museum depictions of these rites.Template:Sfn A cow or pig killed for the purpose may be butchered in the shrine room;Template:Sfn the carcass may be impaled on the trident; if it fails to balance, then this is seen as evidence that the deities do not accept the offering.Template:Sfnm When the ritual is intended to invoke Buddhist spirits, the food offerings may be vegetarian;Template:Sfnm offering these entities meat would offend them.Template:Sfn Food offerings may also be set out at the side for wandering spirits who are attracted by the ritual, an act designed to avoid mishaps they could cause.Template:Sfn
Offered alongside the food will often be alcoholic drinks, typically Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfnm as well as non-food items like incense, cloth, money (both real and imitation), and paper flowers.Template:Sfnm The color of the flowers may indicate to whom they are offered; pink for the spirits of military generals, white for Buddhist deities, and multi-colored for ancestral spirits.Template:Sfn The material used for the Template:Transliteration will often be bought in a Template:Transliteration shop, which specialises in traditional religious paraphernalia.Template:Sfnm In modern South Korea, the ritual paraphernalia used is often of poor quality because it is intended to be burnt following the ceremony.Template:Sfn
These may be placed on offering tables;Template:Sfnm one table will be the Template:Transliteration, devoted to the Template:Transliteration gods, while the other table will be the Template:Transliteration, devoted to ancestral spirits.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration will often perform divination to determine if the offerings have been accepted by the supernatural beings.Template:Sfn It is considered important for the person giving these offerings to do so with sincerity and devotion,Template:Sfn with the mudang undertaking a form of divination called "weighing the sincerity" (Template:Transliteration) to determine if this has been the case.Template:Sfn The emotional influence on the audience is considered evidence of its efficacy.Template:Sfn
During the ritual, attendees may be expected to give additional offerings of money to the Template:Transliteration, often while they are possessed, intended as thanks both to them and to the spirits.Template:Sfnm These offerings, given in addition to the ritual fee, are called Template:Transliteration or Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Any real money presented as offerings to the deities will be taken by the Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Much of the food assembled for the Template:Transliteration will then be distributed and consumed by the attendees at the end of the ritual,Template:Sfnm having been charged by auspiciousness by its involvement in the rite.Template:Sfn Attendees may distribute some of this food to non-attendees once they get home;Template:Sfn they may also set some aside to feed any wandering spirits that might have followed them from the Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn In some Template:Transliteration, especially those held at Template:Transliteration shrines, food will also be left to decay.Template:Sfn
Performance at the gut
The ritual begins with the Template:Transliteration inviting supernatural entities to the altar, after which they set out to entertain them.Template:Sfn Music will often be involved in the Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Musical instruments typically involved in Template:Transliteration include cymbals, hourglass-shaped drums called Template:Transliteration, and a gong.Template:Sfnm Also sometimes featured is a pipe, the Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfnm The Template:Transliteration will often begin with drumming.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration will often dance to the beat of the drums, often swirling in circles, something believed to facilitate the possession trance.Template:Sfnm They may hold Template:Transliteration, short sticks to which white paper streamers are attached;Template:Sfnm this helps channel the spirits into the Template:Transliteration body.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration may also carry a fan and brass bells;Template:Sfnm Sarfati commented that these bells were "a central symbol of musok",Template:Sfn and their purpose is to attract the attention of the spirits.Template:Sfn
The language used by a Template:Transliteration during their rite is called Template:Transliteration ("Template:Transliteration's sounds"),Template:Sfn and is often deliberately archaic.Template:Sfn The songs or chants employed are called Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfnm with each practitioner having their own personal repertoire, largely inherited through oral tradition.Template:Sfn As well as traditional folk songs, some Template:Transliteration have sung pop songs to entertain the spirits.Template:Sfn Incantations and ritual words for communicating with the spirit are called Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration will often recite mythological stories during the ritual, something deemed to contribute to its efficacy.Template:Sfn These may be recited in full at a longer ritual or in condensed form for a shorter one.Template:Sfn There may be breaks during the Template:Transliteration, for instance giving time for the participants to eat.Template:Sfn
The costumes worn for these rituals are called Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn These colorful outfits resemble those documented from the 19th and early 20th centuries,Template:Sfn and may involve a Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration may distinguish themselves from their assistants by having their hair in the Tchokchin mŏri style.Template:Sfn For the Template:Transliteration, the Template:Transliteration will dress in clothes representing the deities,Template:Sfnm with different deities associated with different items of clothing.Template:Sfn They may change outfit over the course of the Template:Transliteration to reflect the different entities possessing them.Template:Sfnm This is not a practice that the Template:Transliteration engage in.Template:Sfn
Also used in many Template:Transliteration are Template:Transliteration blades, objects symbolizing the bravery of the possessing warrior spirits.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration may stab themselves in the chest with the knives,Template:Sfn run the blade along their tongue,Template:Sfn or press it to their face and hands.Template:Sfnm Riding knives is termed Template:Transliteration and involves the Template:Transliteration walking barefoot on the upturned blade of the knife, sometimes while speaking in Template:Transliteration, or possessed speech.Template:Sfnm Practitioners claim that it is the spirits that prevent the Template:Transliteration from being cut by the blade,Template:Sfn and the ability to undertake such dangerous acts without harm is regarded as evidence for the efficacy of the rite.Template:Sfn Some practitioners acknowledge instances in which they have been cut by the blades.Template:Sfn Template:Transliteration has become an expected part of staged or cinematic Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn
The possession phase takes place at the climax of the ritual.Template:Sfn In some Template:Transliteration traditions, the Template:Transliteration will stand upon an earthen jar while doing so.Template:Sfn The term Template:Transliteration (descending of the spirits) describes possession of the Template:Transliteration, intended in a manner that is largely controlled.Template:Sfn Possessed speech is called Template:Transliteration;Template:Sfnm words from the possessing entity will then be spoken to the assembled persons by the Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfnm Over the course of a Template:Transliteration, a Template:Transliteration may be possessed by a succession of different supernatural entities.Template:Sfn On Jeju, the Template:Transliteration will provide a voice for the spirits.Template:Sfn Yun noted that the Template:Transliteration "so-called medium speech" typically lacked the "dramatic intensity" of the messages conveyed by the Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn The entities possessing the Template:Transliteration will typically dispense advice to the ritual's sponsor and to other attendees.Template:Sfn Supernatural beings will often relate that if a Template:Transliteration had been performed earlier, misfortune would not have befallen the person sponsoring the Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn
The final phase of the Template:Transliteration entails sending off the spirits who have been summoned, often by burning name tags, the Template:Transliteration ("clothes for ancestors") or cloth, straw shoes, and imitation money.Template:Sfnm Towards the end of the Template:Transliteration, wandering spirits that may have gathered are expelled,Template:Sfnm talismans may be distributed to attendees,Template:Sfn and finally the Template:Transliteration will remove their ceremonial clothing.Template:Sfn
Male Template:Transliteration often wear female clothing and makeup when performing rituals, reflecting their possession of a female Template:Transliteration.Template:SfnmTemplate:Clarify Female Template:Transliteration may show an interest in smoking, drinking alcohol, and playing with bladed weapons, reflecting that they have a male Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn In Korean society, there have been persistent rumours about the toleration of homosexuality within Template:Transliteration practitioners.Template:Sfn
Template:Transliteration sometimes work in groups.Template:Sfnm This has been observed among Template:Transliteration on Jeju,Template:Sfn as well as Template:Transliteration in Seoul.Template:Sfn In the early 1990s, for example, a feminist group in Seoul sponsored several Template:Transliteration to perform a Template:Transliteration ritual for the aggrieved souls of Korean "comfort women".Template:Sfn When an arsonist torched Seoul's historic Namdaemun Gate in 2008, several Template:Transliteration performed a ritual to appease spirits angered by the act.Template:Sfn
Styles of gut
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Different types of Template:Transliteration have different names, often reflecting the principle deity being honoured or the purpose of the rite.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration is for good fortune, while the Template:Transliteration is for healing.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration is performed to send ancestors to a good afterlife.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration is performed for a person who is mentally afflicted and often deemed to be possessed by one or more spirits.Template:Sfn Exorcisms will often involve throwing scraps of food, sometimes at the afflicted person.Template:Sfn The possessing spirit is offered food to encourage it to leave.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration is performed to honor the spirits of a new car and became increasingly popular as car ownership grew in late 20th century South Korea.Template:Sfn
The Template:Transliteration or flower-greeting Template:Transliteration is an annual rite held by a Template:Transliteration to entertain and feed their gods, ancestors, and clients.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration are performed in gratitude to the deities and ancestors for granting a mu their spiritual power and thus a livelihood. They are regarded as returning to these supernatural beings a portion of what the mu has earned.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration can sometimes last 10 days.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration is a ritual for expelling bad spirits, sometimes from a human. This sometimes involves the spirit forcing it into a bottle.Template:Sfn
Historically, the Template:Transliteration may have had entertainment value when there were few other outlets.Template:Sfnm Since the latter decades of the 20th century, Template:Transliteration performed primarily for entertainment purposes rather than for religious reasons are referred to as Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Some practitioners who perform both draw a clear distinction between them,Template:Sfn although many Template:Transliteration still regard staged Template:Transliteration as genuine interactions with spirits.Template:Sfn Performed in museums or at city festivals, these Template:Transliteration often take place on raised stages surrounded by a seated audience,Template:Sfn typically attracting journalists, scholars, and photographers.Template:Sfn Staged Template:Transliteration are often dedicated to general causes such as national prosperity;Template:Sfn sometimes the food placed as an offering is fake.Template:Sfn They often involve folklorists or other scholars who explain the ritual to the audience,Template:Sfn while the participants will often be dressed in a common uniform, something not found in private Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Template:Transliteration may see these staged rituals as an opportunity to attract potential new clients,Template:Sfn uploading videos of them performing such rites to social media and YouTube.Template:Sfn
Template:Transliteration are often performed for their artistic value.Template:Sfn By 2009, South Korea's government recognised ten regional Template:Transliteration styles as parts of the country's intangible cultural heritage, and that year one of these traditions – the Yŏngdŭng gut performed at Ch'ilmŏri Shrine on Jeju – was added to UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.Template:Sfn
Purification
Purity of both the body and the mind is a state that is required for taking part in rituals.Template:Sfn Purification is considered necessary for an efficacious communion between living people and ancestral forms.Template:Sfn Before any Template:Transliteration is performed, the altar is always purified by fire and water, as part of the first Template:Transliteration of the ritual itself.Template:Sfn The colour white, extensively used in rituals, is regarded as a symbol of purity.Template:Sfn The purification of the body is performed by burning white paper.Template:Sfn
Mountains, landscape, and pilgrimage
In Template:Transliteration, spiritually potent sites include rocks, springs, and Template:Transliteration trees.Template:Sfn The latter trees may be marked out by having strips of cloth or paper attached to them.Template:Sfn Mountains are often deemed places of sacred presence and associated with Template:Transliteration's origin.Template:Sfn Each prominent mountain is deemed to have a sovereign mountain spirit.Template:Sfn The levels of spiritual power at a mountain are influenced not just by its associated deities but also the Template:Transliteration energy (the equivalent of the Chinese qi) that is present there.Template:Sfn This Template:Transliteration is believed to channel through Template:Transliteration ("veins") through the mountain landscape; these can be disrupted by roads or other construction.Template:Sfn Thus, the potency of these mountains is thought to decline amid growing urbanisation and tourist access.Template:Sfn In Korea, this traditional geomancy is called Template:Transliteration, and is akin to the Chinese fengshui.Template:Sfnm
Pilgrimages to mountain shrines have long been part of Korean religion.Template:Sfn Historically, the Template:Transliteration mountain pilgrimages were rare events, although improved transportation meant that by the 1990s these had become more regular occurrences in South Korea.Template:Sfn Some Template:Transliteration prepare for these pilgrimages by bathing and abstaining from eating meat, fish, or eggs.Template:Sfnm On arrival at the shrine, the pilgrim will bow and give offerings.Template:Sfn For Template:Transliteration, these mountains are places to replenish their Template:Transliteration and are conducive to receiving visions.Template:Sfnm Template:Transliteration will make offerings not only at the mountains but also at springs and guardian trees en route.Template:Sfn Those reaching the summit of a mountain will often add a pebble to a cairn to propitiate that mountain's Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Incorrectly performing the pilgrimage may upset the Template:Transliteration and bring about this spirit's retribution.Template:Sfn
The most sacred mountain for the Template:Transliteration is Mount Paektu, located on North Korea's northern border with China;Template:Sfn this is believed to channel Template:Transliteration to every other mountain in the peninsula.Template:Sfn According to legend, it is also the birthplace of Tan'gun, the national ancestor and first Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Since the 1990s, Template:Transliteration from South Korea have travelled to China to make pilgrimages to this mountain.Template:Sfnm
Talismans and divination
An important component of the Template:Transliteration role is to produce talismans called Template:Transliteration (Template:Transliteration) which are presented as providing the bearer with good fortune.Template:Sfnm These Template:Transliteration are often based on Hanja, Korean versions of Chinese logograms.Template:Sfn These may be distributed to attendees at the end of a rite.Template:Sfn Clients will often affix these to the internal walls of their home.Template:Sfn
Divination is termed Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn One form of divination, sometimes performed during other rituals, involves a person picking one of a selection of rolled up silk flags; the color of the selected flag is then interpreted as bearing meaning for that individual.Template:Sfnm Green and yellow flags are often seen as indicating bad fortune,Template:Sfnm while red is regarded as being auspicious.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration style of divination involves casting rice and coins onto a tray,Template:Sfnm while another practice entails shaking rice kernels onto a person's lap and then drawing meaning from whether they are of an odd or even number.Template:Sfn
In Korean vernacular religion, there are also ritual specialists who perform divinations and produce amulets but who do not engage in Template:Transliteration rituals like the Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn
History
It is difficult to determine the origins of musok.Template:Sfn Detailed accounts of Template:Transliteration rituals prior to the modern period are rare,Template:Sfn and the fact that the tradition is orally transmitted means it is difficult to trace historical processes.Template:Sfn
Prehistory
Some historians have argued that Template:Transliteration has common origins with other traditions labelled "shamanic" in parts of North Asia, suggesting a common origin in prehistory.Template:Sfn Korean shamanism goes back to prehistoric times, pre-dating the introduction of Buddhism and Confucianism, and the influence of Taoism, in Korea.Template:Sfn Over time, elements from other traditions, such as Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism, were absorbed into its practices.Template:Sfn Vestiges of temples dedicated to gods and spirits have been found on tops and slopes of many mountains in the peninsula.Template:Sfn
Shamanism can be traced back to 1,000 BC.Template:Sfn The religion has been part of the culture of the Korean Peninsula since then. "Historically, Korean Shamanism (Musok) was an orally transmitted tradition that was mastered mainly by illiterate low-ranking women within the neo-Confucian hierarchy."[3] However, several records and texts have documented the origin of Korean Shamanism. One of these texts is Wei Shi which traces Shamanism to the third century.Template:Sfn Chinese dynastic histories mention the importance of designated shamans among early religious practices in Japan but not Korea.Template:Sfn The Korean studies scholar Richard D. McBride thus asserts that non-shamans were able to practice "under their own authority".Template:Sfn Evidently, the history of Korean Shamanism remains a mystery. However, foreign religions, including Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism have influenced the development of Korean Shamanism.Template:Sfn
The development of Korean Shamanism can be categorized into different groups. The first category involves simple transformation. In this transformation, the influence of the practices and beliefs of other religions on Korean Shamanism was superficial.Template:Sfn The second category of transmission was syncretistic. This category involves Shamanism being incorporated into the practices and beliefs of other cultures, including Confucianism, Christianity, Taoism, and Buddhism.Template:Sfn These religions had different levels of influence on Korean Shamanism. The third category involves the formation of new religions through the mixing of beliefs and practices of Shamanism with those of other dominant religions.Template:Sfn
Although many Koreans converted to Buddhism when it was introduced to the peninsula in the 4th century, and adopted as the state religion in Silla and Goryeo, it remained a minor religion compared to Korean shamanism.[4]
The term Template:Transliteration is first recorded in the 12th-century Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn It also appears in the Samguk sagi from that century.Template:Sfn The use of images of the Template:Transliteration deities, hanging on the wall, is first recorded from the 13th century.Template:Sfn
Joseon Korea and Japanese occupation
The Goryeo kingdom was replaced by the Joseon dynasty, which saw an increase in governmental persecution of the Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Confucianism was the dominant ideology in Joseon Korea, contributing to these suppressions;Template:Sfn later historians argued that this was connected to the elite's desire to gain more power by challenging rivals to their Confucian system.Template:Sfn Confucians accepted the existence of the spirits invoked in the Template:Transliteration rites,Template:Sfnm but argued that there were better ways of dealing with these supernatural beings.Template:Sfn They regarded the Template:Transliteration rituals as improper,Template:Sfn criticising the presence of both sexes together in environments where alcohol was being consumed.Template:Sfn Korea's Neo-Confucian scholars used the derogatory term Template:Transliteration for non-Confucian ceremonies, of which they considered the Template:Transliteration rituals among the lowest.Template:Sfnm
In the Joseon dynasty, Template:Transliteration belonged to one of eight outcast groups that were expelled from the capital city.Template:Sfn The Template:Transliteration law book prescribed 100 lashes in public for anyone found to be supporting them.Template:Sfn This persecution could prove deadly; in an extreme case, a Template:Transliteration was beheaded in 1398.Template:Sfn In an oft-cited incident, Jeju governor Yi Hyŏngsang initiated a purge of Template:Transliteration on the island in 1702, destroying 129 shrines.Template:Sfnm Taxes were levied on the Template:Transliteration rituals, both to discourage the practice but also to raise revenues for the government; these taxes remained in place until the 1895 Kabo reforms.Template:Sfn At the same time as the government persecuted the Template:Transliteration, they also turned to them in emergencies like epidemics, droughts, and famines.Template:Sfn Several Template:Transliteration were permitted access to the royal palaces, where several structures were set aside for their usage.Template:Sfn
By the late 19th century, many Korean intellectuals eager for modernisation came to regard Template:Transliteration as superstition that should be eradicated;Template:Sfn they increasingly referred to it with the term Template:Transliteration ("superstition").Template:Sfn These ideas were endorsed in Tongnip sinmun, Korea's first vernacular newspaper.Template:Sfn Many of these intellectuals were Christian, thus regarding the Template:Transliteration spirits as evil demons.Template:Sfn In 1896, police launched a crackdown by arresting Template:Transliteration, destroying shrines, and burning paraphernalia.Template:Sfn
The Empire of Japan invaded Korea in 1910.Template:Sfn During the Japanese occupation, the occupiers tried to incorporate Template:Transliteration within, or replace it with, State Shinto.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Japanese colonial Governor-General of Chōsen presented the Template:Transliteration as evidence for Korean cultural backwardness, an approach intended to legitimize Japanese imperial rule.Template:Sfnm Japanese efforts to suppress the tradition included the Mind Cultivation Movement launched in 1936.Template:Sfn Korean elites largely supported these suppressions for a variety of reasons, one of which was to demonstrate Korean cultural advancement to the Japanese occupying Korea.Template:Sfn
It was in this colonial context that scholars developed the idea that the Template:Transliteration were continuing an ancient Korean religion and thus represented the spiritual and cultural repository of the Korean people.Template:Sfnm Influenced by the Western use of the term "shamanism" as a cross-cultural category, some Korean scholars speculated that the Template:Transliteration tradition descended from Siberian traditions.Template:Sfn The Japanese scholar Torii Ryūzō proposed the Template:Transliteration as a remnant of a primordial Shinto, with both stemming from Siberian "shamanism".Template:Sfn These ideas were built on by nationalist Korean scholars Ch'oe Nam-sŏn and Yi Nŭnghwa in the 1920s.Template:Sfn Cho'e reversed Torii's framework by emphasising the primacy of ancient Korean over Japanese tradition as the transmitter of Siberian religion,Template:Sfn while Yi promoted the Template:Transliteration tradition as the residue of what he called Template:Transliteration ("divine teachings"), meaning a primordial Korean religion that lost its purity through the arrival of Confucianism and Buddhism.Template:Sfn At the time, Korean elites remained wary about this new positive reassessment.Template:Sfn
Korean War and division
The situation for Template:Transliteration worsened after the division of Korea and the establishment of a northern Socialist government and a southern pro-Christian government.Template:Sfn The Korean War and subsequent urbanisation of Korean society resulted in many Koreans moving around the peninsula, impacting the distinct regional traditions of the Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Many Template:Transliteration from Hwanghae (in North Korea) resettled in Inchon (in South Korea), strongly influencing Template:Transliteration there, for example.Template:Sfn This migration meant that by the early 21st century, Template:Transliteration were increasingly dominant in areas like Jeju where Template:Transliteration historically predominated, generating rivalry between the two traditions.Template:Sfn
In North Korea, most formal religious activity was suppressed,Template:Sfn with Template:Transliteration labelled part of the "hostile class".Template:Sfn In South Korea, Christianity spread rapidly from the 1960s, becoming the country's dominant religion by the 21st century.Template:Sfn South Korean leader Syngman Rhee launched the Template:Transliteration ("New Life Movement") which destroyed many village shrines.Template:Sfn This policy continued as the Saemaul Undong ("New Community Movement") of his successor, Park Chung Hee, which led to a surge in the police suppression of Template:Transliteration during the 1970s.Template:Sfnm In response, Template:Transliteration formed the Tae Han Sŭngkong yŏngsin yŏnhap-hoe (Korean Victory Over Communism Federation of Shamans) to promote their interests, its name reflecting the pervasive anti-communist atmosphere of South Korean society.Template:Sfn Such outright persecution ended after Park's assassination in 1979.Template:Sfn
The popularization of folklore studies in the 1970s resulted in the notion of Template:Transliteration as Korea's ancient tradition gaining acceptance among growing numbers of educated South Koreans.Template:Sfn In 1962, South Korea had introduced a Cultural Properties Protection Law that recognised performing arts as intangible cultural heritage; some folklorists used this to help defend the Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn In the latter part of the 20th century, the Template:Transliteration rituals were increasingly revived as a form of theatrical performance linked to cultural conservation and tourism.Template:Sfn From the 1980s onward, South Korea's government designated certain Template:Transliteration as Human Cultural Treasures.Template:Sfn One of the best-known examples was Kim Geum-hwa, who from the 1980s performed for foreign anthropologists, toured Western countries, and appeared in documentaries.Template:Sfnm Reflecting the view of Template:Transliteration as an important part of Korea's cultural heritage, a Template:Transliteration was depicted on a South Korean postage stamp while Template:Transliteration elements were included at the Seoul 1988 Olympic Arts Festival and the 1988 inauguration of President Roh Tae-woo.Template:Sfnm Paintings of Template:Transliteration deities became increasingly collectable in the 1980s and 1990s.Template:Sfn
The Template:Transliteration were often regarded favorably within South Korea's Template:Transliteration (Popular Culture Movement) pro-democracy campaign from the 1970s; several Template:Transliteration were active in the movement and became emblematic of its struggle.Template:Sfnm Advocacy groups were also formed to advance the cause of the Template:Transliteration,Template:Sfn keen to present the tradition as lying at the heart of Korean culture,Template:Sfn while the 1980s also saw Template:Transliteration begin to write books about themselves.Template:Sfn Template:Transliteration also adapted to new technologies; from the 1990s they increasingly used the Internet to advertise their services,Template:Sfn while portrayals of Template:Transliteration became widespread on South Korean television in the 2010s.Template:Sfn This increasing cultural visibility improved the Template:Transliteration social image.Template:Sfn
Since the early 19th century, a number of movements of revitalization or innovation of traditional Korean shamanism arose. They are characterized by an organized structure, a codified doctrine, and a body of scriptural texts. They may be grouped into three major families: the family of Daejongism or Dangunism, the Donghak-originated movements (including Cheondoism and Suunism), and the family of Jeungsanism (including Jeung San Do, Daesun Jinrihoe, the now-extinct Bocheonism, and many other sects).Template:Sfn
Demographics
Most Template:Transliteration are female,Template:Sfnm something that may connect to origin myths that present Template:Transliteration as first developing among women.Template:Sfn Approximately a fifth of Template:Transliteration are male,Template:Sfn although the latter are proportionately over-represented in 21st-century media representations.Template:Sfn There is regional variation in these gender differences; on Jeju Island, there were more male than female Template:Transliteration prior to the 1950s, and proportions of male practitioners remain higher there than on the Korean mainland.Template:Sfn Template:Transliteration have conventionally belonged to the lowest social class;Template:Sfn Chongho Kim noted that most Template:Transliteration he encountered in the 1990s were both financially poor and had little formal education.Template:Sfn
Determining the number of Template:Transliteration is difficult.Template:Sfn In 1983, around 43,000 people were members Template:Transliteration unions,Template:Sfn while in the early 21st century, Sarfati estimated the number of Template:Transliteration at being over 200,000.Template:Sfn Rather than being evenly distributed throughout South Korea, concentrations were higher in Seoul,Template:Sfn and on Jeju.Template:Sfn The number of Template:Transliteration as a whole does not appear to be decreasing,Template:Sfn although the hereditary Template:Transliteration, including the Jeju Template:Transliteration, are "in steep decline".Template:Sfn Template:Transliteration is not recorded in the South Korean census because the government does not regard adherence to it as being akin to identifying as a Christian or a Buddhist.Template:Sfnm A late 20th-century survey by the Korean Gallup Research Institute indicated that 38 percent of the adult population of South Korea had used a Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn In North Korea, according to demographic analyses by Religious Intelligence, approximately 16 percent of the population practises "traditional ethnic" religion.[5]
Since at least the 20th century, Template:Transliteration have travelled abroad to perform rituals;Template:Sfn many for instance serve clients in Japan's Korean minority.Template:Sfnm There are also Template:Transliteration in Europe,Template:Sfn and a small number of non-Koreans have become Template:Transliteration; a 2007 documentary covered the story of a German Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Kendall noted the existence of one Template:Transliteration living outside Korea who was promoting their teachings through New Age-style workshops.Template:Sfn
Reception
Template:Transliteration has been suppressed throughout Korean history under a succession of dominant ideologies including Confucianism, Japanese colonialism, and Christianity.Template:Sfn At the start of the 21st century, the Template:Transliteration remained widely stigmatized in South Korean society, facing widespread prejudice.Template:Sfnm In 2021, Sarfati observed that while the religion was "still stigmatized", it was experiencing "growing acceptance" in South Korea.Template:Sfn
The religion's critics often regard Template:Transliteration as swindlers,Template:Sfnm people who manipulate the gullible.Template:Sfn Critics regularly focus their critique on the large sums of money that the Template:Transliteration charge,Template:Sfn and maintain that the expenses required for its rituals are wasteful.Template:Sfn Critics have also accused Template:Transliteration of disrupting the civil order with their rituals.Template:Sfn Kendall noted that there was a "generally adversarial relationship" between Template:Transliteration and Protestants in South Korea,Template:Sfn the latter regarding Template:Transliteration as "Devil worship",Template:Sfn although there are also Protestants who have commissioned Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Mainline Protestant theologians have sometimes blamed Template:Transliteration for predisposing Koreans to Pentecostalism and the idea that prayer can generate financial reward.Template:Sfnm Christians have sometimes harassed Template:Transliteration at their places of work or during their ceremonies,Template:Sfnm something which Template:Transliteration regard as religious discrimination.Template:Sfn
Template:Transliteration began appearing in South Korean film in the 1960s.Template:Sfn Early portrayals in the 1960s and 1970s generally showed them as harmful, frightening, and anti-modern figures, as in Ssal (1963), Munyŏdo (1972) and Iŏdo (1977).Template:Sfn From the mid-2000s, films increasingly portrayed them as members of a living tradition situated in modern urban environments, as in Ch'ŏngham Posal (2009) and Paksu Kŏndal (2013).Template:Sfn The 2000s also saw several successful documentaries about Template:Transliteration appear in Korean cinemas,Template:Sfn as well as increasing appearances of Template:Transliteration on Korean television.Template:Sfn Korean artists who have cited Template:Transliteration rituals as an influence on their work include Nam June Paik, who recreated an exorcism Template:Transliteration for several performances from the late 1970s.Template:Sfn Template:Transliteration has also been presented in museums, although often with emphasis placed on its folkloric and aesthetic value rather than its role as a religious practice.Template:Sfn South Korea's government often embrace Template:Transliteration as a traditional performing artform, but marginalise its religious function.Template:Sfn
Template:Transliteration has influenced some Korean new religions, such as Cheondoism and Jeungsanism, and some Christian churches in Korea [[Religious syncretism|make use of practices rooted in Template:Transliteration]].[6]
See also
- Asian witchcraft
- Gasin faith
- Korean folklore
- Korean numismatic charm
- Korean traditional festivals
- Jongmyo jerye
- Religion in Korea
- Samgong bon-puri
- Taoism in Korea
References
Citations
Sources
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- ↑ "신뿌리"; <초공본풀이>에서 그러했기 때문이라는 답" Template:Harvp
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