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- The Spirit of Korean Cultural Roots @ Choi Joon-sik Ewha Womans University Press
-The Spirit of Korean Cultural Roots @
Choi Joon-sik
Ewha Womans University Press
Table of Contents
~ Q en rt o :3 en
s·
Foreword
I. Mugyo (Korean Shamanism)
1. What Does Mugtjo Mean to Koreans?
2. Theory of MlIgyo
3. TIle Social Function of Gut
4. Korean Culture and Mugyo
~ (i1 II. Household Religion po
1. Ancestral Worship and Jesn
2. Preparing a Chnrye
3.Sije
4
15
21
37
49
67
75
77
4. The Social and Religious FWKtion of Jesa and Its Future 81
5. Belief in House Spirits 89
10 I Fo lk-re li g ion: The Customs in Korea
ill . Local Rites and Village Ceremonies 1. Seona/lgdang, Where the Village Gut Take Place
2. How the ViUage Gilt A re Carried Out
3. An Example of Vil lage Gut: One Pe rformed
a t Soras il Vi ll age in Gongju City
4. The Social Function of Village Gut
Conclusion
Index
Table of Contents I
105
123
127
135
144
148
II
Portrait of Dangun MokA Museum
14 -----I --FOlk-re li giO-n: The Customs in Korea
1 What Does Mugyo Mean to Koreans?
MugtjO (Korean Shamanism) has long exerted a very sh'ong influence
on the Korean people, and it still does. Among academics, it is common
to say that Dangun, a mythical or legendmy king who is believed to have
fOlmded the first Koreml Kingdom, was himself a Shaman. Since he was
certainly the ruler of a theocratic society, such a theory does not seem to
miss the mark Thus having historically established its sh'ength, the force
of Mugyo has never loosened its grip over Korean minds since then.
During the Silla and Goryeo Dynasty periods (from around the 1st centu
ry until 1392), KoreallS adopted Buddhism as their state religion. But tol
erance for other forms of beliefs is a hallmark of Buddhism, and there
fore Mugtjo saw little difficulty in expanding its influence. The situation
changed in the early 15th century as the new Joseon Dynasty adopted
Neo-Confucianism as its governing ideology and began to oppress other
forms of belief. To the ruling elites who posed themselves as serious students of reason and philosophy, Shamanism and the mudang who prac
tice it embodied everything that they abhorred. They cast doubt upon the
mudang's ability to communicate with spirits, despised their activity as a
blind pursuit for worldly happiness and detested, above all , the
mudang' s manipulation of passions and low appetites at the expense of
reason. Their negative attitude soon found its expression in a policy of
relentless oppression; they demoted the status of all mudang to social out
casts and levied heavy taxes on their practices. Despite these hostile policies, they didn't succeed in debilitating the mudang's influence on the
~ f:11M .. "\ l::.at
,"
Divination sign Kim Hongdo. Joseon period, National Museum of Korea
16 Folk-re ligion: The Customs in Korea
