Korean Shamanism - Important Terms

Mudang

Medium between Heaven and Earth
Spirit-possessed female messenger
dancing and singing priestess
wounded healer

Who is Tan'gun?

A mudant king from Siberia and Manchuria.

How were shamans treated during the Three Kingdoms period?

They were tolerated, but subordinated.

What was the stance of Koryǒ (916-1392) towards shamanism?

Shamanism was rejected by Buddhism, yet tolerated overall.

How did the Chosǒn (1392-1910) period affect shamanism?

Shamanism was oppressed by Neo-Confucianism.

What was the perception of shamanism during the Colonial period (1910-1945)?

It was stigmatized as Korean backwardness by the Japanese government.

What happened to shamanism during Pak Chunghee's rule (1961-79)?

It was destroyed as superstition by the 'New Village Movement.'

What role did the student movement in the 1980s play in shamanism?

It revived shamanism as part of national culture.

How has shamanism been perceived in the Urban and Global context since 1997?

It has become popular with neo-liberal capitalism.

Paksu

male shaman

P'ansu

male diviner and exorcist
Conducts exorcisms using Daoist scriptures

Chigwan

male geomancer

Kut Structure

Inviting the spirits
Appeasing the spirits (food, dance, communication, reconciliation, healing)
Sending the Spirits away

Naerim-kut

initiation of a mudang

Ch'ibyǒng-kut

healing of diseases

Chaesu-kut

Good fortune for business

Todang-kut

village ritual

Princess Pari Story

Father abandons 7th princess (Pari) to death
Pari volunteers to go to India to save her father from illness
After suffering, Pari becomes Daoist King's wife
Works as a miracle worker to save parents
Wounded healer - becomes a divine deity representing the dead

Chinogwi Kut

Invocation of the spirits
- ten kings of hell invoked
- Cathartic Ritual
Appeasement of spirits - perform myth of Princess Pari
- Karma
- virtuous wife (16 yrs) -> filial daughter -> religious god
Sending the Spirits
- Soul Sending - goes to Pure Land

Comfort Women

Military Prostitutes during Pacific War and Korean War
Were also military brides in the US, and sweat shop workers

Buddhist Posal

Old nuns who eagerly followed Buddha and tried to practice like him; attended temples with devotion

Shamanist Posal

Charismatic mudangs; often practiced divination and sought to get legitimate status

Posal Syncretism (Buddhist POV)

1. Buddhist shrine of the Mountain God
2. Buddhist and Shamanist shrine of the mountain god
3. Shamanist Shrine of the Mountain God

Posal Syncretism (Shamanist POV)

1. Title of "Posal" (instead of mudang)
2. Rebirth in the Paradise (place of ultimate joy)
3. Retaining exorcism and purification

Jeju Incident

attempted insurgency on the Korean province of Jeju Island which was followed by an anticommunist suppression campaign that lasted from April 3, 1948 until May 1949. The main cause for the rebellion was elections scheduled for May 10, 1948, designed by the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea (UNTCOK) to create a new government for all of Korea. The elections, however, were only planned for the south of the country, the half of the peninsula under UNTCOK control. Fearing the elections would further reinforce division, guerrilla fighters for the South Korean Labor party (SKLP) reacted violently, attacking local police and rightist youth groups stationed on Jeju Island Though atrocities were committed by both sides, the methods used by the South Korean government to suppress the rebels were especially cruel. On one occasion, American soldiers discovered the bodies of 97 people including children, killed by government forces. On another, American soldiers caught government police forces carrying out an execution of 76 villagers, including women and children

Remembering Jeju

Kut ceremonies initiated by women related in-law to remember the victims of the massacre

Max Weber

The Protestant Ethics and Spirit of Capitalism

- "Formal rationality" is simple means-ends rational calculation
- "Substantive rationality" is goal-oriented rational action