The Korean Mudang The word shaman is used to describe many different kinds of people who may be trained, gifted, or possessed by spirits. Commonly though, a shaman is one who can go into a trance or other altered state, often by some means of overriding the ordinary senses such as dancing, retreating into a cave, or using hallucinogens. A shaman has the special skill of taking spirits into their own bodies, thus to control them or to be protected by them. During their trance states, shamans will often perform superhuman feats, such as walking on knives or hot coals without injury. The Korean shaman, or mudang, acts as a mediator between the real world and the spirit world. Most mudang are women, though there are a few men practitioners called paksu or paksu mudang. The mudang held a more respected place in society during the Three Kingdoms Period (57 BC - 676 AD) when they acted as advisors to kings. Once Chinese influence arrived in Korea in the form of Budhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, they began to be looked down on as mere superstition. Later, as the kings distanced themselves from the old ways, the royal women still relied on the mudang and they were sometimes employed by the government to pray for rain at times of drought. In the rural areas, mudangs still functioned traditionally in village festivals and other local rituals. During the early 20th century, folk religions were outlawed by the government, though the practices managed to survive to the present. There are two main types of mudang. Those who are possessed by the gods through their descent into the women's bodies are called mansin. The sesupmu are born into a family of traditional mudangs where they learn their skills from an early age and inherit their elders' positions. The possessed ones usually fall into an illness which can sometimes appear to be madness. The person then has to go through a ceremony called naerim-gut, where the spirit possessing them is named and its reasons for the possession are discovered before the spirit is banished. The person who was possessed may then choose to take instruction to become a shaman and learn to control these spirits for the benefit of others. The spirits invoked by Korean shamans range from a confusing pantheon of gods* to ghosts of households ancestors. Each village and household has it's own tutelary gods and there are spirits to be invoked or placated who inhabit places in nature such as rocks or trees, similar to the Roman numina. Some of these entities are benevolent, some not, but all of them can have an influence on the lives of the mudang's clients. It's the job of the mudang to find out which ones are causing whatever problem there is and to placate them to make the problem go away, or to ask the the appropriate ones for their help in obtaining some goal. The main ritual to accomplish this is a kut. The three main purposes of the kut are to bring good fortune, to cure illness, and to placate the souls of the dead. A kut is held at the house of the supplicant and involves a set sequence of drama, dance, and music. Usually, only women participate in this ritual. The mudang is the leader and invokes each appropriate spirit or ancestor in turn, often donning clothing to portray them through dance. The participants are expected to give each spirit money or food, and join the dancing at times. The mudang and her helpers sing long memorized songs called muda while others play music or beat drums. A kut can go on all day and all night. The gifts to the spirits are how the mudang makes her living. Since a kut is quite expensive and only performed on special occasions, a mudang will have regular clients for whom she acts as fortuneteller. She performs smaller rituals on the behalf of her clients, such as asking the gods for some small favor for them, or she might produce and sell amulets. It is customary for Korean women to visit their local mudang during the first two weeks of the new lunar year to get a prediction for the coming year and advice for each of her family members. The mudang uses a divination tray on which she has placed a mound of rice and some brass coins that either are or made to look like old Chinese money. She begins by ringing a brass bell to summon her spirits. The client places some paper money beneath the rice while the mudang chants and keeps ringing the bell. The mudang then tosses the coins and handfuls of the rice around on the tray and until she receives a message for each member of her client's family. Through this she is able to predict favorable or unfavorable months, warn against actions which may have dangerous results, and suggest rituals to ward off any potential problems. These warding rituals are usually performed on the fifteenth day of the new lunar year, when the first full moon signals the end of the new year holidays. *Explore the Korean pantheon Sources: Kendall, Laurel. Shamans, Housewives, and Other Restless Spirits. University of Hawaii Press, 1985. Walraven, Boudewijn. Songs of the Shaman. Kegan Paul International, 1994. wiki-Korean Shamanism Tour2Korea

Courtyard ~ Table of Contents ~ Tsubame Oshidori Tanchou Suzume Gosai Kiji Uguisu Mejiro Washi Mimizuko Orient ACTA 9-1-07 Orient GF ACTA Scribal Bio Orient ACTA 12-1-07 Orient ACTA 2-1-08 Naadam Suutei Tsai Beresee Airag Shimiin Arkhi Tsagaan Sar The Korean Mudang Orient ACTA 4-1-08 Orient ACTA 6-1-08