KOREAN SHAMANISM: INTERMIXING IDENTITIES
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WHAT IS SHAMANISM?
SHAMANISM IS KNOWN TO BE ONE OF THE EARLIEST FORMS OF SPIRITUAL PRACTICE IN THE WORLD. IT IS WIDELY PRACTICED IN PLACES LIKE SIBERIA, KOREA, MONGOLIA, AND TURTLE ISLAND (“U.S”) (THERE ARE MANY MORE). RATHER THAN AN ORGANIZED OR FORMALIZED RELIGION, SHAMANISM IS A BROAD PRACTICE THAT MANY CULTURES HONOR AND WORSHIP DIFFERENTLY.
ITS DEEP AND RICH ROOTS OF DIVINE INTERRELATION TO OUTSIDE, INVISIBLE FORCES CAN BE EXPRESSED AND PORTRAYED IN VARIOUS FORMS.
WHO ARE SHAMANS?
SHAMANS ARE DEFINED AS HEALERS WHO ARE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH NATURAL SPIRITS AND PAST ANCESTORS. THEY ACHIEVE NEW STATES OF REALITY THROUGH RITUALS AND SPIRITUAL PRACTICE. MANY HAVE SPECIFIC WORDS FOR THEIR SHAMANS AS WELL. BECOMING A SHAMAN CAN BE A MULTIGENERATIONAL EXPERIENCE/PRACTICE, AND MANY ARE CALLED THROUGH PERSONAL REVELATIONS OF SPIRITS AND GHOSTS.
WESTERN VIEW OF SHAMANISM AND INDIGENOUS ANCESTRAL RELIGIONS.
‘NORTH AMERICA’ WAS BUILT UPON THE FLAMES OF SOCIAL STRATIFICATION, NATIONALISM, INDIVIDUALISM, PATRIARCHAL CIS-GENDER ROLES, WARFARE, AND GENOCIDE.
THE IMPACT OF “COLONIZER VERSUS COLONIZED” IS ROOTED IN THE FACT THAT THE TERM COLONIZE IS A PART OF BOTH GROUPS’ IDENTITY (EVEN THOUGH THE TERM “COLONIZED” SHOULD NOT SOLELY CLASSIFY ONE’S EXISTENCE). THROUGH COLONIALISM, NON-EUROPEAN PEOPLE WERE/ARE NEVER CONSIDERED AS ‘PEOPLE.’ THEIR CULTURES AND TRADITIONS WERE/ARE LABELED AS “UNCIVILIZED,” “DIRTY,” AND “DANGEROUS.”
THIS PRO-CIVILIZATION IDEOLOGY SUPPORTS THE IDEA THAT SOCIETY CAN ONLY FUNCTION WITH ORGANIZED SETS OF RULES AND SYSTEMS (INCLUDING RELIGIONS). THROUGHOUT HISTORY, WHITE IMPERIALISTS HAVE CONTINUOUSLY ATTEMPTED TO ‘WESTERNIZE’ AND ‘CHRISTIANIZE’ COUNTRIES BY FORCING ASSIMILATION AND IMPOSING “CIVILIZED” ETHICS. THIS CAUSES MANY TO VIEW SHAMANISM IN A NEGATIVE LIGHT, SAYING THAT IT IS “DEMONIC” OR “ARCHAIC.” (WHITE “ENVIRONMENTALIST” LIBERALS ALSO CRITICIZE IT BECAUSE MANY SHAMANIC RITUALS HISTORICALLY USED/USE ANIMAL SACRIFICES TO CONNECT TO ANCESTORS AND SPIRITS.)
KOREAN SHAMANISM
MANY ASSUME THAT CONFUCIANISM AND BUDDHISM ARE THE DRIVING FACTORS INTO KOREANS SOCIAL, PHILOSOPHICAL, AND SPIRITUAL BELIEFS, BUT OFTEN FORGET ABOUT THEIR ORIGINAL ETHNIC/FOLK RELIGION, MUISM (ALSO KNOWN AS KOREAN SHAMANISM).
IT HAS BEEN PRACTICED FROM PREHISTORIC TIMES IN KOREA ALL THE WAY TO TODAY. SINCE KOREAN SHAMANISM WAS HERE BEFORE CHRISTIANITY OR BUDDHISM, (SINCE IT IS THE INDIGENOUS RELIGION OF KOREA) SOME BELIEVE THAT IT IS A WAY OF CONNECTING THE ‘TWO’ KOREAS INTO ONE. BECAUSE IN REALITY, BOTH NORTH AND SOUTH KOREANS SHARED HISTORIES AND EXPERIENCES AS ONE COUNTRY BEFORE FOREIGN PARTIES (LIKE THE U.S.) SEPARATED THEM BECAUSE OF THEIR FASCIST, ANTI COMMUNIST IDEALS. WITH UNEXPLAINABLE SUFFERING AFTER THE DIVISION OF KOREA, 한 (HAN) HAS BEEN FUELED INTO A SOURCE OF POWER INTO PERFORMING SHAMANIC RITUALS.
(CREDIT: JEJUTOURISM.WORDPRESS.COM 2017)
THERE ARE ALSO DISTINCT WAYS PEOPLE PRACTICE KOREAN SHAMANISM IN 제주도 [JEJU-DO].
(CREDIT: A LOOK AT KOREAN SHAMANISM; 2009 BY: CAROL DUSSERE)
굿 (OR KUT) IS A RITUAL WHERE A SHAMAN/MUDANG SINGS, CHANTS, DANCES, AND PLAYS THE (BUK) DRUMS AND 방을 (BANGEUL.) (WITH EACH 굿 THEY WEAR SPECIFIC UNIFORMS FOR THAT RITUAL.) THEY BECOME POSSESSED BY A SPIRIT WHICH THEN ALLOWS THEM TO COMMUNICATE AND CONNECT TO OTHER ALTERNATE REALITIES LIKE NATURAL GHOSTS AND ANCESTORS.
(CREDIT: HTTP://SHAMANISM.SGARRIGUES.NET PICTURES)
부적 (OR TALISMAN) IS MADE FROM PARTICULAR INK AND LIGHTWEIGHT PAPER. THE BUJEOK HAS DIFFERENT SYMBOLS AND LETTERS DRAWN OUT ACCORDING TO IF SOMEONE WANTS TO WARD OFF EVIL ENERGIES, BEAR CHILDREN, OR BRING IN GOOD FORTUNE. (SHAMANS ALSO MUST GO THROUGH A PURIFICATION PROCESS TO ENSURE NO NEGATIVE ENERGIES ENTER THE CERTAIN BUJEOK.)
(CREDIT: HOMER WILLIAMS; PHOTOGRAPHER)
AN OFFERING TABLE
ARE SECLUDED AREAS FOR SHAMANISM A GOOD THING?
SINCE SHAMANISM IS FOCUSED ON CONNECTING TO NATURAL BEINGS AND BEING SURROUNDED IN SERENE AND SECLUDED PLACES, IT MAY BE OBVIOUS THAT MUISM SHOULD ONLY BE PRACTICED IN THE RURAL PARTS OF KOREA (BASICALLY NOT THE WEALTHY AREAS OF SEOUL). BUT A FEW ARGUE OTHERWISE. IN ORDER TO NORMALIZE SHAMANISM INTO THE DAILY PART OF “MODERN DAY” KOREAN CULTURE, SOME SAY IT NEEDS TO BE MORE ACCESSIBLE TO PRACTICE/WORSHIP ALL THROUGHOUT THE PENINSULA.
THE POWER OF 한 (HAN)
한 IS KNOWN TO BE ONE OF THE MOST SACRED, UNIQUE FEELINGS BETWEEN (SPECIFICALLY/ONLY) KOREANS. THIS WORD CANNOT BE TRANSLATED NOR UNDERSTOOD IN ENGLISH (OR ANY OTHER LANGUAGE). IN THE SIMPLEST DEFINITION, HAN IS SAID TO BE “KOREAN RAGE.” THE DEEP FEELING OF INJUSTICE, OPPRESSION, ANGER, AND SORROW HAS SHAPED THE KOREAN IDENTITY. THIS WORD SYMBOLIZES THE NEVER ENDING PAIN OF THE DIVISION BETWEEN THE ‘TWO’ KOREAS, THE TRAUMA OF FOREIGN COLONIZATION AND IMPERIALISM, AND THE INTERGENERATIONAL RAGE THAT IS PASSED DOWN THROUGH GENERATIONS.
한 IS USED TO CONNECT WITH PAST ANCESTORS, 한 IS REVEALED THROUGH THE SHAMAN’S EXTRAVAGANT DANCES, 한 IS KOREAN SHAMANISM.
HOW WESTERN IMPERIALISM HAS INFILTRATED KOREAN SHAMANISM
AS MODERNIZATION AND GLOBALIZATION SUBMERGED ITSELF INTO KOREAN “CULTURE,” MANY OF THE YOUTH HAVE BECOME NAIVE OF THEIR OWN KOREAN IDENTITY. THE OBSESSION OF WESTERN VALIDATION AND APPROVAL HAS THUS MADE (AT LEAST HIGHER INCOME, CITY LIVING) KOREANS TO EUROPEANIZE THEIR CONCEPT OF WHAT THEIR CULTURE MEANS TO THEM. THIS SUPPORTS THE ISSUE THAT THEY WANT TO SELECTIVELY REPRESENT THEIR TRADITIONAL PRACTICES IN “PRESENTABLE” WAYS— THEREFORE STRIVING TO ATTRACT TOURISM THROUGH “AESTHETIC” POP CULTURE INSTEAD OF CENTURIES WORTH OF ETHICS AND CUSTOMS.
MANY MODERN DAY PEOPLE IN KOREA THINK OF MUISM AS PRIMITIVE OR SHAMEFUL. THIS HUMILIATION IS RELATED TO THE EFFECTS OF WESTERN EXPANSIONISM AND DOMESTICATION. THE COLONIZER’S CAPTIVATION FOR “TAMING” THE HUMAN SPECIES TO BE “POLISHED” OR “WELL MANNERED” IS EMBEDDED IN COLONIALISM AND IMPERIALISM. ACCORDING TO SCIELO.ORG.ZA, IT IS SAID THAT “WESTERN CIVILIZATION, CHRISTIANITY, COMMERCE AND COLONIZATION [ARE] BELIEVED TO BE INSEPARABLE.” CONSEQUENTLY, COLONIALISM AND CHRISTIANITY PLAY THE SAME ROLES IN ERADICATING, DIMINISHING, AND ERASING NON-EUROPEAN RELIGIONS, VALUES, AND CULTURE.
WITH ‘CANADIAN’ AND EUROPEAN MISSIONARIES COMING TO KOREA DURING THE 1950’S KOREAN WAR, THEY BUILT THIS FALSE SENSE OF ALLIANCE (JUST LIKE THE ‘U.S.’) TO REFUGEES AND PEOPLE. HENCE, MANY STILL BELIEVE THAT THE FOREIGN WESTERN INTERVENTION IN KOREA WAS AN ACT OF HEROISM AND BRAVERY WHEN IT WAS REALLY A FACADE TO BREAK THE PENINSULA INTO HALVES.
THUS, THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT THE KOREAN YOUTH HAS THE IDEA THAT SHAMANISM IS INFERIOR AND OUTLANDISH DUE TO THE IDEAS OF EUROCENTRIC, CIVILIZED SUPERIORITY THAT WAS ROOTED FOR GENERATIONS AFTER WHITE IMPERIALISM.
TO UNIFY
I BELIEVE THAT IF WE AS KOREAN DIASPORAS RECALL OUR CONNECTED PAST AND FIGHT TO MEND OUR TORN HISTORY, WE CAN ALL LOOK FOR A FUTURE THAT DOES NOT DIVIDE AT THE 38TH PARALLEL OF “NORTH” AND “SOUTH”— RATHER, MOVE FORWARD TO RECOGNIZE THE AUTHENTICALLY TRUE, NEVER FORGOTTEN KOREA, AS ONE.
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HONORABLE SITES AND SOURCES
-CAROLDUSSERE.COM (TURNING EAST)
-JEJUTOURISM.WORDPRESS.COM
-ETHNOSCOPES.BLOGSPOT.COM
WWW.CBC.COM (KOREAN HAN)
https://blogs.transparent.com/korean/kut-%ea%b5%bf/embed/#?secret=lXumnyz8e3#?secret=SIluoOR771
SCIELO.ORG.ZA
VIDEO OF 굿: SHAMAN OF KOREA, 숭례문 화재 49재 – 김혜숙만신 황해도굿 중 상산맞이
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(THIS BLOG WAS PUBLISHED ON JULY 29, 2021.)
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