Dealing with Uncertainty: Hell Joseon and the Korean Shaman Rituals for Happiness and against Misfortune
Shamanism is still a popular form of spiritual-religious practice despite recent socioeconomic development in South Korea. The following essay examines the changes in jaesugut (ritual for happiness) and uhwangut (ritual against misfortune), both adapted to the demands of modern urban life. These adj...
| Published in: | Shaman |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Molnar & Kelemen Oriental Publ.
2019
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| In: |
Shaman
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| Summary: | Shamanism is still a popular form of spiritual-religious practice despite recent socioeconomic development in South Korea. The following essay examines the changes in jaesugut (ritual for happiness) and uhwangut (ritual against misfortune), both adapted to the demands of modern urban life. These adjustments are a response to social transformations and the resulting altered ideas of happiness and success. The emphasis on this worldly wish-fulfillment of Korean shamanism is a mirror of the zeitgeist and allows insights into people’s wishes, needs and worries. In addition, this investigation examines how shamans, clients and spirits address and discuss the causes of good and bad fortune during the rituals. The ritual is an endeavor to make sense of the human experience and creates a spiritual reconstruction of reality that aims to transform the participant’s negative emotions into meaningful experiences and to overcome crisis. Ritual efficacy is based on the competence of the shaman to act as a mediator between the human and supernatural worlds and to connect these spheres meaningfully and creatively with each other. The analysis of the rituals is the result of several years of field research in close collaboration with Korean shamans of the Hwanghaedo tradition in the area of Seoul. |
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| ISSN: | 1216-7827 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Shaman
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