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...

Description complète

Enregistré dans:  
Détails bibliographiques
Publié dans:Shaman
Auteur principal: Schlottmann, Dirk (Auteur)
Type de support: Imprimé Article
Langue:Anglais
Vérifier la disponibilité: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
En cours de chargement...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Publié: Molnar & Kelemen Oriental Publ. 2019
Dans: Shaman
Année: 2019, Volume: 27, Numéro: 1/2, Pages: 65-96
Description
Résumé: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.
ISSN:1216-7827
Contient:Enthalten in: Shaman