Observations placeholder
Concept - Korean mystic shamanism – Sacrifice
Identifier
027139
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Korean Shamanist Ritual - Symbols and Dramas of Transformation - Daniel Kister
It may serve as a sign that in ratifying the gods' choice of the new shaman by the performance of the Naerim-kut, the community unconsciously sets the shaman apart as a kind of sacrificial offering ensuring communion with the gods.
Confucianists and Christians have regularly relegated shamans to an inferior status; but the kut, community, too, while respecting the powers of the mudang, has traditionally kept her set apart in a marginal social role.
Is this somehow necessary to maintain her significance to the community as a sacrificial sign? If a mudang should achieve normal social status, would her sign value diminish?
In any case, what Daurs say of their shamans applies to the Korean mudang: "It is impossible to become a shaman by your own wish"
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Officiant: What will you become?
Initiate: I will become the people's mudang.
Officiant: What will you do as the people's mudang?
Initiate: I will live for those who are mistreated and victimized, for those suffering pain, and for those who feel anxious and oppressed.
(Quoted from Kim I. 1986:40)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The source of the experience
Korean mystic shamanismConcepts, symbols and science items
Concepts
SacrificeSymbols
SacrificeScience Items
Activities and commonsteps
Activities
Commonsteps
References
Hoppal, Mihaly 1992. "Pain in Shamanic Initiation." studies on Shamanism. Ed. Anna Leena Siikala and Mihaly Hoppal. Helsinki: Finnish Anthropological Society.