You see throughout much of its history the nations inhabiting the Korean peninsula have been influenced by their neighbors in China. From tribute to their governing system to Korea's faithful payment of tribute for several hundred years a great deal of cultural exchange occurred including the importation of Confucianism and, later, Buddhism. But strangely Daoism never arrived on the scene. But, then again, on closer examination it might not be so strange. You see while Daosim did enjoy a brief time as an organized religion that was favored by the Imperial Chinese Court it was, has and always shall be, a much more populist tradition. Which is important for two reasons, the first is that it never became attached to the Court and second there was no easy way for Daoists to spread their beliefs.
To flesh those out a bit because of its structure and doctrine Confucianism was used to help support much of the later Chinese Dynasties bureaucratic system. Meaning that Confucian ideals were exported to countries closely under the sphere of Chinese influence, like Korea.
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| Poor man |
So with that out of the way what about Muism? Well I still don't know a lot about it yet but i am still investigating. Within Muism there is a group of people know as mudang who serve as the 'shamans' (whether or not Muism is shamanism at all is up for debate) and act as intermediaries, interpreters, and vessels for interaction between humans, spirits, gods, and a host of others.
However, there are two very interesting things about the mudang the first they almost all female and second it is not something you choose it choose you. At a certain point in someone's life they will become horrifically ill, struck down with a divine illness. This illness could go on for some time before the person begins to feel a sort of calling that must be answered or they will be drawn further and further into the sickness. And often times they have to answer the call in potentially the most epic ways.
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| One guy was bed ridden for days until he got up and climbed to the top of anearby mountain in the middle of blizzard. |
While the idea of a vocation is something I have encountered in my studies I have never run into something like this before. True I have heard that epileptics are more likely to have intense religious experiences and callings akin to these but there is no way that such a condition could be concentrated in Korea to such a degree that an entire popular religion was built to accommodate it. Or else every culture would have more classes of spiritually torn people who either literally have to make peace with a hast other worldly power or potentially die from the illness that comes with this calling and while I know many a person with a religious calling I have never seen them collapse in the street because of the intensity of its nature.
So I guess my next steps are to dive further down this rabbit hole and try and figure out why the mudang are this way? Why is it a mostly female class? Why are the visions so intense in nature? What are the gods like? And can you ever know you are going to be a mudang before it happens?
Till next time
Sources:
Grayson, James Huntley. Korea: A Religious History. New York: Routledge, 2002.
Walraven, B. C. A. 1983. Korean shamanism. Numen 30, no. 2: 240-264.
Walraven, Boudewijn. 2009. National pantheon, regional deities, personal spirits? mushindo, songsu, and the nature of korean shamanism. Asian Ethnology 68, no. 1: 55-80.
