Baekjuddo and Seochunguk’s eighteen sons are great mountain deities in their villages. These gods, the hunter lords of the mountain, are often paired with powerful goddesses. In some cases, these ‘couple gods’ or bubaegan/bubushin reside in seperate, but nearby shrines. Shamans lead rituals dedicated to these gods in lunar January, on the 14th day of…
Month: March 2019
A Guide to Shamanism on Jeju Island, Part Two: Post Five: The Banished Deity
A curious feature of bonhyang shrines, including those shrines dedicated to Baekjuddo and Seocheonguk’s sons, is the banished deity. Often, in Jeju Island’s shamanic shrines, one finds the male or female deity of a pair, to be banished to the far end of a shrine, or even from the shrine entirely. Take the case of…
A Guide to Shamanism on Jeju Island, Part Two: Post Three: The Myth of Baekjjudo and Seocheonguk
One of the most important myths on Jeju Island is the myth of Baekjjudo and Seocheonguk, the parents of the eighteen prominent mountain/ hunter gods—the gods we’ve been discussing so far. The myth, told in its entirety, tells not only of the fateful first encounter of the progenitorial couple, but of the generation prior to…
A Guide to Shamanism on Jeju Island, Part Two: Post Two: Baekjjudo, the Grandmother Goddess of Songdang Village
There is a village shrine, on the eastern side of Jeju Island, which is very significant in shrine cosmology. This is the shrine, situated in Songdang-ri, where the goddess Baekjuddo or Geumbaekju/Geumbaekjo resides. It is natural that we explore Jeju shrines starting here. Baekjuddo (ddo or tto signifies a particularly powerful deity) is the mother…
A Guide to Shamanism on Jeju Island, Part Two: Post One: The Shrine Gods
Let’s depart from the familial home and move out into the village. Now, we’ll look at the deities residing within shrines, the gods who make themselves available for healing, to receive prayer and issue blessings in each of Jeju’s villages. The history of each shamanic shrine is detailed. Each village has its own myths. Furthermore,…
Jeju Island’s Haenyo: A User’s Manual, Should I Stay or Should I go? Interview with a young person who left Jeju Island, Feminist Journalist R.L.
Should I stay or should I go? It’s a question virtually all the youth of Jeju Island have to ask themselves at some point. For many, especially academic achievers, to stay isn’t really an option. Good schools and opportunity lie elsewhere—the mainland or abroad. This is the second of a mini-installation of interviews in the Jeju Island’s Haenyo: A User’s Manual series of posts about the younger generation of Jeju women and their choices. I spoke with R.L., who is a twenty-eight year old journalist, writing for one of few South Korean publications that offer cultural criticism as a mainstay. R.L. talks…
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