In all cultures across the world, funerary rites and traditions are very important once someone has died. In Korea, from antiquity to today’s contemporary society, the rites associated with death and funerals make up a very important element. This article will discuss the funerary rites surrounding the concept of ancestral belief in Korea.
In Korea, when a person is just about to die, he is taken to the warmer part of the house and into his deathbed. He is then dressed into a clean cloth called ch'ongo chongch’im and his family gather at his side. The Koreans believe that the time and place are important in the afterlife, just as the date and time of birth are important during a person's lifetime, and they go to great lengths to determine these as accurately as possible. If the dying individual has any last words, it is the child’s duty to record these.
Once the individual has died, all ornaments from the body are removed, the hair is loosened and the family weeps for the death of their loved one. One of the family members will then take the white upper garment that the deceased was wearing and then, facing north, climb onto the roof of the house. They will call out the name of the deceased in a loud voice, followed by the word ‘pok’ (which literally means ‘return’). After calling out in this way, they will pull the white cloth up onto the roof. This ritual is known as the “ko bok”, the calling back the spirit of the dead.
After this rite has been completed, the family will then prepare a feast for the messengers (saja) who will escort the deceased to the other side. Traditionally, this meal consists of three bowls of rice, vegetables, soy sauce, money and three pairs of straw shoes. It is positioned either in the middle area of the inside garden or outside the main gate of the house of the deceased.
The body of the deceased is then moved from his deathbed and onto a board known as the chilsong-p’an. The board “is the board of the deity of the seven stars, who controls the life of men”. The head is turned to the north and the thumbs are tied together with string, as are the two big toes. One of the children will then put on one sleeve of the upper garment – the right side if the deceased was his father, the left side if his mother. “A person experienced in these matters will make a spirit, called the honbaek with string or paper. If string is used three strings of different colours will be knotted together in a fixed form, and if the material is paper it will be a white paper folded in a fixed form. This knot, or folded paper as the case may be, is placed in a small box called the honbaek box, or “spirit box."
The word "hon" refers to the spirit or soul, and “baek" has the same meaning. Sometimes one of these words will be dropped, with either "hon" or "baek" appearing alone, and sometimes both words are used”.
The most important ritual is that of washing the body, known as “sup”. One of the mourners will bring a bowl of warm water mixed with mugwort or juniper and while either two or four people hold the corners of a blanket covering the deceased, the body is washed thoroughly with a piece of cotton or cloth soaked in the warm water. After this, the hair and fingernails will be cut and placed into four small bags known as choballang that are later placed into the coffin.
The deceased is then dressed in his funeral clothes. The person who is performing this rite will put “wet rice to the mouth of the deceased with a willow spoon, saying loudly, "a hundred sacks of rice" at the first spoonful to be held up, "a thousand sacks of rice" with the second spoon and "ten thousand sacks of rice" with the third”. After this a coin will be placed into their mouth. The body is then bound in a a long cloth known as yom. Relatives and friends of the deceased will place money into the twisted sections of the yom as it is believed that the paper money will be used when the deceased passes through the twelve gates of the otherworld.
The body is finally placed into his coffin and is covered with coverlets. “The corpse is laid on top of one of these, called the "coverlet of earth," and is covered with another, called the " coverlet of heaven." The deceased's old clothes will be put into the coffin next to the head and legs to fill the empty spaces. When the cover of the coffin is nailed down with wooden nails the offspring will weep loudly. The coffin itself is now bound with a straw rope around its upper, middle and lower parts”.
The last rite that is practiced is done when the coffin is taken out of the room. Four men will take the coffin and shake it slowly up and down toward the four corners of the room. When it is taken from the room a gourd will be destroyed in front of it, in the attempt to drive away evil spirits.
There are a number of different rites and rituals that are practiced in Korea when someone has died. The ritual of washing the body is the most important, as it is a rite of purification, cleaning the polluted body whereas the act of binding is one that symbolises separation. These rites have been practiced for generations and continue to be practiced, for it is believed that they will aid the spirit of the deceased to pass through the twelve gates of the otherworld and arrive in heaven.
Bibliography:
Lee, Kwang Kyu (1984) The Concept of Ancestors and Ancestor Worship in Korea, Asian Folklore Studies, Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture.
Showing posts with label Korea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Korea. Show all posts
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Thursday, March 03, 2011
A History of Ancestral Worship in Asia
Religions have shaped the lives of people for countless centuries; not only have they explained the natural occurrences that happened around us, but they have comforted us in our darkest times and given us hope. Religion has also played a dramatic role in art, literature and politics.
Throughout history, a vast array of religious beliefs have emerged to affect people and nations; some of these religions have disappeared entirely, some have disappeared only to be re-introduced with some variations, and some have stood the test of times. Today, the main religions are Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Paganism.
In Asia, a number of religions have emerged in her long history. One of the earliest belief systems was that of ancestral worship. In countries such as Korea, China and Japan, ritual services for ancestor worship have been practiced for centuries and still play an important role in traditional village life. It was not only in the family home that this belief system had influence; the reverence of one’s ancestors had considerable repercussions on political forms. Although ancestral worship was practiced throughout Asia, there were several differences on how each country worshipped.
In China, ancestor worship was modelled on Confucian ideals; the philosophy of Confucianism consists of an exceptionally organized, hierarchical establishment within the social order in which the family was the basis of social stability. The reverence for one’s ancestors and propitiation of their spirits had been practiced before the Shang Dynasty, although it was not believed that many ancestors were thought to survive into the spirit world. It was most likely thought that only the spirits of important people would be lucky enough to survive.
After the Warring States Period (475 – 221 BCE), Chinese society became more complex and there were distinct differences between how the common people was treated from the nobility. For instance, the nobility were not subject to punishments such as mutilation that were inflicted on commoners. In addition, it was only the nobly born that could participate in the cults which were the heart of the Chinese notion of kinship. Only the nobility belonged to a family, which meant that only they had ancestors.
The patriarchal heads of the families were considered to be the intermediaries between the mortal world and that of the spirit world as they held the authority over the household. A family was a ritually constructed social unit and was in itself a moral act, and the ability to do so successfully was a demonstration of the moral superiority of the family member. In time, these practices came to identify those people who were entitled to hold offices or possess land, especially those who led and ruled clans, as religious superiority was the heart of the ruling house’s claim to power.
We can see this when the Chou (otherwise known as Zhou) displaced the Shang – the idea was introduced that a god superior to the ancestral god of the dynasty and that from him there was derived a mandate to rule. Now, it was decreed by Chou, that the mandate was required to pass into other hands.
The Four Rituals (sili) of capping, marriage, funerals and ancestral sacrifice were the rituals that were practiced within the family. It was the last ritual that was of great importance. These sacrifices were made at the ancestral altar or temple (zongsi) at which these ancestral rites were conducted. As one scholar states, “Requiting one's progenitors for giving one birth is the first precondition for proper human conduct (rendao); collecting together as a lineage to worship one's founding ancestor is the usual and proper way to honour one's roots”.
However, since only the nobly born were considered to have ancestors, the common people turned to the worship of nature deities; the worship of the personifications of mountains and rivers were highly popular with commoners, although it should be stated that they received some attention from the nobility as well.
In Korea, ancestral worship had great influence on the lives of the everyday people and many performed rituals in order to pay respect to one’s ancestors. For example, a direct descendant must carry out such rituals eight times each year on the death remembrance days of all his ancestors from the fourth generation beyond that of his parents, as well as four other annually rituals performed on seasonal festivals and several rituals which are carried out at the graveyard.
In the Korean ancestral belief system, there are two types of spirits, namely the good or benign ancestor and the evil spirit or ghost. A spirit becomes either one of these spirits by the manner of their deaths. Evil spirits or ghosts are created when a person dies either by suicide or by an accident, usually outside the home, who then go on to haunt the world and perform malicious acts. A benevolent spirit was produced when someone died of natural causes in the home after a long life; the spirits of these individuals would then become the ancestor spirits who would protect their descendants and families.
Funerary rites are an important aspect in Korean ancestral worship. When a person is about to die in their homes, his family brings him to the warmer part of the home and placed on his deathbed. He is dressed in a clean cloth named ch'ongo chongch'im. The children of the person are required to watch their parents at the end and if they speak any last words, to write them down at the head of the deathbed.
Once the individual’s death is confirmed, all ornaments are removed from their heads and hands, then their hair is loosened and tears are shed. After this, a member of the family would take the cloth and go outside and climb onto the roof. Facing north, they call out the name of the deceased repeating the word ‘pok’ (which means ‘return’) and pulls up the garment onto the roof. This ritual is named kop ok, calling back the spirit of the dead.
Looking at the worship of one’s ancestors in Japan, there are some similarities and differences to that of China and Japan. In one village in Okinawa, it is believed that the patrilineal descent group (munchuu) should not die out or, if it does, that the house should not be demolished. If the house does fall down then the site should not be built upon by another family as it is taboo for anyone but patrilineal descendants to build a house on it.
Ancestor spirits (gwansu) who have no descendants to pay them homage are given extra ancestral tablets in the ancestral table often separated by a board from the tablets of the proper ancestors of the household. They are considered to be unhappy and restless spirits, known as the ‘cold ancestors’ (hijuru gwansu). An heir is often looked for them if possible as ancestors who lack a suitable heir are believed to be pitiful and dangerous, as well as abnormal and inappropriate.
For the Japanese, to revere one’s ancestors he is supposed to honour them by offering them prayers, incense, foods, etc. In return, his ancestors are expected to protect him. When an unmarried woman dies, she is worshipped by the patrilineal descendants of her family, but her ancestral status in her maternal household is nonessential. For a married woman, her bones are placed in the same urn as her husband’s, thus nearly obliterating her own identity. Her ancestral significance is totally dependent on that of her husband’s. After her thirty-third death anniversary is celebrated, she is only worshipped as the wife of her husband.
Ancestor worship has given Asia a religious belief system that has been individually adopted and adapted by each country and given it their own colourful stamp. When looking at this belief system in Asia, it is surprising to see the similarities between each country as well as the universal meaning and message behind the faith – that family is the most important thing in the world.
Bibliography:
Lee, Kwang Kyu (1984) The Concept of Ancestors and Ancestral worship in Korea, Asian Folklore Studies, Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture.
Masako, Tanaka (1977) Categories of Okinawan “Ancestors” and the Kinship System, Asian Folklore Studies, Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture.
Rowe, William T. (1998) Ancestral Rites and Political Authority in Late Imperial China: Chen Hongmou in Jiangxi, Modern China, Sage Publications Inc.
Throughout history, a vast array of religious beliefs have emerged to affect people and nations; some of these religions have disappeared entirely, some have disappeared only to be re-introduced with some variations, and some have stood the test of times. Today, the main religions are Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Paganism.
In Asia, a number of religions have emerged in her long history. One of the earliest belief systems was that of ancestral worship. In countries such as Korea, China and Japan, ritual services for ancestor worship have been practiced for centuries and still play an important role in traditional village life. It was not only in the family home that this belief system had influence; the reverence of one’s ancestors had considerable repercussions on political forms. Although ancestral worship was practiced throughout Asia, there were several differences on how each country worshipped.
In China, ancestor worship was modelled on Confucian ideals; the philosophy of Confucianism consists of an exceptionally organized, hierarchical establishment within the social order in which the family was the basis of social stability. The reverence for one’s ancestors and propitiation of their spirits had been practiced before the Shang Dynasty, although it was not believed that many ancestors were thought to survive into the spirit world. It was most likely thought that only the spirits of important people would be lucky enough to survive.
After the Warring States Period (475 – 221 BCE), Chinese society became more complex and there were distinct differences between how the common people was treated from the nobility. For instance, the nobility were not subject to punishments such as mutilation that were inflicted on commoners. In addition, it was only the nobly born that could participate in the cults which were the heart of the Chinese notion of kinship. Only the nobility belonged to a family, which meant that only they had ancestors.
The patriarchal heads of the families were considered to be the intermediaries between the mortal world and that of the spirit world as they held the authority over the household. A family was a ritually constructed social unit and was in itself a moral act, and the ability to do so successfully was a demonstration of the moral superiority of the family member. In time, these practices came to identify those people who were entitled to hold offices or possess land, especially those who led and ruled clans, as religious superiority was the heart of the ruling house’s claim to power.
We can see this when the Chou (otherwise known as Zhou) displaced the Shang – the idea was introduced that a god superior to the ancestral god of the dynasty and that from him there was derived a mandate to rule. Now, it was decreed by Chou, that the mandate was required to pass into other hands.
The Four Rituals (sili) of capping, marriage, funerals and ancestral sacrifice were the rituals that were practiced within the family. It was the last ritual that was of great importance. These sacrifices were made at the ancestral altar or temple (zongsi) at which these ancestral rites were conducted. As one scholar states, “Requiting one's progenitors for giving one birth is the first precondition for proper human conduct (rendao); collecting together as a lineage to worship one's founding ancestor is the usual and proper way to honour one's roots”.
However, since only the nobly born were considered to have ancestors, the common people turned to the worship of nature deities; the worship of the personifications of mountains and rivers were highly popular with commoners, although it should be stated that they received some attention from the nobility as well.
In Korea, ancestral worship had great influence on the lives of the everyday people and many performed rituals in order to pay respect to one’s ancestors. For example, a direct descendant must carry out such rituals eight times each year on the death remembrance days of all his ancestors from the fourth generation beyond that of his parents, as well as four other annually rituals performed on seasonal festivals and several rituals which are carried out at the graveyard.
In the Korean ancestral belief system, there are two types of spirits, namely the good or benign ancestor and the evil spirit or ghost. A spirit becomes either one of these spirits by the manner of their deaths. Evil spirits or ghosts are created when a person dies either by suicide or by an accident, usually outside the home, who then go on to haunt the world and perform malicious acts. A benevolent spirit was produced when someone died of natural causes in the home after a long life; the spirits of these individuals would then become the ancestor spirits who would protect their descendants and families.
Funerary rites are an important aspect in Korean ancestral worship. When a person is about to die in their homes, his family brings him to the warmer part of the home and placed on his deathbed. He is dressed in a clean cloth named ch'ongo chongch'im. The children of the person are required to watch their parents at the end and if they speak any last words, to write them down at the head of the deathbed.
Once the individual’s death is confirmed, all ornaments are removed from their heads and hands, then their hair is loosened and tears are shed. After this, a member of the family would take the cloth and go outside and climb onto the roof. Facing north, they call out the name of the deceased repeating the word ‘pok’ (which means ‘return’) and pulls up the garment onto the roof. This ritual is named kop ok, calling back the spirit of the dead.
Looking at the worship of one’s ancestors in Japan, there are some similarities and differences to that of China and Japan. In one village in Okinawa, it is believed that the patrilineal descent group (munchuu) should not die out or, if it does, that the house should not be demolished. If the house does fall down then the site should not be built upon by another family as it is taboo for anyone but patrilineal descendants to build a house on it.
Ancestor spirits (gwansu) who have no descendants to pay them homage are given extra ancestral tablets in the ancestral table often separated by a board from the tablets of the proper ancestors of the household. They are considered to be unhappy and restless spirits, known as the ‘cold ancestors’ (hijuru gwansu). An heir is often looked for them if possible as ancestors who lack a suitable heir are believed to be pitiful and dangerous, as well as abnormal and inappropriate.
For the Japanese, to revere one’s ancestors he is supposed to honour them by offering them prayers, incense, foods, etc. In return, his ancestors are expected to protect him. When an unmarried woman dies, she is worshipped by the patrilineal descendants of her family, but her ancestral status in her maternal household is nonessential. For a married woman, her bones are placed in the same urn as her husband’s, thus nearly obliterating her own identity. Her ancestral significance is totally dependent on that of her husband’s. After her thirty-third death anniversary is celebrated, she is only worshipped as the wife of her husband.
Ancestor worship has given Asia a religious belief system that has been individually adopted and adapted by each country and given it their own colourful stamp. When looking at this belief system in Asia, it is surprising to see the similarities between each country as well as the universal meaning and message behind the faith – that family is the most important thing in the world.
Bibliography:
Lee, Kwang Kyu (1984) The Concept of Ancestors and Ancestral worship in Korea, Asian Folklore Studies, Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture.
Masako, Tanaka (1977) Categories of Okinawan “Ancestors” and the Kinship System, Asian Folklore Studies, Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture.
Rowe, William T. (1998) Ancestral Rites and Political Authority in Late Imperial China: Chen Hongmou in Jiangxi, Modern China, Sage Publications Inc.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
An Overview on the Kingdom of Choson
Choson was an ancient Korean kingdom that was founded around 1392 CE and collapsed in 1897 (although some scholars say 1910). Throughout the five centuries it lasted, the kingdom of Choson was home to some of the most marvellous people and remarkable history.
The kingdom was founded by Yi Seong-gye who later called himself Taejo of Joseon (an alternative spelling of Choson). The previous dynasty, Goryeo, was collapsing due to two factions – one followed General Yi in supporting the new Ming Dynasty in China, the other preferred to stay loyal to the Mongolian Yuan dynasty. War broke out with General Yi victorious and placed king Gongyang on the throne. In 1392, Yi overthrew him, exiled him and claimed the throne for himself. The Choson kingdom was born.
Yi ordered political discrimination against northerners (despite the fact that he himself was a northerner). The aristocrats of the capital (and of the south) did not consider any northerners as equal to them, and thus no aristocrat resided in the north. “The absence of nobles in the north and the exclusion of northerners from higher office reinforced each other. Indeed, much of the northern territories securely became part of the Korean domain only with the onset of the Choson era, and the people of the north never gained acceptance into the ruling structure of the country. This fact heightens the sense of wonder at the northerners' indispensable contributions-intellectually, culturally, and politically-to the development of a collective national identity in the early twentieth century”.
Choson continued to experience strife in its early years and in the 16th century, Japan sent armies to invade Korea. The Japanese warlord, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, wanted to conquer Ming China and saw Choson as a stepping stone to achieve this. In 1592 and 1597, he sent armies to Korea and within months occupied large amounts of territories.
Choson was experiencing political divisions and the superior weaponry that the enemies used allowed the Japanese to gain this territory. However the tides turned with the use of the Korean navy who cut off the Japanese supplies and Ming China who backed the Koreans. The Japanese were expelled.
However, peace was not to last for long. Choson then experienced trouble with Manchuria. In 1627 and 1637, the Manchus invaded Korea and eventually defeated them. Ming China was coming to an end, with the Manchus ready to dispose of the Chinese rulers, and agreed to pay tribute to the founders of the Qing dynasty.
For the next 200 years, Choson experienced peace and tranquillity. But, yet again, invasions from Japan made sure it wasn’t to last. China and Japan fought for supremacy in what was later known as the Sino-Japanese War (1894 – 1895) which, for the most part, was fought on Korean soil. Empress Myeongseong was assassinated by the Japanese and the treaty Japan held with China after the Qing’s defeat ensured that Choson was independent from her.
In 1987 the Choson kingdom officially changed its name to Korea (this technically ends the Choson dynasty) but Emperor Gojong continued to rule. Japan continued to fight and in 1910, annexed Korea into its own empire.
Throughout the 500 years of rule, Choson experienced 27 rulers and a long period of outside influence. It was the last imperial dynasty of Korea and experienced the longest period of Confucianism. It is this dynasty that has had the most impact on modern Korean society today.
Bibliography:
Kim Haboush, Jahyun (1995) Filial Emotions and Filial Values: Changing Patterns in The Discourse of Filiality in Late Choson Korea, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Harvard-Yenching Institute.
The kingdom was founded by Yi Seong-gye who later called himself Taejo of Joseon (an alternative spelling of Choson). The previous dynasty, Goryeo, was collapsing due to two factions – one followed General Yi in supporting the new Ming Dynasty in China, the other preferred to stay loyal to the Mongolian Yuan dynasty. War broke out with General Yi victorious and placed king Gongyang on the throne. In 1392, Yi overthrew him, exiled him and claimed the throne for himself. The Choson kingdom was born.
Yi ordered political discrimination against northerners (despite the fact that he himself was a northerner). The aristocrats of the capital (and of the south) did not consider any northerners as equal to them, and thus no aristocrat resided in the north. “The absence of nobles in the north and the exclusion of northerners from higher office reinforced each other. Indeed, much of the northern territories securely became part of the Korean domain only with the onset of the Choson era, and the people of the north never gained acceptance into the ruling structure of the country. This fact heightens the sense of wonder at the northerners' indispensable contributions-intellectually, culturally, and politically-to the development of a collective national identity in the early twentieth century”.
Choson continued to experience strife in its early years and in the 16th century, Japan sent armies to invade Korea. The Japanese warlord, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, wanted to conquer Ming China and saw Choson as a stepping stone to achieve this. In 1592 and 1597, he sent armies to Korea and within months occupied large amounts of territories.
Choson was experiencing political divisions and the superior weaponry that the enemies used allowed the Japanese to gain this territory. However the tides turned with the use of the Korean navy who cut off the Japanese supplies and Ming China who backed the Koreans. The Japanese were expelled.
However, peace was not to last for long. Choson then experienced trouble with Manchuria. In 1627 and 1637, the Manchus invaded Korea and eventually defeated them. Ming China was coming to an end, with the Manchus ready to dispose of the Chinese rulers, and agreed to pay tribute to the founders of the Qing dynasty.
For the next 200 years, Choson experienced peace and tranquillity. But, yet again, invasions from Japan made sure it wasn’t to last. China and Japan fought for supremacy in what was later known as the Sino-Japanese War (1894 – 1895) which, for the most part, was fought on Korean soil. Empress Myeongseong was assassinated by the Japanese and the treaty Japan held with China after the Qing’s defeat ensured that Choson was independent from her.
In 1987 the Choson kingdom officially changed its name to Korea (this technically ends the Choson dynasty) but Emperor Gojong continued to rule. Japan continued to fight and in 1910, annexed Korea into its own empire.
Throughout the 500 years of rule, Choson experienced 27 rulers and a long period of outside influence. It was the last imperial dynasty of Korea and experienced the longest period of Confucianism. It is this dynasty that has had the most impact on modern Korean society today.
Bibliography:
Kim Haboush, Jahyun (1995) Filial Emotions and Filial Values: Changing Patterns in The Discourse of Filiality in Late Choson Korea, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Harvard-Yenching Institute.
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