LBlast from the Past 17
Come Rain or Shine Rituals of Traditional Korea For the agrarian economy of traditional Korea, rainfall during the growing season was critical: too much or too little could spell ruin for the harvest and severe hardship for the population. Rituals for rain as well as for not too much rain were conducted to appease the gods and placate the people. In our Blast from the Past article for this issue, we resurrect an article that originally appeared in our September 2006 issue of the Gwangju News, an article penned by Prof. Shin Sang-soon (1922–2011) as “A Ritual for Rain/Shine” and now supplemented here with additional material. — Ed.
Rain Rituals
is, it was considered as the medium of communication between the Heavenly King and the earthly governor of a locale. Therefore, it was customary for anyone passing the pillar to first bow to it; a magistrate made a bow to the pillar daily before commencing with his work. As a somewhat similar rain ritual, when a region was suffering from a dry spell, the magistrate would take off his usual headpiece, kneel humbly before the pillar, and knock his head against the pillar until it bled. The bloodletting head-knocking signified finding a compassionate echo in the Heavenly King’s heart while the magistrate waited for his punishment for his lack of virtue or misgovernment. When a drought was severe, causing immeasurable agony to the people, it was considered to be the Heavenly King’s punishment for an unjustifiable death or a mortifying
Traditional rain ritual conducted by the village womenfolk. (gnedu.net)
July 2020
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www.gwangjunewsgic.com
When a nationwide spell of drought threatened his people, the Korean king himself presided over a ritual for rain. In cases of drought over local areas, the concerned local magistrate performed the task. An altar was set up on the top of a mountain and the magistrate ascended to the altar wearing rolled up trousers that exposed his calves. He raised his clasped hands in prayer to the Heavenly King, chanting an incantation for rain. Then, a hooded chastiser would appear with a cane and strike him on the calves until blood flowed from the wounds, symbolizing the removal of any ungodly character in addition to punishment for a weakness in virtue. Alternatively, a regional magistrate would lash his own calves with a leather whip until blood was drawn. The ritual could also be performed in the magistrate’s complex, in the Dong-heon (동헌, literally, “east building”), located in the direction of the sunrise. In the center of this office was the main pillar supporting the beam of the building. The pillar was called the “Heavenly Pillar” (cheonju, 천주), bearing a sacred function. That
blast from the past
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egend has it that in ancient China, Yu was made the son of the Heavenly King because he distinguished himself in governing the waters (chisu, 치수/治水). So, governing the mountains and rivers well was the most important job for the heavenly son, Cheonja (천자/天子) – that is, the ruler of the country. This age-old tale, indeed belief, permeated into early Korea, when agriculture was the sole means of production for the vast majority of the people, and fair weather was without a doubt the deciding factor for a good harvest. But natural phenomena are not always as fair as people wish them to be and are apt to be whimsical with prolonged rains or spells of drought. Faced with the people’s angst and anguish caused by the resulting natural disasters, rulers at every administrative level, from national or local, took responsibility for the severe weather conditions, blaming themselves for their own shortage of virtue.
6/25/2020 12:43:13 PM
