The Korean shamanic tradition, the Mudang, has been around for many hundreds of years even though it has been persecuted and outlawed at times. The Mudang are mostly women and until very recently they were looked down on – in the same class as prostitutes, almost everyone went to them when in trouble. The Mudang receive a God into their bodies and then this spirit does the healing. Sometimes the Mudang also receive and embody the souls of dead people who have not been able to move on.
In the Korean view, the major reason why souls are incapable of moving on is that they have unresolved “Han”. Han is the name of an emotion we do not have in English. It is something like a combination of pain, suffering, rage, and a sense of injustice. It is not a desire for vengeance; there is another name for this in Korean. These excerpts show how dance and music can be used to dispel and resolve painful emotions.
Many of the Korean shamanic rituals, called “Gut”, are aimed at witnessing the Han of deceased peoples’ souls. These rituals often last several days, with intense music and dancing, and powerful emotion. Witnessing dance and song are the major ways that Han is released. These remarks are a crude oversimplification, but hopefully, enough to orient you to the videos that follow.
Click on the link or images below to view all videos, or scroll to read a short description of each.
The first video is of a modern dancer embodying and expressing the Han of those Koreans who died during the Japanese occupation. White is the traditional Korean funeral color. The white fluffy things the dancer picks up late in the dance are traditional shamanic implements used to help souls move on. The canisters that the people around are holding contain the remains of some of those who died. The men in red on the right, seen briefly, are Buddhist monks. The statue that the dancer hugs is a statue of one of those who died. The dancer puts on a costume partway through the dance; in a traditional Gut, the Mudang would often change costumes many times according to the stage of the ritual.
The second and third short video clips were shot with an iPhone. A woman had come to a Mudang after her mother’s death because she believed her mother’s spirit was troubled. The first clip is of the Mudang letting the mother’s spirit enter her. In the second clip, the Mudang, possessed by the mother’s spirit, calls her daughter over and hugs her with great emotion. This is a very short excerpt from a real Gut performed to witness and resolve the Han of the mother’s spirit.
The final video is also of a real Gut. It is vastly more formal. There is deep emotion inside those very controlled movements. The white scarf the Mudang dances with is a traditional part of these dances.
We can learn a great deal about relieving human suffering from these practices. Rather than reducing these, and similar ceremonies, to our Western diagnostic categories, we can expand our concept of healing.
Video 1 Title: 진짜 한풀이
Description:
일제 강제 징용으로 끌려가셨 다가 핏줄 하나없이 쓸쓸이 돌아가신 선조님33분을 1차로 모셔와 용산역에서 노제을 지내고2017년8월15일(광복절)날 광화문 광장에서 7대 종단및각단체가 참여 하여 추모를 올린다음 파주용미리 승화원에 모셨습니다 이제 고국에서 편히 쉬십시요..대경합장_()_
Video 2 – Part 1 Title: 우리기주 엄마의 한풀이 – No description
Video 3 – Part 2 Title: 우리기주 엄마의 한풀이2 – No description
Video 4 – Title: ♡한풀이~살풀이♡
Description:
“참회하고 각성하라!!!
화해하고 용서하라!!!
이해하고 존중하라!!!
소통하고 공감하라!!!
참여하고 조화되라!!!”
Featured image by Valery Rabchenyuk on Unsplash