#jangseung

교포귀신굿 / Gyopo Gwisin Gut

(a sendoff for Koreans who perish abroad)

Soorisoori Mahasoori 수리수리 마하수리

The Song of Byeongangsoe (변강쇠가) is an endangered, nearly forgotten pansori (folk musical), banned or heavily censored in contemporary times for its lewd and grotesque themes. The titular character 변강쇠 is a wandering womanizer who perishes from the afflictions of a thousand maladies after callously chopping down a sacred jangseung (totem) for firewood, incurring the wrath of supernatural forces and ancestral spirits. His wife 옹녀 Ong-nyeo (the cursed seductress and notorious widow-maker) seeks a path of redemption, but only brings more despair and destruction to every village she visits and each man she beguiles.

Our Elders Enshrine the Ancestors as Jangseung and Dol Hareubang

the jangseung 장승 totem poles of Korea and the dol hareubang 돌 하르방 lava rock statues of Jeju are village guardians carved into humorous and terrifying caricatures of grandparents or folk deities. They are often placed on the outskirts of town near the sinmok 신목, a sacred tree (usually a zelkova serrata, Korean pine, or ginkgo biloba) with a sotdae 솟대 (carved duck on a pole) pointing away from the village to ward off ill-fortune, disease, and unwanted visitors.