Korean shamanism

Korean shamanism covers magic-religious rituals, both communal and private ones. In these rituals the focus is on both the shaman's (mudang) individual experience as well as on the shaman's hereditary abilities to contact the spirit world, inhabited by various shamanistic gods. With its history of some five thousand years, shamanism is the oldest belief system in Korea. The Koreans agree that their shamanistic tradition stems from Central Asia and is connected with the above-mentioned Northern Shamanistic Belt, connecting Korea with Central Asia, Siberia and northern Scandinavia. Although during certain periods shamanism has been regarded as a form of "low" folk culture, it has never completely disappeared in Korea. After the re-evaluation of Korean cultural identity in the mid-20th century, it was agreed that shamanism formed the earliest stratum of Korean culture. Nowadays shamanistic rituals are still part of everyday life, both in agrarian and more urban surroundings. The

In the summer of 1985 the Coordinator of the Fulbright Summer Seminar on Korean History and Culture and I met with Laurel Kendall to make arrangements for a kut (a Korean shamanistic rite). We had debated the usefulness of holding a shaman ceremony for the 19 American educators (

Korean shamanism emphasizes respect for ancestral Korean deities, and has significantly influenced other beliefs in the region.

Korean shamanism is distinguished by seeking to resolve human problems through a meeting of humanity and the spirits.

Shamanism was widely practised in Korea from prehistoric times right up to the modern era. It is a belief system which originated in north-east Asian and Arctic cultures, and although the term shamanism...

Shamanism is a world-wide religious phenomenon, considered by many anthropologists to be the most ancient and fundamental form of spiritual practice in human life. Although shamanism is not present today in all societies, it can be found in societies at all levels of complexity,

Previous (Korean painting) Next (Korney Chukovsky) Mudang officiating Shaman ceremony. Korean shamanism encompasses a variety of indigenous beliefs and practices that have

Manshin Kim Keum-Hwa performs at her shrine in Ganghwa Island, South Korea. Kim Keum-Hwa is a famous shaman,

Korean shamanism, also known as Shinism[note 1] (Hangul 신교, Hanja 神敎; Shingyo or Shinkyo, "religion of the spirits/gods"),[1][2] or Shindo (Hangul: 신도; Hanja: 神道, "way of the spirits/gods"),[3][4] is the collective term for the ethnic religions of Korea which date back to prehist