삼척의 봉수 관련 민간신앙

Abstract

During the joseon dynasty, five signal fire towers operated around samcheok area. base upon the survey conducted throught hist study and the map published in the joseon dynasty, signal fires found in the area apperared to be indirect signal fires. all signal fires found in the area could be classified as coastal signal fires on the basis if the locations and functions of beacons. most of them were established on the hills, 100 meters above the sea level with a good view of the connectin signal fires. field investigation revealed that they were mostly located within 20 minutes waling distance from the village. although none of the signal fire towers surveyed in the study remained intact, signal fire towers located in four areas such as Mt Gwangjin, Mt tangya, Mt. Limwon, Mt. Gagok showed traces of the foundation(sterebate) with a cone-shaped stone tower on top. it was said that the signal fire tower on Mt Chongok was destoyed as the militaries moved to the area. the foundations and beacons of the signal fore towers were mostly constructed on the flat top of the hill and all of them were characterized in the present study were maintained in similar shape with some damage. therefore it was assumed that they were mainly built during the king sejong, the early era of the joseon dynasty. it is not clear when the signal fre tower ceased to operate. however,bonghalmeonidang in deoksanli, kendeokmyeon, samcheok has served as a religious object to worship for a god sice its original function discontinued. althought its ritual process and the public perception to the sacred object showed slight differences when compared to those of heaeonang prevalent in the coastal regions of the east sea, it served similar roles among local people. evidence indicated that people have prayed for abundance in fishing and for the fishing dead. the fact that in deoksanli, there was no heaseonang found in other coastal villages indicated that bonghalmeonidang has served the same function as heaseonag. in the case of the signal fire tower in Mt. kangok, it is important to note that it has served as not only a sacred altar for a god but slso a religious object praying for abundace in fishing and safety in spite of the presence of the heaseonang in wolchen 3 li. besideds two of signal fire towers found in samchek area, there were more examples showing that sacred objects could be not only nature and artificialyy-made objects for the purpose of religious rituals but alsi artificially-constructed structures that lost therir original functions as found in signal fire towers in kwangsan, youngdeok, kyeongbuk and ohyun, jaecheon, chunbuk. during the course of the transition from a functional structure to a religious object, social, economical, and cultural background were well reflected. in future, much research need to be done in the area, where artificially- constructed structures were need to be done in the area, where artificially-constructed structures were used in religious objects. this will provide good information of diverse kinds and characteristices of folk religion in korea.