고려시대 기녀와 무당 풍속으로 읽는 「사모곡」

Abstract

「Sa’mo-gok」 is a unique song. In storytelling terms, there are devices usually associated with males, and devices usually associated with females. Yet in this song, those devices switch places and represent the ‘other’ side, in the course of praising the parents’ love. Also, we can see that the general image of such devices are rather neglected, as strangely enough, the level of ‘sharpness’ of a ‘blade’ of a weeding hoe and a sickle, were used to display the size and magnitude of their love. One might say it was a very strange choice, in terms of making an allegory. Yet at the same time, it should be considered that the usual singers of the Goryeo society’s Sog’yo songs were no other than the official dancers(Gwan’gi), female Nobi servants affiliated with the authorities, and (female) necromancers. They had their own customs before they entered the palace or came under the jurisdiction of the authorities. So the strange allegories mentioned above should be examined in the light of such customs. The matriarchal elements displayed in the custom of the Gi’nyeo figures & the female necromancers(shamans), the relationships they had with their own husbands(Gi’bu/妓夫 and Mu’bu/巫夫 figures), and the specific nature of an action wielding hoes and sickles, help us understand why the narrator of 「Sa’mo-gok」 sang that the mothers provide deeper love than the fathers. The Haengsu figures were deeply involved in all aspects of the Gi’nyeo figures’ lives and trained them harshly, while the aforementioned ‘Gi’bu’ existed in the form of many ‘Gi’bu’ figures being paired with a single Gi’nyeo figure(“一妓多夫”). As a result, the involvement they had in the lives of the Gi’nyeo figures were very different. In other words, the relationship between the Gi’nyeo and Haengsu, and the relationship between the Gi’nyeo and the Haengsu Gi’bu was very different. It seems almost inappropriate to compare the love of a mother to a blade of a sickle, but we can understand that, as well as the reason why the usual images of the male and the female were reversed in this song, if we take the fact that Gi’nyeo figures were also called ‘Hae’eo-hwa’, into account. They were called so because their time in prime was limited, hence the image of the sickle was invited. The Haengsu Gi’nyeo had no choice but to train them(the Gi’nyeo figures) hard(as is the image of the sickle), because only by doing so they would be able to learn and grow, and flourish during the small amount of time allowed to them. So we could say that it was only natural to compare the Haengsu Gi’nyeo figures to a blade of the sickle, and the Haengsu Gi’bu figures to the blade of a weeding hoe. The strange allegories inside 「Sa’mo-gok」 can be easily understood by considering their matriarchal customs, the characteristic relationship that was featured between a single Gi’nyeo figure and many ‘husbands’, and the specific nature of their occupation, which could maintain attractiveness for only a limited period of time.