마을의 잔치문화에 갈무리된 축제성과 인간해방의 길

Abstract

We have too many things under the name of ‘festival’ in Korea but we have little festivals in fact which have core substance of a festival. This is because commercial and political events overwhelm where the traditional festivals disappear. Therefore it is necessary to secure festiveness that outruns the name and formality of festival. Then, we need to detect festiveness in our traditional festivals, not from western festivals, and recreate it to correspond with the reality. One example of this is the tradition of party culture which leads to village festivals. There’s no differentiation on foods for guests either in wedding ceremonies or funeral rites. Without differentiation between the rich and the poor, high and low and young and old, people enjoy a feast with the same foods. A bridegroom in the traditional a wedding ceremony wearing an official uniform of high government officials is hung upside down in a wedding reception at the bride’s house just like a criminal. Indiscriminate fun (or ‘Nanjang’)like this is demonstrated more severely in the 60th birthday celebration. Guests draw a mustache, a beard and eyeglasses on the faces of children and make them play with their parents equally to make fun. Festiveness shown in the 60th birthday party is funny rude behavior which reverses the relationship between parents and children in a party to congratulate the 60th birthday of parents. There are two ways to make indiscriminate fun. One way is to wear certain costume and a mask. By hiding an identity, people are liberalized from discrimination on social standings. Eliminating vested rights which creates discrimination between high and low, everyone enjoys natural rights. Another way is to wear a sacred ritual mask or to disguise themselves as the privileged class in an exorcism (or ‘Gut’) so that they overcome worldly order. In a community exorcism performed by the name of god whom the community serve, worldly power disappears. Ritual overturn or revolt often create indiscriminate festival fun here. The most festive factors in a village party for funeral rites are ‘pseudo chief mourner play (or ‘Gasangju Nori’)’ by which people make the chief mourner laugh while making calls of condolence, ‘empty bier play (or ‘Binsangyeo Nori’)’ at the night before the date of carrying out coffin, ‘Sandawi’ or ‘Garaejanggu Jiwoogi’ played in a graveyard and ‘Jinsa Nori’ on the way back home. All of these are play to make fun of the chief mourner or son-in-law of the deceased. In the funeral ceremony, abnormal family relationship appears and then develops into normal relationship and a discriminated family members recover equal family relationship, which is worthy of festival. The movie, ‘Festival’ deals with festiveness of funeral ceremony. Not only village exorcism full of indiscriminate fun but also family exorcism play festive roles. Festiveness is shown, on top of formal festiveness of ‘Gamuoshin’ activity, in a sense that hidden family relationship is disclosed while an exorcism is performed and unknown faults of family history rises. In a village exorcism, contradictions of social structure rise. It is the role of a community exorcism, one of traditional festivals, that discloses and treats social diseases which has been overlooked in usual days. It is revolutionary festiveness of an exorcism to disclose and satirize social diseases and to become a liberalized place to resolve structural contradictions. An exorcism of human liberation to dissolve vested rights by natural rights is an important role of a festival. A festival can be thought to be what emasculates privileges and power of the establishment and liberates human beings through natural rights and sovereignty. Therefore value of human liberation that a festival pursues is more important than a cultural style of a festival. What we really have to pursue is to make the world of human liberation that a festival pursues, and not a festival itself. This is because it is the way to realize the desirable value of a festival.