장례에 있어서 부정과 공동체의 대응 - 충청남도 사례를 중심으로 -

Abstract

Funeral rite has been analysed according to its ritual process in general. The aim of this paper is to study ritual behaviors as method to overcome death impurity and it will be examined as social relations among funeral participants. The cases were surveyed in Cheongyang area in Chungcheongnam-do Province. When someone is dead in a community, it is not only matter to family group but also their neighbours. During a funeral rite, close relatives and neighbours help the dead man’s family by providing labour, ritual articles, cash, food and etc. In respond to this, the mourner’s family offer them meals, travel fare, a common purse for village and so on. Although funeral rite takes place in unstable space and time, it becomes opportunity to make social relation concrete among community. Thus, the community can get settled while various ritual processes are carried out. Moreover, funeral rite also takes a role to purify fear and impurity of death. An ancestor worship origins on the basis of death impurity. Descendants believe the dead man’s spirit become ancestral deity through the funeral rite process. This belief is well presented during the rite. Funeral can be reviewed from three point of view regarding social relations:a live and a mourner; a dead and a spirit; a corpse and burial. Therefore, further study needs to be carried out to exam aspect of the impurity and/or social relation.