한국 地神제사의 역사와 구조 ― 중국에 가려진 地神의 정체성 ―

Abstract

The traces of Korean characteristic rituals for the Earth Mother(地母神) clearly appear from several relics of the Neolithic era and rituals for the Cave god (隧神) of the Koguryeo dynasty. In the three Kingdom period of Koguryeo, Baekje and Silla, the rituals for the earth god were performed in various manners. In Koryeo dynasty, the ritual system for the earth god was transformed to absorb the Confucian thought. Since the situation of the Northeast Asia was China-centered in the Chosun era, the ritual system of the Chosun dynasty changed into the rite for the territorial god (領土神) in the form of rite events to worship only the deity of the land in the altar of the state(She-chi, 社稷).excluding the ritual for the supreme god of the earth (皇地祇 Huang ti-ch'i). This means that the concept of the supreme god of the earth perished in the Chosun ritual system. This paper presents the analytical results from a research into the Korean’s Ritual for the Earth God having experienced transformation and distortion in the course of establishment of the national ritual system and under the influence of the Sino-centrism by elucidating characteristics of the Korean traditional rituals, which had been neglected due to the Chinese-style earth worship rituals. This paper presents various ritual modes for the Earth God according to the historical change and provides a better understanding of meanings of the ritual system for the Earth God in viewpoint of the history of religions.