장례의례를 통해 본 한국인의 죽음이해: 바람직한 애도와 위로의 실천을 위해

Abstract

Both the perspective on death and understanding of death in a community make funeral cultures such as funeral rituals, funeral procedures, and so on. On the contrary, funeral culture, which is generally practiced in a community, forms a perspective on death. The concept of general understanding of the death of Koreans is the idea of GeySe (the idea that the soul continues to exist in the world of death and that the present life continues after death). It is also common for the ritual of death according to the idea of GeySe to be performed as a ceremony of farewell. Unless funerals are held according to strict and professional religious rituals and procedures, the religious basis of modern Korean funeral culture appears in the form of a mixture of Confucianism, Shamanism, Buddhism, Christianity, and even other religions. Therefore, although the funeral ceremony of Korea is formulated on the foundation of Confucian rituals which had been established through the Joseon Dynasty, it has a strong hybrid character of mixing Confucian rituals with consciousness and procedures of the death derived from the indigenous beliefs, Shamanism, Buddhist beliefs, and the Christian rituals. In fact, the formality and procedures of funeral ceremonies in the contemporary Korea are generally practiced in a form that is formalized in Confucianism, added with the folk customs, Buddhist faith, and other religious rituals. The purpose of this study is to propose actual examples of mourning and consolation based on the understanding of death in the funeral culture of contemporary Korea. The one of characteristics of Confucian funeral culture is to gradually alleviate the impact of death. Based on the fact that the theory of the Rites of Passage, proposed by Arnold Van Gennep, is in contact with the ‘the phased relaxation of shock’ in the Confucian funeral process, I divided the process of modern Korean funeral into three important phases according to Van Gennep’s ‘the diagram of the rite of passage.’ (1) the stage of separation: It is the first step in entering the phase from the time (space) of daily life to the time (space) of funeral procedures. This is the period of separation from life by confirming death, and the procedure of separation of the deceased and the bereaved family in the real world. (2) the stage of transition: It is the period from the departure of a funeral procession to the expiration of the period of mourning in which both the deceased and the bereaved family are separated from their daily lives and entered into the time and area of funeral procedures. (3) the stage of integration: Through the ceremony for the end of mourning, the bereaved family as people in mourning are reunited in the real world and returned to the time and area of daily life, and also, the dead become ancestors. It is a process of integrating the world of ancestors, from this world to the other world. In each procedure of the funeral rites, I will propose a practical plan as mourning and consolation to care for the bereaved family. The subject in charge of comfort and care will be HoSang who administers all the processes of the funeral or a relative who has a close relationship with the bereaved family. I will take the form of suggesting practical ways to him or her because I will ask him or her to be an active comforter and a sympathetic observer.