성주신앙의 지역별 영상과 그 의의

Abstract

A god overseeing the welfare of a house, Seongju is the folkfaith deity who is the most closely related to the head of a household. His cult was practiced in most households in traditional Korea, and the god is known most often as“ Seongju,” rather than by his full name,“ Seongjusin.” Seongju may be designated under different names, both depending on the type of physical manifestation attributed to him, or the relationship with other household deities. According to the type of embodiment, Seongju is referred to as “Seongju Danji”or “Seongju Seom.”Seongju, meanwhile, is merged at times with other household gods, and depending on which god he was associated with, was known as“ Seongju Josang”or“ Seongju Daegam.”The principal location in a house where Seongju is assumed to reside is the crossbeam. However, in some parts of Korea, Seongju is believed to inhabit the house porch (daecheong maru) or the far end of the master bedroom (anbang). Both the name and principal location of Seongju appear to have been decided in a manner to reflect natural boundaries such as mountain ridges and rivers. Two main types of physical embodiments for Seongju are paper and jars, and a clear geographical divide separates the two types. The rice paper-type embodiment is seen mainly in regions lying north of the Sobaek Mountain Range and Geumgang, while the jar-type embodiment is the prevalent form in areas south of the Sobaek Mountains. A third type, occurring less frequently, is the Seongju pole, observed mainly in the southern Gyeonggi-do region and in parts of Jeollanam-do. Although a resident god, Seongju can leave a house at any time, but this is liable to occurespecially in situations such as the death of the head of household or other times of calamities affecting a household. Seongju, in this case, is said to have“ taken flight.”When this happens, a household must meet Seongju wherever he resides outside a house and escort him back. This notion of Seongju abandoning a household is, however, mostly observed in regions where Seongju is embodied in rice paper or rice paper objects. In these regions, they observe a separate rite for enshrining Seongju in a home. In regions where this god is embodied as a jar, Seongju’s coming to or leaving a house is not a notion that plays an active part in his cult.