도서(島嶼)에서 본 뱀 설화 비교고찰 - 오키나와와 제주의 뱀 설화를 중심으로 -

Abstract

The southern islands of Okinawa, Japan, and Jejudo, Korea’s largest island, are both well-known as regions with abundant folklore. In particular, it is also what they have in common that the folkloric religions different from those on the mainland have been handed down. Therefore folktales about snakes should be considered as one of the most important features of the folkloric religions in Okinawa and Jeju. This paper reviewed the notions and spheres of consciousness that the islanders used to have about snakes at the time the folktales were first created. The folktales about snakes well represent their spheres of consciousness that raised a question on whether the snake should be worshiped as a god-like being or eradicated as an enemy. Both the regions exhibit inconsistent forms or appearances of the religions about snakes. The origin of the notion where a snake god was worshiped as an ancestor god through impersonation lies on the worship of ancestors. Notably, a snake god on both the islands had the same image as that of a water god, an ancestor god, or a village god. The differences between the notions of snakes on the two islands are as follows: First, the concept of marrying a snake is accepted as what is sacred and natural in the folktales of Okinawa, while the similar concept has not been expressed in those of Jeju. Second, in the folktales of Okinawa, the purpose of the incarnation of a snake is snake to marry a human, while Jeju’s folktales talk about the incarnation related to greed or sins of humans. Third, the incarnation of a snake in the folktales of Okinawa is temporary, while a human in Jeju’s folktales is reincarnated as a snake through a medium of death. Fourth, the rite for a snake god in Okinawa has been discolored and transformed into Matsuri (a Japanese word for a festival or holiday). In some regions of Jeju, however, Gut (a Korean word for a rite for spirits) has been performed as a ritual for a snake god.