고대 제천문화의 제의양상과 공동체신앙의 존재양식

Abstract

To surpass the existing studies on heaven-worship culture, one should pioneer new materials and interpretation methods. This study uses available materials on communal religion to reconstruct ancient heaven-worship culture and develops a method to interpret dolmens and the Royal Tomb of King Jangsu as heavenly ritual altars by deductively expanding and inferring types of heavenly rituals. It also diachronically interprets the process in which square stone mound tombs and heavenly ritual altars in the form of Hwangudan Altar were united to have the structure of a dolmen and evolved, and notes that ‘the death of a king and a heavenly ritual’ are two different things yet one and so are ‘the tomb of a king and a heavenly ritual altar.’ Therefore, this study found the fact that the declaration-type heavenly ritual of a new king, which announced a change in the heavenly ruler’s authority upon the death of a king, evolved to have the structure that united ‘a king’s tomb and a heavenly ritual altar.’This study diachronically shows the process in which square stone mound tombs and heavenly ritual altars evolved to have the form of dolmen and then dolmens were expanded and regenerated, contributing to the creation of the Royal Tomb of King Jangsu. This has opened a new prospect of interpreting dolmens as space to hold a declaration-type heavenly ritual as a new king ascended the throne following the death and funeral of his predecessor. This study has proved that dolmens served as not only tombs but also heavenly ritual altars through the capstone, a stone slab symbolic of heaven, and takes an active approach in interpreting the structure and use of a dolmen when a new king ascended the throne, unlike the existing interpretation that focused on the tomb. A rite of passage for a new king was held in the stone chamber, a declaration-type heavenly ritual was held to unify the heaven and the new king and obtain the heavenly ruler’s authority, and the son of the heaven descended to the earth as a heavenly king. Therefore, this study clarified the fact that in addition to a state assembly-type heavenly ritual at the beginning and end of agricultural work (nonggongsipilgi) but also a declaration-type heavenly ritual that announced the death of the previous king and the ascension of a new king was held at dolmens and the heavenly ritual altar of the Royal Tomb of King Jangsu. Although the tradition of heaven-worship culture declined in early Joseon, the heavenly ritual form has been passed down among common people as a communal religion, which is found in a village ritual ceremony and a ritual ceremony for the mountain spirit. Therefore, materials on the procedures of a village ritual ceremony that has been handed down to the present can be used to reconstruct the specific procedures and functions of an ancient heavenly ritual. As the state assembly of a heavenly ritual corresponds to a village assembly, the five stages of a village ritual ceremony allows for the inference of the five stages of a heavenly ritual. It can be inferred from different factors of a village ritual ceremony that a heavenly ritual has several other factors in addition to the worship ritual factor. Those factors include 1) the meeting factor of discussing the worship ritual; 2) the money raising factor of preparing expenses for the worship ritual; 3) the labor factor for preparing the worship ritual; 4) the worship ritual factor for holding a worship service by worship ritual officers at the heavenly ritual altar; 5) the political factor of holding a meeting and making decisions about important affairs after the worship service; 6) a trial factor of handling prisoners locked in the prison; 7) a divination factor of predicting the futures based on what happened during the worship service; and lastly 8) the play factor of post-service play. There are a few more factors for the worship ritual in special situations, such as 9) the military factor of praying for the victory of troops going to war and 10) the rain calling factor of overcoming drought. Based on the factors mentioned above, this study suggests five major types of a heavenly ritual as follows: a) the state assembly type; b) the declaration type for announcing a change in the heavenly ruler’s authority; c) the patriotic type for praying for the protection by the heavenly god during a state crisis; d) the royal authority strengthening type to strengthen the authority of a king as the son of the heaven; and e) the rain calling type of overcoming drought.