고조선시대 곰과 범의 역사적 실체와 토템문화의 재인식

Abstract

In historical research, not the signifier but the signified should be interpreted. Denying history based on signifiers in historical records in accordance with the formal logic of positivism is a misinterpretation of the historical records and distortion of history. A founding myth is a mystery and can hardly be called history. However, if several founding myths are gathered and analyzed comprehensively, you can see that they are the history of a sacred beginning. The bear and tiger in the myth of Dangun are not animals. They are collective symbols in the context of totem culture, and the bear and tiger represent a bear tribe and a tiger tribe, respectively. Based on this recognition, you can understand from Sindansudo (神檀樹圖), a tomb mural, and Hwanungcheonjosang (桓雄天鳥像), a gilt bronze relic that Hwanung represents a bird tribe. Furthermore, you can see that mythological mysteries with totems are rather an effective method of historical narratives. Totem culture, which uses animals as collective symbols, appears not only in ancient historical records, tomb murals and ornaments but also on insignias of modern governments, marks of universities and luxury brand products. It is an ongoing cultural phenomenon. Totem culture, which represents collective identity, is a thing of the past, present and future. The bear and tiger in the myth of Dangun are totems representing the maek tribe (貊族) and the ye tribe (濊族), respectively, both of which existed as historical entities. The ye tribe, or the tiger tribe, performed a heaven-worship ritual called mucheon (舞天) and had a tradition of worshiping the tiger as a deity and performing ancestral rites for the animal. As for the maek tribe, the Chinese character 貊 is translated into こま in Japanese, meaning a ‘bear.’ The bear tribe is symbolized as Ungnyeo, the bear woman who married Hwanung and gave birth to Dangun. Ungnyeo was also revered as the statue of a goddess in the goddess shrine at the Niuheliang site. The bear belief disappeared, but the tiger belief has been widely passed on. This is because the bear tribe actively assimilated into the culture of the tiger tribe, while the tiger tribe has maintained the identity of its culture, hardly assimilated. Korea needs to restore totem culture in a modern context to establish the identity and visual symbol of the Korean culture. The torii (とりい) of Japan and red lanterns of China well represent the identities of the national cultures. Currently, Korea does not have a cultural symbol functioning like the torii and the red lantern. It was a tradition of Korean villages to set guardian posts and sacred poles, which represented the ethnic identity of Koreans as descendants of Hwanung and Dangun. This tradition needs to be restored by setting guardian posts and sacred poles in all villages across the country, in a bid to express the cultural identity. Totem culture can be a thing of the past, present and future. The Hwanung tribe formed an alliance with the bear and tiger tribes as it opened the Gojoseon period. The bear tribe assimilated and its cultural traces disappeared, while the tiger tribe did not assimilate and deviated to firmly maintain its culture. As a result, various cultures, such as tiger deity and mountain deity, have been passed on in addition to the celestial god, in the Korean culture. As to women immigrating to Korea for marriage from Third World countries, it would be desirable to have them keep the identities of their cultures and thus obtain cultural diversity instead of having them assimilate into the Korean culture. It is forecasted that multilayered culturalism will replace multiculturalism.