신라 상원 연등회의 양상과 성격

Abstract

Yeondeunghoe, the Lotus Lantern Festival, is now carried on the day of Buddha's Birthday. In Samguk Sagi, however, yeondeunghoe was held in the first full moon of the New Year in the lunar calendar. As one of the Buddhism offering ceremony held in February 8th, the date of yeondeunghoe was changed to 15th of January in the lunar calendar from its effect of lantern festival in Tang Dynasty, which means that Silla yeondeunghoe was under the influence from Chinese Buddhism. But there are certain aspects in yeondeunghoe that cannot be defined from the influences of the Buddhist ceremony. First, the ritual for the origin of yeondeunghoe, tae-il(太一), is the day for the prayer of good harvest. Second, yeondeunghoe and chingyeonnye, according to the record stating from China, do not occur at the same time in which represent both rituals share the same meaning. Also the 15th of January was called ohgi-il, the crow day, offered rituals to crows for good harvest. Sangwon-yeondeunghoe was held at Hwangnyong Temple, which considered a sacred place before its formal recognition of the Buddhism. According to the case from ii-wol-jea(日月祭), the place was used for the prayer of a good harvest or the well-being of the country. This shows that there are certain relation to Hwangnyong Temple and religious rituals performed from the early days. It is possible that the Silla sangwon-yeondeunghoe may have multiple functions and characteristics to include the agricultural ritual, not merely one of the Buddhist rituals.