강원도 양양군 서낭제 전승 중단 원인에 관한 고찰

Abstract

It is the eternal law that all the concepts in this world including folk customs go through changes while they are transmitted. It is the law of nature that they disappear or are changed as time goes on. Therefore, many scholars have strived to clarify the relationship between history and folk customs. Folk customs are not fixed, but changeable so what historical motive changes folk customs has been an urgent interest. It is true that a village ritual has attracted a lot of interest as major folk customs. However, the interest has been focused on the changes in folk customs. On the other hand, it is very difficult to find any research of the process of Dongje's (village ritual) disappearance or discontinuation. Therefore, this paper intended to study the phenomenon that village rituals were discontinued. In Korea, village rituals were developed in all the villages, especially, by the unit of a natural village. However, with the 20th century coming in (from 1900s), the number of the villages that discontinued their rituals has increased. It is difficult to estimate the whole area of Korea, but in the case of Youngdong area (Gangwon-do), it seems that only 50% of the village rituals have been handed down so far. Yangyang-gun, which is located in the northeastern part of Gangwon-do, is composed of 1 eup and 5 myeons. Except for Hyeonnam-myeon, all the other eup and myeons have had the 38th parallel or are located on the parallel. In other words, they are near North Korea. These areas were governed by North Korea from 1945 to 1950 so they couldn't help being influenced by materialism. Therefore, in terms of folk customs, they had to go through some changes. They had to have historical injuries. Especially, village rituals, which are based on faith, couldn't be accepted by the North Korean government that stood on breaking down superstitions as its major ideology. The village shrines were burnt out and the village trees were cut down and used as wood. The village rituals had to be discontinued for the time being. Ganghyeon-myeon in Yangyang-gun has 13 villages where the transmission of the festival of the local god has been discontinued. 11 villages of Yangyang-eup, 17 villages of Sonyang-myeon, 15 villages of Seo-myeon, 10 villages of Hyeonbuk-myeon, and 12 villages of Hyeonnam-myeon have discontinued the festival of the local god. This paper studied the causes for each discontinuation case. The causes were superficial causes, which were generalized. It was found that the reduction of population was the biggest cause. Besides, the destruction of villages and the influence of communism were another important causes. Based on the superficial causes, this paper also examined internal causes. The concrete cause was that the residents' disbelief in their local gods was prevalent. On the basis of the disbelief in the local god, there seemed to be historical reasons that have been made for the last 100 years. The first reason was the idea of breaking down superstitions, influenced by materialism of the North Korean government, and the second reason was Saemaeul Movement which was carried out in 1970s. The third reason was the influence of churches. In fact, the ideology of breaking down superstitions is related with the concept of modernization that was made in Korea, China, and Japan before/after the 20th century. In this aspect, it may be necessary to discuss several policies of Japanese imperialism having the policy of breaking down superstitions on its back, but it is not easy to find out those who lived during that period so this paper couldn't help omitting the discussion of the discontinuation of the festival of the local god during the period of Japanese imperialism. However, the emotions during the period of Japanese imperialism became connected with the North Korean government' policy of breaking down superstitions, and in this process, hidden effects slowly appeared. In 1970s, Saemaeul Movement was carried out and the festival of the local god couldn't help facing another suffering. In fact, in consideration of the slogan of breaking down superstitions, it can be said that Saemaeul Movement is same as the North Korean government's policy. Saemaeul Movement in the early days (its value was recognized as a cultural property after 1973) and the idea of regarding the festival of the local god as a superstition were same. Churches which speak for Christians also regarded other religions and folk faith as superstitions in the stage that they were settled. These three parties made delayed attacks to the festival of the local god so the festival of the local god had to suffer from numerous injuries. And without preparing appropriate countermeasures, it couldn't help falling down. The last 100 years is the dark ages to the festival of the local god. However, darkness is followed by brightness so now the festival of the local god can bear another vitality. Once the moon becomes full, it slants and then, becomes full again. It is the law of nature. However, as W. B. Yeats said, the passing time doesn't come back. However, only the similar thing comes back. The spiral structure of history was mentioned by not only W. B. Yeats, but also other scholars. That is, the festival of the local god can recover its vitality again, but it will not and can't be same as before. It is clear that the festival of the local god, which is changed fresh suitably for the ideology of the times, will be waiting for us. In this aspect, it will be significant to examine various features of the festivals of the local gods in the past which have already disappeared (been discontinued).