상여 장식물의 표현양식과 상징적 의미

Abstract

The chief mourner necessarily needed the means to carry his dead during the course of funeral rites. These means were called “Sangyeo,” which means funeral carriage. Most people think the Sangyeo was very important in direct relation to the dead. The government proposed the guidelines Daeyeo and Geonyeo for national funerals, Daeyeo for most people in political terms. Zhu-zi commented on funeral carriages in his work “Garhe.” Most books about funeral rites follow the contents of “Garhe.” Social status and the economic gulf between the poor and the rich began to make great differences in the appearances funeral rites. Sangyeo design changed especially, resulting in beautiful decoration application and multi-storied caskets. The craftsmen used animals and plants. It required various men to make the funeral carriage beautiful with many decorations. The rich ordered craftsmen to make their decorated funeral carriages in the late part of the Joseon period. Receiving the instructions for symbolic meaning, craftsmen used the materials of folk painting to make decorations. They began to design the funeral carriage colorfully. Because the decorations were to relate symbolic meaning to satisfy the desires of the patrons, the rich wanted the craftsmen to design their funeral carriages colorfully. Also, because the decorations reflected the Confucian ideals of filial piety, happy house-making, many children and their success in social life, etc., the upper class were forced to allow artisans and craftsmen to make the funeral carriages colorfully. Decorations were closely related to social change and Confucianism, the folk belief at that time. Researchers will try to study different forms of Sangyeo in the future, including the rituals of death and the practice of praying for the dead.