신라의 희생제의

Abstract

This article examined the social meaning and the character of rituals through sacrifice, focusing on sacrifice in rituals performed in Silla. Sacrifices in rituals are offerings to God. The act of sacrifice was performed for multiple Gods including the Heavenly God as the supreme deity and the Earth God, and had various purposes such as praying fertility and richness, the divination of good and bad luck, and the purification of contamination from crime. Sacrifices, as in the case of Buyeo(夫餘) and Yae(濊), were used to overcome natural disasters caused by floods and droughts, to take auspices in war, and to purify uncleanness or contamination occurred when violating taboos. In rituals for the Heavenly God and the Earth God, it was confirmed that Goguryeo used pig and deer, while Baekje used deer mostly. It was reconfirmed that the kinds of sacrifices differed according to the conditions of life in each society, considering that sacrifices in China were mainly cow, sheep and pig while the northern nations used horse. Despite the difference in kinds of sacrifice, it was common that sacrifice was being made as an attempt to communicate with the gods of heaven in order to solve the problems on earth. The kinds of sacrifice that were used in Silla were cow and horse. In the wells excavated centering around Gyeongju, cows, horses and deer bones were verified. A well, as a passage connected with the underground world, means a ritualistic space to read the will of heaven or pray for a holy being. There was high probability of ritual for rain was made through sacrifice especially in a space related to water such as a well or a pond, and the water-related rituals including a well were so important that they were organized as a national rituals in connection with floods or droughts. Cow and horse appeared on record as well as in excavation. The ‘Scapecow’ in an epigraphic and the white horse in the biographies of Kim Yushin in Samguksagi(三國史記) are the examples. Especially the ritual of ‘Scapecow’ in an epigraphic is associated with the promulgation of Gyo(敎) and the execution of a sentence. Local people and the central government swore before the heaven about a specific issues in the ritual of ‘Scapegoat’, and it was considered to be a ritual of swearing before heaven(盟祭) because judgment or punishment was made and a warning was added in this process. The fact that the ritual of ‘Scapegoat’ was being carried out with the promulgation of Gyo even after the promulgation of the Law Code(律令) shows that the central government of Silla had limit to apply the ‘law’ throughout the regions only by their authority. Shamanistic indigenous religion and common law was deeply rooted in local people, so the most fundamental notion of being punished from heaven would have affected them. This notion appeared as the ritual of ‘Scapecow’. Therefore, Silla's ritual of ‘Scapegoat’ is likely to be derived from their traditional ritual of swearing before heaven.