The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-08-05


 blessing will accrue, but because his ancestors did so. Though certain re- 1 Hgious beliefs are acknowledged i throughout the Peninsula, not one of l them can be spoken of as t<Korea's re- | 1igion" in the sense of it's exercising i a controlling, or inspiring, influence upon the life of the Nation. Neverthe- 1 less there are two systems which are recognized all over Korea.
 1 Shamanism is the only vernacu1ar re- | Hgion and everywhere evidence 1 abounds that it has many adherents. This fact becomes evident to the min d 1 by the shrines or fetish with which 1 one is met in almost every home and ] even by the roadside, and it is before 1 these shines the tuteIar gods of the neigh borhood are worshipped. l Finding fetish hung up in every house and shrines at frequent inter vals along the roadside, one is very l apt to doubt the assertion that there is no national re1igion; if enquiries are addressed to Korean about Sha- manism he will irnm ediately tell you, with a bland smile, that 'tit is only women who worship the spirits
 Women and Religion.
 The observation of many years spent 1 in the heart of the country confirms this statement, but it is not possible to | suppose, that the women prosecute 1 the worship and spend large sums of money in the devotion of these spirits without the knowledge and consent of l their husbands, and so to a certain ex- tent we can regard the acts of worship as being conducted by the women for 1 the entire household
 1 Without exception the votaries of | Shamanisrn are women, and since wo- l man is given such a secondary place In Korea she has very little opportun- l ity to mould the thought of her sons, 1 hence we find the man and woman to be widely separated in matters of con- science. Therefore, since Shamanisrn l finds it's adherents almost exclusively | among the women. we cannot speak l of it as being ca controlling and in spirtting influence upon the life of the natfon.''.z- Y 7~7- -1 = 7z~
 Many Spirits.
 The Shamanist in Korea worships many spirits which may be referred | to under the following headings. First l Iy the spirits of high rank: these are the spirits of the Armament, of the earth, of the mountains, of the drag ons and so forth; secondly are the spirits of the house, among which must be included the spirit of the site.
 The chief of these latter spirits is the Spirit of the Ridge-pole.'' It has a. large retinue which are spoken of as 1 the spirits of the goods and chatteIs, l the spirit of the kitchen, the spirit l | Also of lower grade, but placed in the same category, are the spirit of small pox, the spirits which take the forms of animals, which take possession of women and change them into exor- cists, as we'll as the spirits of the sew en stars which form the constellation known as tfThe Great Bear
 But in addition to these there are a number of spirits which cannot be cataIogued under either of the two headings just given; for instance, the 1 spirits that make men brave, which cause tigers to eat men, which cause men to die while travelling, which cause men to die by strangulation. drowning, suicide, fire, being beaten, 8 | fall, pesti1ence. These spirits differ largely from those already referred to and are sacrificed to while travelling but strange as it may appear the l death of women Is never supposed to be caused by a, spirit save in the case l of those who die in childbirth. Abodes of the Spirit.
 The residences of the spirits may be in any place, and one given spirit is supposed by different people to live in a hundred more different localities. Nearly every mountain in the coun- try has a shrine near it's top, to the spirit of that part of the mountain. On the plain and mountain-side trees are seen with evident signs of protubera- ton, some very irregular in shape; any thus affected is looked upon as the dwelling place of one or several spirits. The spirit of the dragon and the spirits of the mountains are very closely allied, for the Koreans believe that every mountain either is, or is caused by a hump in the long body of the dragon. For this reason they refuse to improve the roads of the passes by removing boulders or stones, hav NV SD nj would scratch the dragons baclz,,'' hence it is that the spirit of the drag on and the spirits of the mountains are often sacrificed to at the same time.
 Sorceresses.
 In the worship of these spirits the sorceress dresses in the robes and hat of a Minister of State. Standing on a piece of land 1eve1led for the pur- pose. she faces the south and strikes certain attitudes; then commences dance, the pacing of which gradually becomes more intent and rapid in the movements. After a while, as she whirls round, working herself into frenzy, she suddenly picks tip trt- dent (of~the same pattern as Nep- tune's), and hourishing this she bows in front of the sacrifice, then sticks a leg of pork on the middle prong of the trident and holds 1t in an upright po- sition. If while doing this her body invoIuntarily tremb1es she is suppos- ed to have become possessed of one of the spirits of the mountain, then a. sheet of paper is taken for each member of the family that is offering the sacrifice and rolled into a tube which is set on fire. If the burning paper ascends it is a sign that the spirit accepts the ob1ation of that particular member of the family, but should the paper tumble over as it burns it is an indication that on ac- oount of some discordance the spirit refuses to accept the sacrifice offered for that person
 Should a man attain the age of six ty, a feast is given in Ris honor and everyone congratulates him on having