page_title: Mengdu
section_title: Outside Jeju
hierarchical_section_title: Mengdu / Outside Jeju
caption_attribution_description: 한국어: 동해안 별신굿에서 악귀 및 부정(不淨)을 내쫓기 위해 사용한다.
context_page_description: The mengdu, also called the three mengdu and the three mengdu of the sun and moon, are a set of three kinds of brass ritual devices—a pair of knives, a bell, and divination implements—which are the symbols of shamanic priesthood in the Korean shamanism of southern Jeju Island. Although similar ritual devices are found in mainland Korea, the religious reverence accorded to the mengdu is unique to Jeju.
  The origin myth of the mengdu is found in the Chogong bon-puri, a major shamanic narrative in Jeju religion. According to this narrative, the original mengdu were possessed by the eponymous Mengdu triplets, the three deities who were the first to practice shamanic ritual on earth. The stylistic features of mengdu refer back to important events in the miraculous conception and lives of these gods. The implements play a critical role in ritual; both the knives and the divination implements are used to divine the will of the gods, and the bell is used to invite them into the ritual ground.
  Every set of mengdu is believed to incarnate the spirits of both the heroes of the Chogong bon-puri and the historical human shamans who previously owned the particular set.
context_section_description: Mengdu worship is distinctive to Jeju Island. Korean shamanism is traditionally divided into two major categories. The god-descended shamans of the north (including Seoul) experience sinbyeong when a deity decides to reside in their body. After initiation, this resident deity becomes the source of their shamanic power. These shamans are possessed by other gods and spirits during rituals and convey their will in a trance state. The hereditary shamans of the south do not undergo sinbyeong or trance possession and cannot convey the will of the gods. By externalizing the resident deity in the form of the mengdu, Jeju shamanism displays traits of both. Like the northern shamans, Jeju shamans have the ability to perceive the will of the gods. But unlike in the north, the will of the gods is conveyed not through the shaman's actual body via trance possession, but through the mengdu: sacred objects that are physically separate from the human.
  As for the objects themselves, sacred shamanic knives with a close physical resemblance to Jeju knives are common in mainland shamanic traditions. They are generally used to cleanse ritual impurity and expel malevolent spirits rather than divination, although mainland traditions of knife-throwing divination do exist, such as in northern Hwanghae Province where crossed outward blades are in fact considered highly auspicious. Bells that resemble Jeju ones do not exist in mainland Korea, but other sorts of bells do. Ritual bells are a variant of the widespread Korean shamanic tradition of sacred rattles. The cheonmun may be connected to the divinatory use of cash coins in mainland Korea, but no divination cups are known from the mainland, suggesting that the sangjan may have an indigenous origin in Jeju or reflect influence from some non-Korean culture.
  Some of the rituals associated with the mengdu have correspondences in mainland Korea. In Hwanghae, the initiate shaman goes about asking lay worshippers for donations of metal to make his sacred rattle, mirror, and other implements, just as Jeju shamans do when making jajak mengdu. During the Hwanghae initiation ritual, senior shamans conceal the newly forged implements and the initiate cannot retrieve them without answering a series of riddles about ritual procedure; the parallels with the Gobun-mengdu are evident. In Seoul, many shamans are struck with sinbyeong after accidentally discovering the three sacred implements: the knife, the rattle, and the fan. The Seoul initiation ritual also involves senior shamans concealing the implements, and the initiate must correctly divine the location where they are hidden in order to join the priesthood.
  Potential links with the bronze swords and rattles of Bronze Age Korea, the three unspecified objects from heaven that feature in the myth of Dan'gun, and the sacred sword, mirror, and jewel of the Imperial Regalia of Japan have also been suggested.
caption: Pair of sacred knives used in Gangwon shamanism, physically similar to Jeju knives
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