page_title: Durin-gut
section_title: Shamanic view of disease
hierarchical_section_title: Durin-gut / Shamanic view of disease
caption_attribution_description: English: Masks for Yeonggam-nori, a theatrical healing ceremony in Jeju shamanism
context_page_description: The Durin-gut, also called the Michin-gut and the Chuneun-gut, is the healing ceremony for mental illnesses in the Korean shamanism of southern Jeju Island. While commonly held as late as the 1980s, it has now become very rare due to the introduction of modern psychiatry.
  In Korean shamanism, a disease—whether physical or mental—is often thought to be caused by the entry of a malevolent spirit into the body. The Durin-gut seeks to cure the mental illness by exorcising this spirit, which is often identified as a yeonggam, a type of dokkaebi or goblin-like being with a penchant for attaching to human women that he lusts for. A similar exorcistic ceremony to treat mental illnesses, called the Gwang'in-gut, is known in North Gyeongsang Province in mainland Korea.
  The Durin-gut begins with the introductory ceremonies common to all major Jeju rituals, in which the gods are invited to the ritual ground. Once these have been completed, a number of dance sessions begin, in which the lead shaman sings and the apprentice shamans beat drums and gongs while the patient is made to dance to the music. The dancing may extend for as many as fifteen days.
context_section_description: Korean shamanism traditionally offers a number of supernatural explanations for human illnesses, both physical and mental. This includes the escape of part of the soul due to a traumatic or shocking event, especially common in childhood when the soul's association with the body is weaker; the attachment of a malignant force, such as a minor spirit or ritual impurity, upon the patient's body, also often caused by a traumatic event; and the anger of a god or an ancestor at the patient's behavior.
  Various ritual methods are used to cure disease. If part of a child's soul has escaped, the shaman holds rituals to put it back inside the body. When a malevolent force has attached to the patient, small-scale healing ceremonies may be held to detach it. Sometimes, the shaman confines the patient and makes them follow certain taboos in order to be cured. Large-scale rituals, or gut, are required for certain diseases such as smallpox. In these rituals, the shaman engages in active communication with the gods or ancestors that have brought on the disease and convinces or intimidates them into departing or taking mercy.
  The Durin-gut—the healing ceremony for mental disorders in Jeju Island shamanism—belongs to the final category, in which the shaman communicates with a malevolent deity that has entered the body and forces it to depart. The deity in question is often a yeonggam, a type of dokkaebi or goblin-like being. According to these spirits' origin myth, the Yeonggam bon-puri shamanic narrative, the yeonggam are seven brothers born in Seoul but exiled to Mount Halla in Jeju Island. The youngest of the yeonggam brothers is a hideous creature who often attaches to human women that are the objects of his lust, and drives them insane. The other yeonggam brothers are more benevolent figures who the shaman convinces through ritual to take away their troublesome youngest sibling. Other spirits are also thought to cause mental illnesses. The purpose of the Durin-gut is to cure the illness by creating a gawp, or separation, between the human patient and these possessing spirits.
  Many, but not all, Korean healing ceremonies are in decline due to the introduction of modern medicine. This includes the Durin-gut, which is very rarely performed as of 2006, although it was common as late as the 1980s. A video of a 1984 Durin-gut ceremony—held for a twenty-one-year-old woman who had gone insane while working at a Seoul factory in order to financially support her family—is the key primary source for ritual procedures.
caption: Paper masks representing the yeonggam
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