Korean Sayings: A Novice Shaman Kills A Man

선무당이 사람 잡는다

Mudangs (Korean shamans) like to wear colorful clothes while performing gut, a spiritual ceremony. It helps shamans to attract the attention of the dead spirits and to make them happy. Mudangs then shake bells or a sword and dance in front of a fancy ancestral rites table. In a particular ritual called jak-du gut (작두굿), he or she stands and moves on the blades of a straw cutter without hurting himself or herself.

Dating back to pre-historical times, Korean shamanism, also called Muism, has existed for more than 3,000 years. Mudangs have served as priests, magicians and, in some ways, even as psychological doctors. Mudangs perform services to gain good fortune for clients, cure illnesses by exorcising bad spirits and guide the spirits of the deceased to the next world.

Muism thrived in the Silla, Goryeo and Joseon dynasties, together with Buddhism and Confucianism, but it was threatened by the expansion of Christianity in the 1960s. Between 1960 and 1990, Muism was severely criticized by Christians as a demonic ritual. However, the acknowledgement of Muism as a valuable cultural asset brought about its resurgence in 2007. Currently, eight percent of South Korea’s population believe in Muism. In North Korea, the number is 16 percent.

There are two large types of mudang: gangshinmu (강신무) and seseummu (세습무). Gangshinmu initiate their mudang careers through a ceremony called nae-rim gut (내림굿), where they become one with a god. (The god differs from ancestral spirits to Buddhist gods.) These mudangs usually experience shinbyeong (신병), or “spirit sickness.” People with shinbyeong show symptoms, such as: loss of appetite, insomnia and visual and auditory hallucinations. Shinbyeong can only be cured by performing nae-rim gut (commonly known as accepting the god in one’s body) and becoming a mudang.

Unlike gangshinmu, seseummu is a hereditary position. This type of mudang does not become one with a god, but contacts a god through a medium. Both gangshinmu and seseummu start as sun-mudang, or as novice shamans, and learn from kun-mudang, an experienced shaman. The saying, “A novice shaman kills men” comes from these sun-mudang who have been said to cure ill people but ended up killing them.

Mudangs perform a ceremony called gut (굿). The gut differs depending on its purpose. Dodang gut (도당굿) is a yearly ceremony performed to wish well being for the village. Ssitgim gut (씻김굿) cleanses the spirits of deceased people and washes away their impurities (Koreans traditionally believed that the dead cannot enter the next world until their spirits are purified). However, the most dangerous and notable gut is jak-du gut, which literally means “climbing on a straw cutter.” A mudang who accepts the sword god does not get cut from the blades. This particular shaman rubs his or her face and even licks the jak-du blade with his or her tongue. Then, he or she dances on the blades of jak-du, which symbolizes the warrior’s sword, and this gut cheers the warrior’s soul and prays for the country’s peace.