Shamans, Housewives, and Other Restless Spirits (Study of the East Asian Institute)

This is an ethnography of Korean women's ritual realm...the rites that demarcate, the supernatural beings who inhabit it, and the shamans who diagnose its vicissitudes and heal its ills. The rituals women perform in public and private, alone or with the help of shamans, reveal a complex system of beliefs and practices encapsulating significant notions of household, family, and kin. Whether as shaman or housewife, Korean women wield positive powers. In cooperation, they perform socially essential ritual work. Their religious activities are a measure of Korea's distinctiveness within the Confucian world.

I describe in these pages the system of belief and practice I found among women and shamans in and around Enduring Pine Village, Republic of Korea.

CONTENTS: A Kut for the Chon Family * Confucian Patriarchs and Spirited Women * Enduring Pine Village * Divine Connections: The Mansin and Her Clients * Wood Imps, Ghosts, and Other Noxious Influences * The Care and Feeding of Household Gods and Kindred Spirits * The Care and Feeding of Ancestors * Women's Rites * APPENDICES: The Chon Family Kut * Major Concerns Expressed in Divination Sessions * Ancestors Appearing in Kut