Date Posted:15:03:53 06/09/04 Wed Author: Nick T. Subject: the weird characters of Korean shamanism
Here is another huge article, this one about the very bizarre, weird world of Korean shamanism. The bottomline conclusion is this:
Korean Shamanism is a complex, deeply-rooted tradition intricately and uniquely adapted to its culture and society. While some contemporary Korean authorities (particularly the men in the militaristic government) see Shamanism as a national embarrassment, a tradition of ignorance and superstition impeding the modernization of a developing country, others consider it a symbol of indigenous Korean culture and would like to preserve it as a valuable part of folk tradition. Still others, especially women, would let it continue and study it as a form of cultural introspection.
In the article, there is an intimation that just as Confucianism results in the females being subjected to the males, shamanism presents the opportunity for the females to turn the tables and make the males subject to them. Is some kind of weird alternate states of subjegation going on at the ubf, particularly at the ubfmarriage level?
