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KMID : 0368919860010010005
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Shim-Song Yon-Gu
1986 Volume.1 No. 1 p.5 ~ p.27
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Some Aspects of the Healer Archetype in Korean Shaman´s Songs of Sonnim, Gods of Smallpox
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Abstract
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Smallpox was one of the most dangerous contagious diseases in Korea until the early 1900s. Ethnological materials from the 1930s give us interesting rituals for Sonnim(gods of smallpox) including sonds chanted during shaman sessions for smallpox sufferers. The ritual for Sonnim with accompanying songs is still included in seasonal shaman ceremonies even today though there is no longer any danger from smallpox.
According to shaman songs and ethnological data from 1930s, smallpox was believed to be the passage of the smallpox deity through the body of parient for a certain time span. The delirious speech of the patient was regarded as the voice of deity which supposed to have the ability to perceive events in the remote place.
Characteristics of smallpox deities are their foreign origin, supernatural power and their appearance in triad deities. The word Sonnim means guest. According to songs he came from Kangnam, a district of southern China. They crossed the river by supernatural power and entered the Korean peninsula. The divine triad consists of a civil envoy, a military envoy, and a lady. The lady plays a dominant role. The procession of the deities through the land is depicted as solemn and splendid. Their costumes and attributes are colorful, with the color vermilion dominating. The illness was regarded as a kind of festival and divine virtues offered by the gods. Described "like fire arising from the darkness," the disease was seen as epiphania not only in healing but also in the pathological process. The god of smallpox has dual aspects as healer and death bringer. The songs emphasize a "religious" attitude of man toward natural sufferings caused by supernatural beings.
In shaman rituals in the 1930s, however, the shadow aspect of the healer is depicted in a separate image called "Shickmoon," demons who died from smallpox. Beacuse the demons bear a grudge against the god of smallpox, they gather together wherever the god appears. Since the god becomes angry and the illness will be worse when he sees his victims, one should carefully hide the demons underneath the floor in a vessel and serve them with food regularly. On the day Baesong, a sendingaway ceremony was held when the Sonnim was sent to heaven and the Shickmoon thrown out through the house gate.
We see in this ritual process the psychological meaning that the shadow should be treated separately from the creative aspect of healers; the shadow was consciously suppressed and split off from the dominant aspect of healing instead of being confronted and assimilated.
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