Friday, April 5, 2013

Mudang Initiation at Inwangsan



On yet another visit to Inwangsan, with a friend from the Saturday Sangha, I was eager to show her the view of Seoul from my favorite spot, atop a boulder just above Seon Bawi.

When we go there, the spot was already occupied, though, by what appeared to be a part of a mudang (Korean shaman) initiation ceremony. During the initiation, the new mudang may be visited by an array of spirits, welcoming her or him (usually her) to their realm. What caught my attention the most was when she started screaming the a five year old girl for her grandmother. Even as we continued across to the other side of the hill, you could still hear here wailing, like a lost child.

On a side note, a friend of a friend who once visited Korea after studying shamanism in Indonesia came to Inwangsan. He said he gave a shout out to the ghosts but they didn't seem to care much that he was there.









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