Korean's Animistic Beliefs

The Beginning:

Hwanung, the Prince of Heaven saw the earth below him filled with mountains and valleys saw its beauty and asked his father Hwanin, the Lord of Heaven if he might live on the earth below. Thus, the Lord of Heaven not only permitted his son to live upon the earth, but also sent along three thousand helpers to help Hwanung bring knowledge to the humans. Along with the three chancellors, cloud, rain and wind they brought prosperity and abundant harvest to the land.

A bear and tiger dwelling in a cave, prayed earnestly to Hwanung that they might become human. Hwanung took pity upon them and called them forth to see him. To become human, he told them to stay out of the sun for a hundred days and eat only a bundle of mugwort and twenty cloves of garlic which was provided for them in the hundred day time span.

The animals receded into the darkness of the cave, but the tiger after only a few days hated the boredom and the sparse diet, and went along his way. The bear, on the other hand, waited still, enduring the silence patiently, and for her suffering, turned into a beautiful woman after only twenty-one days.

The bear was overjoyed, thanking Hwanung and making offerings to him, however as time passed, she grew sad at the prospect of no husband and not carrying any children, and prayed for a child. Hwanung, moved, took her for his wife, and she bore him a son, Dangun (or Tangun) Wanggeom.

Upon listening to the Korean creation story, who cannot dream of a land so beautiful that the gods thought it paradise, or the glory of being human? Humans, in Korean eyes, have the power to mold their own destiny, and

What human being has not looked at a beautiful scene and lost breath at its glory for a split second? What magnificence and awe is there for someone who has seen the ocean, a different country, or the mountains for the first time. The moment the heart stops as it purveys the scene before one's eyes, looking at paradise on earth.

The Korean landscape is filled with wonder at every turn, the mountains stretch as far as the human eye can sense - the rivers emptying themselves into the endless sea, with the coastal plains along the shores. The Koreans view their world as a paradise on earth, even to the point where the gods viewed it as a paradise.

Creation of the Korean Nation:

Belief in Spirits:

With the wonder the Koreans held for the world around them, and the role that the Korean world and animals wanting to be human, the Koreans attach special significance to each living thing in their world. To them, everything has a spirit, tree, mountain, river, everything. The belief in spirits offers a way of life and an explanation for feelings, illness, and connections between the living and the dead. Balance is needed for a healthy relationship between the living and the dead. The shaman is the interpreter between the two. Before the dead can go to the source of the light, or heaven, they must free themselves from the pain and anger of their living lives by sharing it with the living, lest the dead who are troubled bring disease and misfortune upon the living. Troubled spirits are seen as those who died bearing grudges, without fulfilling their dreams, before they reached old age or were murdered.

The Korean pantheon consists of hundreds, perhaps thousands of deities - trees, piles of stone, sun, moon, rocks, stars, rivers, seas, mountains, past leaders and generals, animals, water, ancestors, and even more. Basic general spirit groups consist of nature spirits, Taoist deities, reincarnated Buddha deities, and Historical characters. Depending on what is trying during a person's lifetime, they will pray and offer offerings to different deities (or spirits), for help in certain areas of life.

Cheoyong (Dragon-god/spirit): the dragon of the sea, ruler of the rain, and chase away other spirits. People would paste the picture of the dragon-god to repel disease-carrying spirits (Shamanism and folk tales, Wikipedia, 1) If it would rain too hard, the people

Jisin (Earth spirit): The earth, god of the world, an enduring traditional ceremony to pacify this deity was "burying bad spirits" where the commoners would tread the earth underfoot (often accompanied with music and dance).

Grandfather Dae-gam:

Sansin Halmeoni (Birth Grandmother): was the female deity that presided over the birth and growth of a child, and granting women pregnancy. Rites were done for the grandmother before birth and various days after the birthing