4345 (2012) Dodang-je Ceremony of the "Samgak Dodang-ji" San-shin Shrine Held at the Shamanic Mountain-spirit Altar on the east side of Seoul's Three-Horns Mountain
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The public Samgak-san Dodang-je [Village-Shrine Ritual Festival] is held every 3rd Day of
the 3rd Moon (Lunar Calendar 3.3), which was Saturday March 24th in 2009 [4345 dan-gi].
For full introduction and explanation of its procedure, see my 2007 Dodang-je pages.
This year we had nice clear Spring weather for the Neo-Confucian Ceremony in the
morning, but it turned cloudy, windy and bitterly cold by the time the Shamanic rituals got
going in the early afternoon. Some of my international students joined in watching the
ceremonies at the classic shrine, with a large crowd of locals, officials & experts.
See my Samgak-Sanshin-je page for introduction, if you haven't already.
Starting the characteristic ritual in front of the Gut-dang Altar loaded with offerings (mostly grain-based, but
including a pig's head), a famous Manshin [Mudang, Korean female Shaman] chants prayers to the Samgak-Sanshin
while two elder officiants in Confucian clothing tap fresh-cut local saplings (young trees) into bowls of rice and
cash-donations, which causes the "male" spirits of this mountain (representing Insu-bong and
Manggyeong-dae Peaks) to become embedded in those saplings.
They then parade, very slowly, the 15 meters from the gut-dang over to the Samgak-Sanshin Altar. The two elder male officiants carry the sacred boughs with eyers closed while chanting an invocation of the mountain-spirit, shaking them rhythmically to demonstrate the spirit's presence.
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this year's Brochure for the event
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the leading Shamanic performers, and the 20-step procedure
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