신도의 신앙생활을 통해 바라본 무 신앙의 변화와 연속성

Abstract

Abstract

This study has set out from the awareness that contemporary adherents of Korean shamanism has been ruled out as an object of study due to the research trends of Korean Shamanism that emphasize its traditional and original forms rather than the ways it is practiced in actualities of the present. The primary purpose of this study is to observe the religious life of adherents of the present and measure it against that of the past grasped through literature review of previous studies, albeit small in number. A couple of relatively recent studies were noticeable for their dualistic approach in the analyses of religious life of adherents: traditional sacredness versus modern secularism and irrationality of Korean shamanism versus rationality of modern Korean culture, respectively. Yet, in the course of fieldwork, I came to realize that what the religious life revealed was not the rupture or confrontation, but rather the continuity between modernity and its oppositional concepts. To explicate this continuity by embracing an anthropological approach that lived reality is full of complex fusions defying easy dualisms has become another purpose of this study. The basic aspects of religious life observed in the past are still maintained in the religious life practiced in Baksu (male shaman) M’s shrine in Gyeonggi Province; the unit of religious life is not an individual but a family, rituals also gravitate around family life, and the dynamic relationship resulting from the ambiguous hierarchy between the shaman and his adherents is nearly intact. However, there have been some changes in the practice of religious life as well; house rituals have been transplanted into the shrine, the regular Jaesu-gut (a sort of thanksgiving-ritual of Korean shamanism) is disappearing, the importance of solace found in conversations with the shaman that resemble counseling rather than divination is increasing, etc. Most notably, the relatively young adherents who had few chances of encountering Korean shamanism in everyday surroundings of urban environment tend to embrace the belief system of Korean shamanism only after they have had built up a certain level of emotional ties with the shaman. It is true that such changes led to changes of the way contemporary adherents experience the sacred in religious life and the extent and realm of dependency they place upon it. Nevertheless, it is mistaken to assume that adherents’ experience of the sacred which has been this-worldy and family-bound from the past has gone through a qualitative change. The distinction between adherents of the past and the present in a dualism of sacred and secular is not an appropriate analytical frame. The same is true for a dichotomy between the rationality of Korean culture after modernization and the innate irrationality of Korean shamanism. Rationalization is a multi-dimensional and historical process. Modernity is not of an unalterable character, but mutates in local settings. Therefore, it is possible for adherents to locate their religious life within the unique context of Korean modernity. Deeply rooted in the cultural stratum, Korean shamanism has been adhered constantly with the continuity in its character and popularity. It has at the same time gone through certain changes in practice as a result of its interaction with macro socio-cultural changes such as industrialization and urbanization. The changing context of lives of contemporary adherents is precisely the driving force of that interaction.

Key words: Korean shamanism, adherents, religious life, religious practice, modernity |국문초록

본 연구는 현실에서 실천되는 무보다는 전통과 원형에 집착하는 무 연구의 경향으로 동시대의 신도들이 연구대상에서 배제되어 왔다는 문제의식에서 출발하였다. 그 수가 많지 않았지만 선행연구의 검토를 통해 과거 신앙생활의 개괄적인 양상을 파악할 수 있었고, 그것을 바탕으로 현재의 신앙생활을 조망해 보는 것을 연구의 일차적인 목적으로 설정하였다. 비교적 최근의 두 연구에서는 무 신도의 신앙생활을 전통적 성聖과 근대적 속俗, 무 신앙의 비합리성과 근대의 합리성이라는 이분적 도식으로 분석한 내용이 눈에 띠었다. 그러나 현지조사 과정에서 신도의 신앙생활이 보여주는 것은 오히려 근대성과 그 반대 개념들 사이의 단절이 아닌 연속성이라는 것을 알게되었다. 경험되는 현실은 단순한 이원론을 거역하는 복합적인 융합들로 가득 차 있다는 인류학적 접근을 기제로 그 연속성을 해명하는 것을 본 연구의 또 다른 목표로 설정하게 되었다. 경기도에 위치한 M박수의 신당에서 실천되는 신도의 신앙생활에는 과거에 파악되었던 신앙생활의 기본적 특징들이 유지되고 있었다. 신앙의 단위는 개인이 아닌 가족이며, 신앙의 내용도 가족생활과 밀접한 관련이 있고, 무당과 신도 사이의 위계가 모호한 역동적 관계도 대부분 유지되고 있었다. 그러나 신앙의 실천에 있어서는 다소간의 변화가 있었다. 가정의 의례들이 신당으로 장소를 옮겨 치러지고, 정기적인 재수굿은 사라지는 추세이며, 점사라기 보다는 상담에 가까운 M박수와의 대화에서 얻는 심리적 위안이 신앙생활에서 차지하는 중요도가 높아지는 등의 변화들이다. 특히 일상에서 무 신앙을 접할 기회를 갖지 못했던 젊은 층의 신도들은 지속적 상담을 통해 M박수와의 유대감을 형성한 뒤에야 무의 신앙체계를 받아들이는 경향을 보였다. 이러한 변화들로 현재의 신도들이 신앙생활에서 성스러움을 경험하는 방식이 달라지고, 그것에 대한 의존도나 의존하는 부분이 달라진 것은 사실이다. 그러나 과거부터 초월적인 존재나 진리와의 합일이 아닌 현세지향적이고 가족주의적이었던 무 신도가 경험하는 성스러움의 성격이 질적으로 변화한 것은 아니다. 과거의 신도와 현재의 신도를 성과 속의 도식으로 구분하는 것은 적절한 분석의 틀이 될 수 없다. 근대화의 결과 합리화된 한국 문화와 비합리적 무 신앙의 대립이라는 도식도 성립되지 않는다. 합리화는 다차원적인 역사적 과정이며, 근대성은 불변의 성질을 지닌 것이 아닌 지역적 특성에 따라 변이를 일으키는 성질을 갖는다. 신도들은 한국의 근대성이라는 독특한 맥락 내에서 자신의 신앙에 좌표를 부여할 수 있다. 무 신앙은 한국의 기층문화로서 연속성을 갖고 꾸준히 신앙되고 있다. 동시에 그것은 산업화, 도시화와 같은 거시적인 사회문화적 변동과 상호작용하며 변화해 왔다. 그 상호작용의 동인이 되는 것이 바로 동시대 신도들의 변화하는 삶의 맥락이다.

Key words: 무, 무속, 무교, 신도, 단골, 신앙생활, 신앙실철, 근대성; house rituals have been transplanted into the shrine, the regular Jaesu-gut (a sort of thanksgiving-ritual of Korean shamanism) is disappearing, the importance of solace found in conversations with the shaman that resemble counseling rather than divination is increasing, etc. Most notably, the relatively young adherents who had few chances of encountering Korean shamanism in everyday surroundings of urban environment tend to embrace the belief system of Korean shamanism only after they have had built up a certain level of emotional ties with the shaman. It is true that such changes led to changes of the way contemporary adherents experience the sacred in religious life and the extent and realm of dependency they place upon it. Nevertheless, it is mistaken to assume that adherents’ experience of the sacred which has been this-worldy and family-bound from the past has gone through a qualitative change. The distinction between adherents of the past and the present in a dualism of sacred and secular is not an appropriate analytical frame. The same is true for a dichotomy between the rationality of Korean culture after modernization and the innate irrationality of Korean shamanism. Rationalization is a multi-dimensional and historical process. Modernity is not of an unalterable character, but mutates in local settings. Therefore, it is possible for adherents to locate their religious life within the unique context of Korean modernity. Deeply rooted in the cultural stratum, Korean shamanism has been adhered constantly with the continuity in its character and popularity. It has at the same time gone through certain changes in practice as a result of its interaction with macro socio-cultural changes such as industrialization and urbanization. The changing context of lives of contemporary adherents is precisely the driving force of that interaction.

Key words: Korean shamanism, adherents, religious life, religious practice, modernity