Korean Mythology - Folklore

Folklore

Korea has a rich folklore tradition with deep links to Korean shamanism. For example, the folklore about Simcheong, a girl who threw herself into the oceans, is derived from the Simcheonggut myth. The Simcheonggut myth was originally used to cure eye disease (Smcheong miraculously cured her father's blindness), but during the suppression of Korean Shamanism in the Joseon Dynasty, the myth evolved into a folktale.

Other folktales involve Korean deities. In one folklore, an axeman encounters a Sanshin, the gods of individual mountains. Sanshin gives the axeman golden and silver axes.

In the Byeongangsoe Taryeong folklore, Byeongangsoe uses Jangseung (totem poles) for firewood. He receives the rage of the Jangseung, and suddenly dies.

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Famous quotes containing the word folklore:

    Someday soon, we hope that all middle and high school will have required courses in child rearing for girls and boys to help prepare them for one of the most important and rewarding tasks of their adulthood: being a parent. Most of us become parents in our lifetime and it is not acceptable for young people to be steeped in ignorance or questionable folklore when they begin their critical journey as mothers and fathers.
    James P. Comer (20th century)

    So, too, if, to our surprise, we should meet one of these morons whose remarks are so conspicuous a part of the folklore of the world of the radio—remarks made without using either the tongue or the brain, spouted much like the spoutings of small whales—we should recognize him as below the level of nature but not as below the level of the imagination.
    Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)