Gut (ritual)

[3] In Jeju Island, gut rituals involve the recitation of a myth about the deities being invoked, called bon-puri.

Before any gut is performed, the altar is always purified by fire and water, as part of the first gori of the ritual itself.

Since ancient times there is a Korean belief that when somebody dies, their body cannot enter the world of the dead because of the impurity of their spirit.

During the sequential performance of the twelve segments that comprise a typical jaesu-gut, more than half of the costumes the mansin wears are male.

The most interactive and dynamic portions of the gut usually occur during the mansin's possession by the byeolsang (spirits of the other world) and the greedy daegam (the overseer), which require male costumes.

But in a context in which women are publicly demeaned, where their symbolic value is reduced by strong Confucian ideology, the female mansin's cross-dressing becomes complex and multi-functional.

In the context of the gut, the mansin is a sexually liminal being; by signifying a man, she not only has access to the male authority in the Confucian order, she provides the female audience an opportunity to interact with that authority in ways that would, in a public context, be unthinkable.

Her performance is often a parody of the male authority figures; she often makes off-color jokes and ribald comments, and argues with the audience.

Gut that rescues the soul of a person who has fallen into the water and comforts them and releases their grudge.