Immediately after the individual has passed, a white coat or cloak that was last worn by the recently departed is rushed to the roof, and a declaration is made in all four cardinal directions, as Confucian ideals attributed meanings to each.
The family of the dead will prepare three bowls each of rice, vegetables, soups and set out three units of money and three pairs of shoes outside the entrance of the house to the messengers from the other world.
[4] It is believed that, if all things are not settled correctly, the spirit of the deceased will fail to proceed to the afterlife, and a ‘lost’ soul is thought to bring unfortunate happenings to the village.
[6] The wife of the eldest son will be responsible for the food and for the preparations for the main funeral service and can enlist the assistance of relatives of the family who will come to help with arrangements and cook preparation of food for the many guests who will come to pay their respects and gain or maintain some standing with the family, as depicted by the 1996 award-winning film, Chukje (translated Festival).
Then, after plugging cotton in the ears and nose of the dead and placing coins over the eyes, the mouth will be filled with three spoonfuls of rice.
[9] Korea became a colony of Japan in August 1910, and in June 1912 the Japanese Governor-General announced the "Ordinance to control graves, crematories, burials and cremation" (jp.
As Biontino notes, "These policies aimed at improving health and hygiene, but they were also deemed necessary out of a concern for space: much arable land was occupied with graves," although by doing so, "Japanese authorities challenged not only secular problems, but also attacked the spirituality of the Koreans.
"[10] As Han also notes, "public cemeteries were incompatible with the burial practices that permeated Korean society at that time," and in fact "this dissonance between the stipulations of the Ordinance and resilient local beliefs triggered the masses’ wish for specially selected graveyards, which facilitated the overall expansion of the Fengshui-related professions.
First, people should be mourning for three years during which time Jesa ceremonies must be held, because when their parents died it reflects their filial piety.
[16] Though it is diminishing in commonality, there are still two variations of Shamanistic funeral rites that survived the Joseon and Japanese periods of Korean history.
They vary mostly by the regions from which they originate but have very much the same basic premise, that souls of those who fail to completely or properly transition to the afterlife, can linger and create bad fate for the villages they are from.
Much of this idea comes from the veneration of their ancestors that came from the Neo-Confucian teachings that became prevalent just before the Joseon dynasty as they were melded with the organic religions of the ancient Korean peoples.
In the more Southern and South Eastern portions of Korea, now known as the Jeolla provinces, Shamanistic Priestesses, known as Sesup-mu, were a hereditary priestly line.
They are also predominantly female and are known individually as ‘Kangshin-mu’ Rather than a priestess, they act as more of a spiritual medium who invites spirits into their person to perform various functions on behalf of the dead.
One of the most common among all ceremonies involve the Mudang inviting the spirit of a deity known as ‘Princess Pari’ who assist the newly departed to pass from this life to the next by crossing a cotton cloth that is spread across the room (symbolizing the path to eternal bliss) and avoiding a parallel path down a hemp cloth, symbolizing a less desirable outcome.