The Divine Mengdu and Their Creators: A Study of the Divinity of the Mengdu and Their Relationship with Smiths in Jeju Indigenous Shamanic Religion

Abstract

Abstract:This paper argues that shamanic instruments known as mengdu are revered as sacred on Jeju-do and that the smiths who make the mengdu, as creators of divine mengdu and as transmitters of these instruments to the simbang (Jeju shamans), are regarded as sacred beings. The relationship between shamans and smiths could be seen in many places in Korea, including Jeju-do, until quite recently, though it has become difficult to identify in the course of time. On Jeju, where the sacred power and role of smiths were in evidence until twenty years ago, smiths were considered sacred because they make the material god mengdu. This job is extremely challenging because the mengdu are themselves a kind of sillyeong, which can be offended during the process of being made into metal instruments. Although sillyeong are defined as “spirits or natural objects that are served as gods,” this definition should be expanded, for the mengdu are metal “artifacts” also served as gods. The smith making the mengdu also performs the mengdu gosa, in which he unites the new mengdu with its soul and divines the future of the simbang. It is not the shaman but the smith who is the first user of the new set of mengdu for divination. Since full-time smiths making the mengdu do not exist any longer on Jeju, a renowned young simbang is currently doing the work of creating gods out of metal, showing again that “smiths and shamans are from the same nest.”