Sungmo

Sungmo (崇母, "Holy Mother"), also called Daemo ("Great Mother"), Jamo ("Benevolent Mother"), Sinmo ("Divine Mother"), Nogo ("Ancient Lady"), Chungkyun Moju ("Empress Mother of the Rightful View") and by other names,^[1] is a mother goddess in the Korean indigenous and shamanic religious culture. She is especially regarded as the mother of the Heavenly King and matrix of the mu in some myths. In other myths the mu are instead regarded as descendants of Dangun.^[2]

Relation to the mu

Some myths in the Korean tradition trace the origin and power of the mu (shamans) to the Sungmo, or to a princess who is later transformed into a goddess, with divine investiture of the mu passed down through female princely lineage.^[3]

In the myth of the mother goddess, a man, Pobu Hwasang, encountered the "Holy Mother [of the Heavenly King]" on the top of a mountain.^[4] The Holy Mother became a human being and married him, giving birth to eight girls, the first mudang.^[5] According to philological studies, this myth was formed in the Silla period, when Buddhism and influences from China had already entered the Korean peninsula.^[6][7]

The myth of the princess is the most popular, and it differs from a region to another.^[8] In one of the versions the princess is Ahwang Kongju of the Yao kingdom on the Asian mainland or another kingdom.^[9] The princess had a strong connection to the Divine, granting welfare to her people.^[10] The king sent the princess among the people, who began to worship her for her healing powers.^[11] The mudang were established as her successors.^[12] The princess is worshipped at the ritual of seasonal offerings in Chungcheong.^[13] The yellow and red clothes worn by the mudang are regarded as Ahwang Kongju's robes, at the ritual.^[14]

In the north of the peninsula the princess is known as Chil Kongju (the Seventh Princess), seventh of the daughters of the king.^[15] The myth tells that she was rejected by her father, who sealed her in a stone coffin and cast it in a pond, but she was rescued by a Dragon King sent by the Heavenly King, and ascended to the western sky becoming the goddess of healing waters.^[16] Names in other provinces include Pali Kongju and Kongsim.^[17] In the tradition of Jeju Island, where there are more male baksu than female mudang, the myth of the origins tells of a prince as the ancestor of all mu.^[18]

See also

• Xiwangmu
• Amaterasu
• Muism

Notes

1. Lee Chi-ran, pp. 6-7
2. Jung Young Lee, 1981. p. 13
3. Jung Young Lee, 1981. pp. 5-12
4. Jung Young Lee, 1981. pp. 5-6
5. Jung Young Lee, 1981. pp. 5-6
6. Jung Young Lee, 1981. pp. 5-6
7. Jung Young Lee, 1981. p. 13
8. Jung Young Lee, 1981. p. 6
9. Jung Young Lee, 1981. p. 6
10. Jung Young Lee, 1981. p. 6
11. Jung Young Lee, 1981. p. 7
12. Jung Young Lee, 1981. p. 7
13. Jung Young Lee, 1981. p. 7
14. Jung Young Lee, 1981. p. 7
15. Jung Young Lee, 1981. p. 7
16. Jung Young Lee, 1981. p. 7
17. Jung Young Lee, 1981. p. 7
18. Jung Young Lee, 1981. p. 12

References

• Kim, Tae-kon (1998). Korean Shamanism—Muism. Jimoondang Publishing Company. ISBN 89-88095-09-X. Translated by Chang Soo-kyung.
• Lee Chi-ran. Chief Director, Haedong Younghan Academy. The Emergence of National Religions in Korea.
• Jung Young Lee. Korean Shamanistic Rituals. Mouton De Gruyter, 1981. ISBN 9027933782