설화를 통해 본 조상제사의 인식 체계 = Recognition System of Ancestral Rites through Folk Tales

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The ancestral rite folk tale refers to a story related to the commemoration of the ancestors. It consists mainly of stories focused on the spirit of the ancestors who are actually visiting during the ancestral rite day, the ancestral rites performed by the persons who are not the relevant descendants, the ancestral rites performed for the persons who are not the relevant ancestors, the ancestors who received elaborate ancestral rite meals and blessed the descendants, the descendants who performed insincere ancestral rites and suffered misfortune, and preparation and arrangement of the ancestral rites table. These correspond to the purpose of performing ancestral rites, the chief of ancestral rites, and the formality of ancestral rites within the Confucian ancestral rite norms. What is interesting, though, is that the contents of the ancestral rite folk tales reveal another aspect, which is different from the Confucian ideology of ancestral rites.
Meanwhile, most of the studies that have been conducted on ancestral rites focused on the perspective of Confucian manners, but have barely paid attention to the cultural awareness of the inheritors who performed the ancestral rites on the actual location. In other words, most of the existing researches that have been conducted were focused on the ancestral rite procedures and arrangement of food on the ancestral rite table, including the structures and characteristics of the ancestral rites, based on the book of ancestral rite norms, Chu Hsi Family Formalities. Unlike this, the ancestral rite cultures represented in the oral folk tales are not external norms such as procedures and forms but connote internal consciousness world, which also represents our inherent sentiments surrounding ancestral rites. Accordingly, the ancestral rite awareness of ordinary people was examined in this thesis, focusing on the existence of ancestral spirits and various ancestral rite procedures, which are the key elements of ancestral rite cultures that were represented in the folk tales.
The ancestral rite aspects represented in the folk tales reveal clear differences from the existing ancestral rite norms. In the ancestral rite folk tales, for instance, there is no mention of ancestral rite procedures such as spiritualistic ceremony, first cup of wine offering ceremony, ancestral rite offerings such as spiritualistic ceremony, first cup of wine offering ceremony, ancestral rite offerings such as dojeok and soup, and ways of arranging ancestral rite offerings such as arrangement of fruits, and the beef jerky on the left and sikhye on the right on the ancestral rite table. This can be regarded as an ancestral rite practice without principles and order from the viewpoint of the existing norms； however, one important factor appears and it is the ‘devotion’. In other words, the logic is that the ancestors appreciate an ancestral rite that is performed with heartfelt devotion, even though the offerings consisted of only one glass of water and one bowl of rice porridge, but turn away from an ancestral rite that is performed with all the formal offerings and strict procedures without any heartfelt devotion. Furthermore, it maximizes the importance of devotion by setting a didactic morality that if the ancestors are satisfied with the offerings, blessing will be rewarded, while punishment will be inflicted if they are dissatisfied with the offerings. '
As a result, it can be said that the keywords of the ancestral rite folk tales are devotion, appreciation, fortune, and misfortune. What is interesting is that these elements are interdependent. In other words, the ancestors appreciation depends on devotion, while the types of fortune and misfortune depend on the ancestors appreciation (satisfaction or dissatisfaction). Noteworthy is the fact that appreciation and fortune and misfortune are the results derived from the existence or nonexistence of devotion, and thus ‘devotion’ is placed in the most central position. In fact, ancestral rite procedures are nothing but social and cultural norms set up by people. Accordingly, if the insistence on the formalities makes the spirit of ancestors uneasy, it is only external manners to perform manners, and not to serve ancestors. For example, Hwangjinsa in Tale 5 is a person who is well -versed in manners more than anyone else, but he performs the an cestral rites without formalities and without method because he fears that performing the ancestral rites in accordance with established manners will result in making his father, who is of obscure birth, feel too uncomfortable to eat the ancestral rite offerings. This also reminds us of the fact that the basic spirit of manners is not formalities and norms but heartfelt sincerity, that is, ‘devotion’.