우물 파기는 마을이란 小宇宙의 창조에서 가장 중요한 하나의 과제이다. 우물은 종교적 상징성에 서 본다면 ‘자연의 물’을 ‘인간의 물’로 일정 부분 변환시킨 것이다. 우물에 신령들이 개입되어야 하 나의 우물이 제대로 탄생하고 유지된다. 우물의 건축 구조는 地上과 地下를 수직적으로 연결하고 소통하게 하는 ‘中心의 상징’을 지닌다. 지하는 지하의 水界와도 동일시된다. 이는 더 나아가 또 하나의 他界, 저승으로도 인식된다. 우물물은 生命, 豊饒, 淨化, 再生 및 還生, 創造란 상징을 지닌다. 우물에는 대체로 龍으로 형상화 된 우물신[井神]이 坐定한다. 또한 우물은 마을의 堂山과 더불어 또 하나의 宇宙軸이 된다. 우물은 여러 靈驗과 神通力을 드러낸다. 神靈은 우물을 직접 만들어 주거나 우물자리를 啓示해 준다. 우물은 항상 스스로 ‘깨끗함’을 유지하려는 속성을 가지고 있다. 만일 不淨이 발생하면 우물은 變故를 나타낸다. 그러나 不淨과는 관계없이 어떤 吉凶을 예고할 경우에도 變故를 나타낸다. 變故는 대개 우물물의 淸濁, 색깔, 물이 솟는 모양새, 마르거나 넘치는 것, 그리고 結氷 등으로 표현된다. 우물의 생명력은 인간의 임신ㆍ출산ㆍ육아에 널리 응용된다. 우물은 不姙을 受胎로, 難産을 順産 으로, ‘젖 부족’을 ‘젖 풍부’로 전환시키는 靈驗을 지닌다. 또한 우물은 위대한 인간을 탄생시키는 신 통력이 있다. 우물물은 ‘생명－죽음－재생 및 환생’이란 상징을 갖는다. 우물은 더 나아가 재생과 환생을 초월 하는 ‘새로운 존재의 탄생’도 실현하는 聖所이다. 우물이 지닌 淨化性의 핵심은 井華水이다. 至高의 깨끗함과 맑음은 인간과 神을 소통하게 한다. 또한 정화수는 俗世를 淨化시킬 수 있다. 여기에서 모든 不淨을 없애는 ‘不淨물’이 派生한다. 땅을 수직으로 파서 만든 우물은 지하를 통하여 모든 바다와 강들과 잇닿아 있다. 우물신인 龍은 우물을 통하여 지하, 곧 물의 세계로 들어가 四海를 넘나들거나 다시 지상으로 출현할 수 있다. 우물물이 항상 제대로 솟게 하려면 우물신에 대한 신앙과 그에 따른 제사가 필요하다. 마을이나 가정의 우물고사, 井祭, 용왕제 등이 그러한 목적을 지닌다. 마을이나 가정의 우물은 평소에는 별로 그 신성함이 드러나지 않는다. 그러나 해나 계절이 바뀌거 나, 농사의 始終 등 몇몇의 境界性 시간에서는 俗의 우물이 聖의 우물로 변환된다.

Digging a well is one of the most important tasks in a village it is regarded as the creation of a microcosmos. In religious symbolism, a well transforms ‘natural water’ into ‘water for man’. To create and maintain the quality of water, the intervention of gods is often required. A well connects and penetrates the underground and the aboveground by its vertical structure. A well also stands for ‘the symbol of center,’ between above and below ground. The underground is considered as ‘Su-gye (world of water).’ Furthermore, the underground is also recognized as another related world, ‘Jeo-seung (world of the dead).’ The symbolic meanings of a well include life, purification, rebirth, incarnation, and creation. A well has its own god which is usually incarnated as a life that stays in the well. Thus, a well is one of the most important symbols of a village, parallel to the god’s mountain as a cosmic axis. A well contains spiritual power. Often, spirit makes a well by himself or reveals a clue about a place with water underneath for a well. A well has a tendency to keep itself pure. However, sometimes a well can display abnormality when it contains something impure or when a taboo is broken. On the other hand, it can be interpreted as a foretelling of the future which can be good or bad depending on the kind of abnormality shown in a well: level of purity, color, shape of the water spring, dryness The well’s power to create life is utilized in woman’s pregnancy, birth and nurturing: A well has the spiritual power to transform infertility into fertility, difficulties of delivery into easy delivery or dry breast milk into abundance. Further, a well creates a heroic man with its god’s power. Life-death-rebirth is another important symbol of a well’s water. The power of a well can create completely new existence outside of the life-death-rebirth cycle. ‘Jeong-Hwa Soo (first water of the day)’ is the essence of the purifying power of a well. The supreme purity and cleanness of Jeong-Hwa Soo enables man to communicate with the gods and clean the mundane. Thus, well water can cleanse all kinds of impurity. The vertical structure of a well enables its water to flow underground, to rivers, and to the seas of the world. Thus, the god of a well, a dragon, can freely travel underground to the sea, and aboveground. To maintain the function of a well, flourishing water requires belief in the well and rituals. The following examples have the same purpose: the well ceremony in houses or a village, ritual for a well, ritual for the god of the sea. In fact, a well in a house or a village doesn’t show its holiness in everyday life. However, a well can be transformed into a holy place when important passages of time occur, such as the change of a season or year or the beginning or the ends of agriculture.

Digging a well is one of the most important tasks in a village it is regarded as the creation of a microcosmos. In religious symbolism, a well transforms ‘natural water’ into ‘water for man’. To create and maintain the quality of water, the intervention of gods is often required. A well connects and penetrates the underground and the aboveground by its vertical structure. A well also stands for ‘the symbol of center,’ between above and below ground. The underground is considered as ‘Su-gye (world of water).’ Furthermore, the underground is also recognized as another related world, ‘Jeo-seung (world of the dead).’ The symbolic meanings of a well include life, purification, rebirth, incarnation, and creation. A well has its own god which is usually incarnated as a life that stays in the well. Thus, a well is one of the most important symbols of a village, parallel to the god’s mountain as a cosmic axis. A well contains spiritual power. Often, spirit makes a well by himself or reveals a clue about a place with water underneath for a well. A well has a tendency to keep itself pure. However, sometimes a well can display abnormality when it contains something impure or when a taboo is broken. On the other hand, it can be interpreted as a foretelling of the future which can be good or bad depending on the kind of abnormality shown in a well: level of purity, color, shape of the water spring, dryness The well’s power to create life is utilized in woman’s pregnancy, birth and nurturing: A well has the spiritual power to transform infertility into fertility, difficulties of delivery into easy delivery or dry breast milk into abundance. Further, a well creates a heroic man with its god’s power. Life-death-rebirth is another important symbol of a well’s water. The power of a well can create completely new existence outside of the life-death-rebirth cycle. ‘Jeong-Hwa Soo (first water of the day)’ is the essence of the purifying power of a well. The supreme purity and cleanness of Jeong-Hwa Soo enables man to communicate with the gods and clean the mundane. Thus, well water can cleanse all kinds of impurity. The vertical structure of a well enables its water to flow underground, to rivers, and to the seas of the world. Thus, the god of a well, a dragon, can freely travel underground to the sea, and aboveground. To maintain the function of a well, flourishing water requires belief in the well and rituals. The following examples have the same purpose: the well ceremony in houses or a village, ritual for a well, ritual for the god of the sea. In fact, a well in a house or a village doesn’t show its holiness in everyday life. However, a well can be transformed into a holy place when important passages of time occur, such as the change of a season or year or the beginning or the ends of agriculture.

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life, purification, rebirth, incarnation, religious rituals of well, water drawn from the well early at the dawn, uncleanliness, divine response, occult power, cosmic axis