earticle

영어

This research aims at examining the true nature of Seoul gut Danggeumaegi while focusing on the fact that no different versions of Danggeumaegi, an epic shaman song transmitted nationally, have been found in the exorcism rituals in Seoul, Hwanghae-do, and the northern areas of Gyeonggi-do. This study begins from the possibility that the existence of Seoul gut Danggeumaegi would be able to be restructured based on the three grounds of “literature materials, shamans’ testimony and orally transmitted data by Seoul gut shamans.” Seoul gut was called as ‘Ahndangmalmi,’ and is assumed to originally have had a narrative structure, and changed and declined as it is following the elements of shaman songs’ transmission and changes. The shaman rituals in the cities dis-appeared first in the process of gradual reorganization of exorcism rituals by preferentially accepting people’s desire to receive gods’ words, ‘’gongsu’’, rather than sticking to their cer-emonial steps. In addition, Seoul gut based on the urban environment has gone through a rapid change since 1950s. The biggest change was that the limitation of the place for exor-cism caused its performance to be held in a special space of a shrine instead of in an individ-ual’s house, and the shortened time of the performance brought about the downscale of the tunes performed during exorcism. Ahndangmalmi that used to be recited on the ground of the place of ‘ahndang’ lost its footing, and not only the epic shaman song of Danggeumaegi but also following is being skipped from gut more and more. Last, the unique culture of royal court and the upper class of Seoul seem to have contributed to the discontinuance of the recitation of Danggeumaegi in its declining process.