earticle

영어

Many kinds of stories appear in folk culture that mention urination.
Stories with an allusion to urination are more than just about excrement. Stories about women's urination are more frequent than stories about men's. Through my research on the mask drama, I have found that there are many stories about women's urination in Kyungsando. Therefore, I have tried to discover the reason why. I have found that these stories have appeared in mythology, personal legends, folklore and shaman plays.
I feel that it is necessary to look at stories of women's urination from a different approach. Normally it is thought that showing a woman's body is done as a way of attracting men. However, I found that what was more important in the folk stories was where the urination took place and the quantity of the urination. It seems that the quantity of the urination was much greater in comparison with a normal situation.
Moreover, the main idea of the stories is about a woman who is extraordinary. She is related to a special person or the story is connected to her capacity to reproduce.
The different aspects of urination by women can be divided into four parts : Thus, we will see a change the way of looking at these stories and the social recognition of the women.
The first aspect appears through the creative myth. In this myth, the main body of the story is about a big woman who is chosen by the god of creation. She has a great quantity of urination and also has great power of reproduction. In these stories, she is treated as a creative god herself who creates the rivers and other things for the people, who work to construct the villages and the castles.
The second aspect appears in ancient lectures and the orally-transmitted myths about urination in a woman's dream. This was a prediction that she could be married to a person who might be an important man. After they got married, they would have a son who would be the king of the country. All of these stories were connected with historical people and were made like mythological stories. There was a dream that was on top of a mountain. The urination flowed throughout the entire world. It was associated with the birth of a person who could have political power and become king. However, it was passed from the elder sister to the younger sister. The younger sister bought the dream from the elder sister. Thus, their lives were changed through the dream. In this dream, the women's urination is connected to the power of reproduction and the birth of a human being who could control the entire world.
The third aspect appears in shaman plays and folklore. The women's urination was connected with praying for the richness of the village. The shaman did it. Even without the character of the mountain god or the sacred body, the act of urination could be treated as a kind of symbol of praying for the richness of the agricultural society and the fishing village.
The fourth aspect appears in the mask play, which is done in modern times. The women's urination is treated as a way of attracting men and showing them their power to reproduce. Even though the main idea of the urination still has the essential element of reproduction, the external form has changed in many ways to become more vulgar.
Finally, the meaning of women's urination is changing and suffering with the passage of time. Thus the meaning of women's urination has changed from the urination of the creative god to the urination of the important person to human urination as a simulation of the Gods to attracting men's attention.
All of this is really related to the way we look at women. As women's position in life has lowered, so has the power of women to reproduce and the characteristic of being creative has become weaker and weaker through successive generations. Thereby, the meaning of the urination act has become a simple act like reproduction and shaman imitations and it has become a way of showing the temptations of men.