핀란드 민속신앙 비교 연구: 핀란드의 티에태얘와 한국의 무당을 중심으로

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine and compare the folk beliefs of Finnish Tietäjä and Korean mudang. After Christianity began in Finland, Finnish ancient gods were categorized as devils by priests, but fortunately the influence of Christianity didn’t sweep away Finnish folk beliefs entirely. The Finnish term “Tietäjä” literally means “knower,” showing that they were aware of the supernatural world and techniques on how to access and interact with entities from this dimension. Tietäjä functioned as a medium between gods and human beings in the agricultural society of the Finno-Ugric culture. In contrast to Siberia, incantation was the most important tool to Tietäjä and common Finnish people. The characteristics of Finnish incantation were “the words of origin,” which were different from other European countries. The Finnish believed that one could control natural forces if they knew the origin. Korean mudang incantations were believed to be more powerful if the mudang used “mystical words,” which no one could understand. In order to reinforce the power of incantation, Korean mudang used Buddhist scripture, written in Sanskrit. Unlike Finland, Korea has a “possessed type of mudang” (Gangshinmu). After an initiation ceremony, they can become possessed by a spirit and can deliver “spirit’s words” to people during the kut ceremony. Despite clear differences, it remains interesting to critically examine commonalities between Finnish and Korean incantations: the former was influenced by Christianity and the latter influenced by Buddhism, which points to folk religions having flexibility in their belief systems.