Les « Fêtes du village » en Corée et leur signification sociale

Abstract

The village celebrations take place within the context of villages which are not administrative units, but which are autonomous social units in which the actual power is held by the generation of older men. The offering ceremony is the central part of the celebration ; it occurs in a place called tang, which can be a tree, a rock or a small building. It is adressed to one or several spirits which have a rather imprecise physionomy, but whose main feature is their being the protec tive spirit of the village. Those who officiate at the offering ceremony are chose from among the village men ; the essential condition for this position is to be « pure » from any contact with a death or a birth. After the offering ceremony, which consists of offering the protective spirit of the village rice wine and food, and pre senting him prayers for the village, the inhabitants gather for a communion meal, after which they hold a meeting in which they discuss village affairs. The village celebration is an important moment of the manifestation of a village community's identity. It gives the latter the possibility to renew the link with its origins and to assert itself in a regard to the other villages. Moreover it plays an important role as a catalyst of social cohesiveness of the village. But the importance of this celebration in village life varies from village to village, and by observing the way in which the inhabitants participate in the celebration you can measure rather accurately the degree of cohesiveness which exists among the village inhabitants.