A Study on the Ritual for the God of the Earth in East Asia National Ceremony
1. The ancient rituals for the earth, which were practiced in unsophisticated ways, have become firmly established, together with the rituals for the heaven, as the Confuci ...
A Study on the Ritual for the God of the Earth in East Asia National Ceremony
1. The ancient rituals for the earth, which were practiced in unsophisticated ways, have become firmly established, together with the rituals for the heaven, as the Confucian's national ritual system for centuries. In the meantime, original rituals for the earth have been transformed into the altar of state symbolizing the authority of the state, or suburban sacrifices as the Confucian's national ritual system. The ritual of earth worship was interpreted based on the Yin-Yang thought of the Book of Change. In particular, the period or place and the level of the earth god decided on the basis of the relationship with the celestial supreme god. The earth god, starting from the primitive concept of the terra mother, has changed into the altar of state symbolizing the territory of the state. As the rituals for the earth god were incorporated into the Confucian ritual system of the State, Hou tu as Earth Mother compatible to the celestial supreme god, appeared. In conclusion, as the ritual for the earth god was incorporated into the Confucian's national ritual system, the uniqueness of the earth god was vanished, or transformed into the compatible counterpart of the heaven god. Accordingly, the structure and style of the ritual of earth worship were also adjusted according to the established relation with the ritual of heaven worship.
2.The rituals for the earth god, which were spontaneously generated and existed in their independent and unique styles in the ancient Chinese agricultural society, have developed as the she ritual of the national sacrificial system. In the years of the Han, the rituals for the earth god experienced a considerable change such that they were reorganized as the chiao․she system of the northern suburbs, which is one of divisions of the Chinese national sacrificial system. In other words, as the compatible counterpart of the heaven god as the celestial supreme god worshiped in the southern suburbs, the earth god, called Hou tu, was worshiped.
In short, the earth god, which appeared in the Chinese earth worship ritual system, spontaneously emerged at first, mixed and transformed with the rituals for the heaven god and then reorganized by the confucianism. Finally, the uniqueness of the earth god of the Chinese earth worship ritual system was lost and changed. Starting from the concept of being the great land mother meaning the mother of all beings, the meaning of the earth god was reduced to the concept of being the territorial god or changed to the deity subordinate to the heaven god.
3. The traces of Korean characteristic rituals for the Earth Mother clearly appear from several relics of the Neolithic era and rituals for the Cave god of the Koguryeo dynasty. In the period of the Three States, the rituals for the earth god were performed in various manners. In Koryeo dynasty, the ritual system for the earth god was transformed to absorb the Confucian thought. Since the situation of the Northeast Asia was China-centered in the Chosun era, the ritual system changed into the rite for the territorial god in the form of rite events to worship only the altar of the state excluding the ritual for the supreme god of the earth. This means that the concept of the supreme god of the earth perished.
This paper presents the analytical results from a research into the Korean’s Ritual for the Earth God having experienced transformation and distortion in the course of establishment of the national ritual system and under the influence of the Sino-centrism by elucidating characteristics of the Korean traditional rituals, which had been neglected due to the Chinese-style earth worship rituals. This paper presents various ritual modes for the Earth God according to the historical change and provides a better understanding of meanings of the ritual system for the Earth God in viewpoint of the history of religions.