Part I: Living Tradition Bearers and Her Shrine, Suseong-dang
I had the privilege to join a field trip to collect the folk stories of Gaeyang Halmi, the Sea Goddess, in Buan-gun (Buan County), North Jeolla Province, South Korea July 10-12, 2012.
The team comprised a group of graduate students studying Korean Literature at the Kunguk University (Kim Jungeun, Cho Hongyoun, Lee Won-Young, Hwang Sungup, and Lee Boohee) headed by Dr. Shin Dong-Hun, Dr. Park Hyeon-Suk, and myself.[i]
We visited several villages in Gyeokpo-ri, Byeonsan-myeon. We met our folktale bearers literally almost anywhere: roads, fields, homes, business places, and senior citizen centers.
At first we were met by several elders who adamantly refused to tell us the folk stories of Gaeyang Halmi. I later learned that they held the view that only historical events and factual data were to be the reliable source. They simply dismissed our questions by saying, “We [meaning I] are simply not interested in those stories. We don’t know such matters.” For a generation like his, legends and myths were of superstition made only for the lowly and mudang (shamans) not worth serious attention.
Only after the hustle and bustle of questioning to several folks whom we randomly encountered, we were finally given some names who would tell us the stories. We met them one by one. And they told us that they heard the stories from the elders when they were young.
Our oral story tellers included: Son Hae-Guk (75, male), Ha Bok-Sun (74, female), Yun Yang-Nyeo (79, female), No Jeong-Sun (81, female), Gim Byeong-Rye (81, female), Hyeon Saeng-Gyun (58, male), Heo Yong-Dae (50, male), Sin Dong-Eop (72, male), Jeong Dong-Uk (75, male), and Jeong Si-Geum (76, female).[ii] The last two were siblings. They are our living traditions, torches, and shimmering lights to the survival of Magoism in Korea.
We began our search by visiting Gaeyang Halmi’s shrine, Suseong-dang (Sea Sage Shrine), located on a cliff off the seashore of the Yellow Sea. Right across the Sea, China’s Shandong Peninsula faces it.
Villagers call her Gaeyang Halmi, Suseong-dang Halmi, or simply Dang (Shrine) Halmi. “Halmi” or “Halmeoni” in this case refers to the Goddess, whereas it often means one’s grandmother or a crone.[iii] It is unknown what her name “Gaeyang” means. It may be a derivative of “Haeyang” (the Sea or Ocean).
It is believed that she came out from the sea through a dragon cave [or a fox cave]. She walks around on the sea to calm down the surging waves and protects fishermen, sea voyagers, and ships. Ms. Jeong Si-Geum mentioned that the dragon cave is now pretty much filled, making the channel invisible.
She is a giantess. Some said that she is as tall as nine cheok (one cheok is roughly equivalent to one foot). Nonetheless, her height is immeasurable. Others said that the sea water in Gomso (Sea of Goddess), known to be deepest within the vicinity, made her underpants wet or only touched her ankle. [The phrase, “It is deep like a Gomso dumbeong,” referring to a deep sea, originates from this story.]
She was alone at first in her pantheon. [This may refer to her solo painting in the Shrine. It may be possible that there was her solo painting only at first but later there were other paintings including her eight daughters. See Part II for more more details.] Later on, she was known to have eight daughters who were pretty and moral. Gaeyang Halmi sent out seven daughters to seven different islands nearby or faraway and lived with the youngest daughter in this place.
(To be continued in Part II and Part III)
Halmeoni means “grandmother” or “crone” for modern Koreans. Nonetheless, it also means “Goddess” in its etymology. It also means “the Mother who Does/Acts.”
Thank you for the pictures and commentary about your project. I look forward to reading more!
Most welcome and nice to hear that, Hearth! Yes, later parts will unravel more key points even linking to Magoism.