Twin Joseokgan

This stone pillar, 360 cm tall, stands at the entrance to Daebeol village and serves as the village's dangsan, an object of folk belief held to house a guardian spirit. In this region the dangsan is venerated as a communal village deity, invoked for peace and for good harvests and catches, to ward off disease and disaster, and to help the clan's descendants flourish. Two birds are carved and set atop the thick stone pillar. This custom is thought to arise from the belief that, because birds range freely across sky, land and water, they serve as mediators connecting gods and people. The village's dangsan rite was once held with great ceremony on the night of the third day of the first lunar month. A screen of straw matting was set up around the dangsan, women were strictly forbidden to approach, and the rite proceeded solemnly. After the rite came two unusual games: "baedarigi," in which a bolt of cotton cloth was used to divine the year's fortune, and "meorieotgi," in which the cloth used in baedarigi was afterwards wound around the two birds atop the pillar. Unfortunately, as fishing declined following land reclamation works, the custom of the village rite died out from the late 1970s. An inscription carved partway up the pillar shows that it was erected in 1749, the 25th year of King Yeongjo of Joseon. It is valuable both for its age and for the clarity with which its date of erection is known, offering precious material illustrating a folk belief that invested stone with sacredness and venerated it.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Buan, Jeonbuk

Designation

Provincial Folklore Heritage · 시도민속문화유산