Korean shamanism

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Korean shamanism, also known as Musok (무속; 巫俗) or Muism (Korean: 무교; Hanja: 巫敎; RR: Mugyo), is a religion from Korea. Scholars of religion classify it as a folk religion and sometimes regard it as one facet of a broader Korean vernacular religion distinct from Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. There is no central authority in control of Musok, with much diversity of belief and practice evident among practitioners. A polytheistic religion, Musok revolves around gods and ancestral spirits. Central to the tradition are ritual specialists, the majority of them female, called mudang (무당; 巫堂). In English they have sometimes been called "shamans", although the accuracy of this term is debated among anthropologists. The mudang serve as mediators between humans and the supernatural world. They also perform gut rituals, during which they offer food and drink to the gods and spirits or entertain them with storytelling, song, and dance. Gut may take place in a private home or in a guttang shrine...

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