Between / 사이에서 (Documentary on modern Shamanism)

For those interested in seeing modern shamanism in practice, check out the Documentary titled Between (사이에서).  It shows the journey of a woman as she goes through the rites to become a Shaman along with other regular rituals going on in the town.  Some of the more interesting things was one of the shamans danced with and smacked dead animals after which the shaman stabs a dead pig in its belly and proceeds to lick the knife.  Oh yeah, and afterwards the same person twists a chicken’s head off.  Other than that there are various times when someone would talk for a spirit said to posses them.  Shamanism seems to be in a hard place, despised and yet counted on.  The wiki page linked below states that the government discouraged superstitions like shamanistic rituals yet cut back on that after recognizing some valuable cultural properties.  If that topic interests you at all, check out this documentary to see the real rituals taken place.

Also click here to read more about Korean shamanism.

  1. http://blog.daum.net/shamanlee/
    the blog of old shaman you saw in the movie.

    i had a chance to meet the old shaman in a class (a introduction to religion 101)
    and asked about a woman who suffered in the movie.
    the old shaman answered that she had given up to become a shaman and no one knew anything about her anymore.

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