A Study on the Clothes of Shamanistic Ritual(I)

한국무속의예 복식의 연구(I)

Signifying clothes can be defined as a process in which a clothes obtains a symbolic meaning by confining its use and purpose. In this paper we catagorize the process of signifying clothes that appears in the Byongkut as follows : first removing the clothes, secondly putting on the clothes, and thirdly burning off the clothes. Removing the clothes is a process of dramatic realization and clearly shows proven facts about the things that will occur in the process. Putting on the clothes is a process of falsified expression in which the interest is transferred from the person who wears the clothes to the clothes itself by the shaman's insinuation who leads an interpretation about the clothes. Buring off the clothes is a pro-cess of mystification in which the end of Byongkut is sublimated mistiriously by making the partici-pants believe with the burning that the clothes and the diseases have been curred, and therefore, the ritual is kept from spoiling. The clothes used in Byongkut that religious belief and belief system are expressed through behavior style, and that supernatural power is designed to reveal is related with the various aspects of symbolic life indicated by the clothes.