A Comparative Study of Sacrificial Wild Game and Domestic Livestock As Considered from an Folklore Viewpoint

비교민속학적 시점에서 가축화와 동물공희

The purpose of this research paper is to examine, from an ethnological viewpoint, the traditional practice of using sacrificial game and domestic livestock as is often seen at communal rites in Korea. This paper also examine how the more convenient use of livestock sacrifice developed from that in which wild game were once offered, and how this change in the type of animals used affected the significance of the sacrifice. It also looks at how the use of animal sacrifice for ceremonies eventually influenced the practice of meat consumption on the part of the participants in their daily life, and how it contributed to the eventual establishment and development of livestock breeding for the purpose of meat consumption. The practice of catching wild game in the mountains for sacrificial purposes eventually gave way to the use of pasturage cattle, but it should be understood that these domesticated livestock were raised primarily for ceremonial rather than meat consumption purpose. When used for sacrifice, these cattle were not castrated, as is normally done when they are slaughtered for meat consumption, but it should not be assumed that this was done for purposes of simplification. In addition, not only rice farmers but also when enterpreneurs set up a new enterprise, animal sacrifice was viewed not only as a form of on-site purification of evil, but also served the dual purpose of enhancing their business through the traditional custom of serving meat to those invited guests in attendance. In the large-scale village communal rite of Hwaghae Province located in the northwestern part of Korea, animal sacrifice was carried out in the ritual for the Mountain God in a highly dramatic style, and suggests that it originated with the agrarian rites of the "fire-field" farmers of East Asia, which were utilized to foretell whether the coming year would be one of abundance or famine, and to the royal ceremony held on the 3rd day of the 3rd month of the lunar calendar, as well as that held for the God of the Mountains and Streams. The dramatic-style hunting rite, included in the large-scale communal ritual of Hwanghae Province mentioned previously, as well as in the Ritual of the Cow from Pyungsan, also located in Hwanghae Province, in which wild game were used as sacrifice, is significant in that it points up the changes that have occurred in ceremonial animal sacrifice. However, more research on ritualistic animal sacrifice is still called for in rites for good farming, fishing, and the variety of others that are held throughout Korea.