Korea
The Dragon King, ruler of the sea ↗
Beneath the waves stands a palace of seven treasures, and in it sits the Dragon King, lord of fish, storms and rain. Meet Yongwang, the sea god Korean fishing families still pray to.
LANTERN MYTHS
Gods & spirits.
Meet extraordinary beings through the particular stories that describe them.
Korea
The household gods of the Korean home ↗
A traditional Korean house was never empty. A god lived in the roof beam, a goddess in the kitchen, a spirit under the yard and a bad-tempered goddess in the outhouse. Meet the gasin, the gods of the Korean home.
Korea
Bujeok, Korean talismans against evil ↗
Red marks on yellow paper, pinned above a door or tucked into a wallet. Bujeok are Korean talismans meant to chase away evil spirits and bring good fortune. Here is what they are and how they were made.
Korea
Jangseung, the grinning guardians of the village gate ↗
Bulging eyes, a fist of a nose, a grin that reaches the ears. Carved wooden and stone guardians once stood at the entrance of almost every Korean village to keep out disease and evil spirits.
Korea
Princess Bari, the abandoned daughter who guides the dead ↗
Thrown away at birth for being the seventh daughter, Princess Bari walked into the underworld to save the parents who rejected her. Her story is sung at Korean funerals to this day.
Korea
Samsin Halmeoni, the grandmother goddess of birth ↗
She decides when a baby will come, helps it into the world and watches over it as it grows. Meet Samsin Halmeoni, Korea's grandmother goddess of birth, and hear the Jeju myth of how she won her job with a flower.
Korea
Sansin, the mountain god and his tiger ↗
In almost every Korean temple there is a small shrine to a white-bearded old man leaning on a tiger. Meet Sansin, the mountain god, Korea's guardian of peaks, villages and kingdoms.
Korea
Mudang and gut, Korea's shamans and their rituals ↗
Drums, bells, fans and bright robes. The mudang is the Korean shaman who calls the gods, feeds them and sends them home. Meet the people at the heart of Korea's oldest religion and learn what happens at a gut.
Korea
The tiger and the magpie, Korea's favourite folk painting ↗
A goofy, cross-eyed tiger sits under a pine while a magpie scolds him from a branch. The tiger-and-magpie painting is the best-loved image in Korean folk art, and it hides a joke about power.
Korea
King Yeomra and the Ten Kings of the Korean underworld ↗
After death, a Korean soul faces a long trial before ten kings, with King Yeomra the most famous of them all. Here is how Korean tradition imagined the underworld, its judges and the people who came back.