Grandma Gaeyang of Suseongdang Shrine
Suseongdangje Ritual in Jukmak-dong (2012)This photo shows the Suseongdangdangje Ritual in Jukmak-dong held in 2012. Suseongdang Shrine enshrines the sea god Gaeyanghalmi, who protects the sea of Chilsan in front of the Byeonsan Peninsula.
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LocationGyeoksang-gil Byeonsan-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do
- CategoryRegional Overview
- Korean「수성당의 개양할미」
- Chinese水聖堂-
- Nickname「수성당의 수성할미」
- FieldOral Tradition, Language and Literature / Oral Tradition
- Contents TypeArts / Folktale
- Related Location54, Jeokbyeokgang-gil Byeonsan-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do
- Recording LocationNaebyeonsan-ro Byeonsan-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do
- Definition
- A folktale about Grandma Gaeyang (or Gaeyang Halmi), a goddess of the sea honored at Suseongdang Shrine in Jungmak-dong, Gyeokpo-ri, Byeonsan-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do
- Summary
- Suseongdang is a village tutelary shrine dedicated to Grandma Gaeyang, the guardian goddess who watched over the Sea of Chilsan, once a major fishing ground of yellow corvine. The shrine is located on a coastal cliff beside a sea cave called Yeoulgul in Daemagol, which is near Jungmakdong, a village located three kilometers from Gyeokpo-ri in Byeonsan, along the coast of Chaeseokgang and Jeokbyeokgang. The shrine was built in 1864 and has since undergone three renovations in 1910, 1940 and 1973. Local worshippers hold annual rites to honor Gaeyang Halmi at the shrine on the 14th day of the first luna rmonth. The shrine contains a portrait of the goddess along with her eight daughters. An archaeological survey conducted around the shrine in 1994 resulted in the discovery of structural remains and numerous artifacts which proved that the area around the shrine had been a ritual site since the mid-fourthc entury. Historians conjecture from the discovery that the origin of the tale of Gaeyang Halmi dates back to the Three Kingdoms Period (ca. 1st c. BCE to the mid-7th c.).
- Recordings and Collections
- The story titled Suseong Halmi contained in the Soul of Byeonsan (Byeonsanui Eol) gazette published by the local administration of Buan-gun in 1982 is similar to the tale of the Gaeyang Halmi. The oral tradition of the goddess was recorded from a local man named Hong Yong-ho (aged 70 at the time of the recording) living in Jiseo-ri, Byeonsan-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do, and printed in Recordings of Legends (Jeonseolji, p. 522), which was published in 1990 by the provincial administration of Jeollabuk-do.
- Content
- A long time ago, Grandma Gaeyang emerged from the sea cave called Yeoulgul beside the Suseongdang Shrine and gave birth to eight daughters. She sent seven of her daughters to the heads of the seven provinces as gifts and lived with her youngest daughter at her shrine, ruling over the seas near her home. The shrine was nicknamed Gunangsa, meaning “the shrine for nine ladies”, because it was dedicated to the local tutelary deity and her eight daughters. The goddess was also worshipped as Suseong (“Water Divinity”) or Suseong Halmi (“Divine Water Grandma”), and her home as Suseongdang (“House of the Water Divinity”).
Gaeyang Halmi was a tall woman - so tall in fact that she could walk in her large clogs easily and freely around the Chilsan Bada, or Chilsan Seas (i.e. Yellow Sea), where she protected fishermen and seafarers, marked out dangerous areas, and calmed wild waves, as well as helping fishermen take home a good catch. One day, when she visited the sea basin called Gyeranyeo in the seas off Gomso, her skirt got slightly wet due to its great depth. Furious, the goddess carried a load of earth and gravel from land to the basin using her skirt as an apron, and filled it in completely. The seas off Gomso had long been notorious for their depth, leading local people to use the basin’s name, Gyeranyeo (or Gomso Dumbeong), whenever they talked about some deep place. The fishing households in the village of Jungmak in Gyeokpo, Byeonsan still honor Gaeyang Halmi of Suseongdang with annual rites held on the 15th day of the year’s first lunar month—recently changed to the 13th day—in the belief that itwill help them bring home a good catch and work safely at sea.
- Analysis of Motif
- The tale of Gaeyang Halmi of Suseongdang is related to the oral tradition of the giant creator goddess. The idea that the sea water only touched her feet when she walked in her clogs through the Seas of Chilsan suggests that Gaeyang Halmi has similar origins to Seolmundae Halmang of Jejudo and Mago Halmi of Jirisan, the giant goddesses who created the world. The episode in which Gaeyang Halmi filled in the deep, dangerous basin in the seas off Byeonsan also shows that she was worshipped as the creator of the natural environment.