Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/513

 beside the road and a stunted tree on which are hung rags, locks of hair, strips of coloured cloth, pieces of money and a great variety of useless articles. Such a place may be found in the plains, but it is much more likely to be near the top of a pass between two valleys. These sacred places are not dedicated to any particular spirit, but to any or all the local deities. The traveller picks up a stone and throws it on the pile. This is his prayer for success in his journey. If he has reason to fear that the " good-fortune snake " is not propitious, he will spit on the stone pile. A man who is going to the neighbouring market with his bundle of wares to sell may stop and tie a one-cash piece to the branch of the tree " just for luck." It is an offering to the spirit, and is a request for financial success. A woman from the village below may come up the hill with a bowl of rice and a little honey and set the food down on a stone and shuffle her hands together, bending low the while. She is asking that her son come home betimes from his fishing trip, or that her child may recover speedily from the disease which has seized upon it. A bride may cut off a shred of her skirt and tie it to the tree to prevent the good spirits of her father's house following her to her new abode and deserting the dwelling of her parent.

As the name of these spirits is legion, so the names of the different shrines where they are worshipped would make a long catalogue. There is the "Boulder Hall," erected to the spirit of some particular rock ; the "Buddha's Hall," a sort of cross between Buddhism and fetichism ; "Ursa Major Hall," to the spirit of that constellation; the "Kyung Hall," referring to the Buddhist sutras ; the "Wall and Moat Hall," a common name for the place where there is a pile of stones or a tree to tie fetiches to; the "Old Man Hall," in honour of the Old Man Star, which Koreans believe can be seen in the south only by the people who live on the island of Quelpart ; the "Grandmother Hall," " Kingdom Teacher Hall," " Dragon Spirit Hall " and many others.