<論文>祖先崇拝儀礼と女性の役割 : 韓国の一カトリック「教友村」を事例として

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the characteristics of ancestorworship and to examine the correlation between the religious ideology and the role of women by ethnographical approach to the study of a Catholic "kyowoo" village of "Cheonho-dong" located in Cheon-Nam province of Korea. The data was analyzed by the case study method, and the results of the cases can be summarized as follows. First, at the time of death, non-Catholic was converted to Catholic by daughter-in-law who is a Catholic, based on the belief of after life conception such as immortality of the soul, promotion of virtue and reproval of vice, and the existence of Heaven and Hell. Secondly, the conception of so-called hostile or restless ancestor seems to be weak due to the belief of communal prayer for the relief of soul in purgatory Hell, which was practiced by the women's religious group. The fact that women lead the communal prayer inside and outside the village has important meaning to symbolize the persistence of the village. Thirdly, the fact that the change of ancestorworship from Confucian to Catholic style was lead by women indicates that rights of decision making of women were strong in ritual process as well as in family relationship, which was possible in the context of the "kyowoo" village supported by Catholic religious ideology. Lastly, compared with Confucian ritual, the Catholic ritual has acted to strength the importance of the roles of women on those points such as in the extent of the ancestors and participants, and in the time and place of the ritual.