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8 Spirits: Familiar, Benign, and Malevolent “Sŏnsaengnim! Sŏnsaengnim!” I woke up bleary-eyed and cross to the sound of a childish voice close to my head just an hour after settling in for a muchneeded nap. “Respected teacher! Respected teacher!” When I swung open the small, paper-covered door right next to my head there was an eleven-year-old boy, out of breath and intensely serious about the importance of his mission. “Sŏnsaengnim, tonight at our house there is a chesa (ancestor commemoration ceremony). My father asks you to come.” As the boy turned to leave, I had just barely the presence of mind to call out, “Which house is that?” He stared back blankly for a moment. It was inconceivable to him that I did not know. Finally he blurted out, “The big fishnet house!” and ran off. That meant the house of Yi Pyŏngŭn, another one of Teacher Yi’s cousins. Yi Pyŏngŭn was one of the most influential landowners in the village, and although still only in his late thirties, he was a leader in trying to promote economic innovation and progress. One of his recent schemes had been an enormous fishnet that was towed out from shore by a small boat in a great horseshoe curve and then pulled up the beach at both ends by manpower. About twenty men and teenaged boys were required to operate the net. At first there had been lots of spectators and volunteers eager to pull. They all chanted together to maintain the rhythm in an excited festival atmosphere. But the catches so far had been meager, and everyone knew that Yi Pyŏngŭn’s big investment was not paying off. A few nights before, while visiting in Teacher Yi’s guest room, I had heard Pirate say that it served Yi Pyŏngŭn right for getting involved in such a low occupation as fishing. The others present shouted Pirate down for once, insisting it was all right because Yi Pyŏngŭn did not actually ever get in the boat or pull on the net. As long as he did not endanger his life at sea (and thereby risk dying before his parents), Figure 8.1 Women in white; death anniversary of parent. Afterwards there would be feasting and drinking and sometimes dancing. (1966) Figure 8.2 Pirate engaged in ceremonial activity. (1966) Vincent S. R. Brandt 124 the general feeling was that Yi Pyŏngŭn could invest his money any way he liked. The last time I had been out to watch the net in operation, the chanting was still going on, since it helped coordinate the pulling. But now it had a mournful sound. A chesa usually takes place in the middle of the night, but I had no idea when I was expected to show up at Yi Pyŏngŭn’s house. I assumed that Teacher Yi would also be going, so I stopped by his house to find out what was expected of me. He laughed, “We can go any time. There are only three people in Sŏkp’o who have a watch, so the time doesn’t matter much. All you have to do when you get there is drink when everyone else drinks and bow when everyone else bows.” This was good advice, Figure 8.3 I was kept busy supplying formal photographs of aging couples and individuals to serve as focal points at ceremonies after their death. (1966) Figure 8.4 “Breakfast” after midnight ancestor ceremony. Village head (drinking) and fellow Yi lineage members at an ancestor worship ceremony. (1966) Spirits: Familiar, Benign, and Malevolent 125 applicable for most ritual occasions. Teacher Yi explained that the ceremony was for Yi Pyŏngŭn’s grandfather, who had died five years before. The chesa is held annually on the death date of parents and grandparents. We wandered over to Yi Pyŏngŭn’s house an hour or so after nightfall and were shown into an inner room next to the sarangbang. A few other Yis of Yi Pyŏngŭn’s generation were already there, and we started in on the makkŏlli and anju at once. The conversation was perhaps a little quieter than usual, but the mood was by no means one of hushed religiosity. I could see the village head, Yi Pyŏnghyŏk, busy in another room arranging the offerings and instructing Yi Pyŏng...

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