Jeju Island

Beyond the gently waving fields of bright yellow rape flowers heaves the deep blue ocean. With only gourds for support, haenyeo (women divers), ranging in age from young to very old, freely plumb the ocean’s depths. They are heroines who hold the sea deep in their hearts. Both their life and their death are found in that ocean. “When we measure the depth of the ocean and dive down one or two body lengths, we pass between life and death,” one of them says. Today, they are the living goddesses of Jeju Island.

The myths and shamanist songs of Jeju often feature female protagonists. They serve as a medium bringing Jeju and the outside world together. They also give their bodies over to creation, while unreservedly carving out independent lives. With a strong sense of self-awareness and adventure, the women of Jeju see no need to act cautious or bashful in front of men; they choose their own husbands, and draw upon their courage, wisdom, and ability in reacting swiftly to save their communities from danger.

JEJU WOMEN: WHO THEY ARE

The lives of all people are unquestionably shaped to a great extent by their environment. And while the women of Jeju Island are born of the same seed as other Koreans, there is no denying that they possess certain very distinctive characteristics due to Jeju’s island nature.

Since the dawn of Jeju civilization, life on the island has been influenced by its women, and in particular by their capacity for action and aggressive instinct. The life journey of the island’s women has always been considered singular and unique.

From the typical spatial perspective, an island is a small and restricted piece of land. Seen from another perspective, however, an island is an infinite space where the sky and sea come together.

Jeju Island is a place where open space is as broad as the heavens and as deep as the sea, where the seasons come and go in a regular pattern and time moves as it should. Though the land may seem to stop at the water’s edge, beneath the sea it stretches into infinity. It is these geographic and topographic conditions that have exerted such an unmistakable influence on the disposition of the people who have made this island their home.

The women of Jeju Island are strong, independent, and assertive. The female divers are representative of these Jeju women. Jeju’s women divers collect shellfish from the waters off the island without any diving apparatus, wearing only simple swimsuits, flippers, and masks.

Surrounded by sky and water, the island is both limited and limitlessly expanding. It is the natural environment of Jeju that created its tenacious women.

Traditionally, the women of Jeju Island have been described as gregarious in temperament, open and artless, strong-willed and unbound by the constraints of the “feminine.” They are seen as self-motivated and steadfast in the way they tackle what life deals them, courageous and pioneering in spirit, content despite the long hard hours of labor they must put in to survive, industrious and resilient in the face of the harshest of conditions, and warmhearted, with a generous willingness to help others. As mentioned before, these characteristics of the female islanders are rooted in the fact that Jeju is an island.

Specific conditions related to Jeju Island’s geographic characteristics include isolation from the mainland, the dryness of the land and scarcity of water, and the strong, relentless buffeting of wind. In the present as in the past, it is necessary to adapt to these natural conditions and, at times, to exploit them. Indeed, life on Jeju Island is rewarding in its own way.

Although the practice is limited today to a handful of seaside villages, people from the distant past until today have been able to earn a livelihood by diving and drawing on the diverse resources offered by the sea. The fruits of the sea thus collected add to the richness of life by providing diversity and contributing to household earnings. These conditions have served to ensure little disparity between rich and poor; all were able to live in equality, and all were guaranteed a certain degree of material comfort. In addition, the psychological stress of living in isolation was minimal with the mainland out of sight; indeed, this actually helped in instilling a positive outlook toward life on the island.

Gods and rituals are part of everyday life for the women of Jeju, who must spend their lives on the boundary of life and death in the water.

The women of Jeju live lives of enjoyment and independence, neither shying away from a difficult and treacherous livelihood nor resenting their lot.

YEONGDEUNG Gut

Between February and mid-March, the windswept island of Jeju is often gripped by a fickle cold. This time is known there as “Yeongdeung Month,” marking the visit of Grandmother Yeongdeung, the goddess of the wind. At this time, it is customary for residents to suspend all regular activities: fishing at sea (including the women divers who gather shellfish from the ocean floor), moving, repairing homes, traveling, and even wallpapering.

To the Jeju residents, who make their living from the sea, the wind is an element that controls their lives and livelihoods. For this reason, shamanic rituals are regularly held at seaside villages to pray for safety and abundance. The Yeongdeung gut (ritual) at Chilmeori dang (shrine), or Chilmeori-dang Yeongdeung-gut, is a representative ritual for promoting the community’s well-being. It was designated an Important Intangible Cultural Property by the South Korean government in 1980, and an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2009.

The ritual consists of three separate parts: welcome and farewell rites held two weeks apart, and an additional rite held on Soseom (Udo), or “Cow Island,” where Grandmother Yeongdeung is said to stay over for one day before returning home.

Wearing a scarlet robe and a black hat with a peacock feather in it, Keun-simbang—Great Shaman Kim Yun-su—began this year’s rite by dancing and telling a story. Twenty-two men and women from the Yeongdeung Rites Preservation Society, including Kim’s wife, simbang Lee Yong-ok, provided the musical accompaniment. Also present were several hereditary simbang from longtime simbang families.

“The rite begins with the opening of the storage chest that holds the spirit tablets of the deities,” says Kim. “After all, it is only when the lid is opened that the deities can come out to take part. There is a dance for the opening of the lid, and a dance for checking inside the chest. First, I invite the deities to attend the ritual, and then I check to make sure that no deities are left behind. I then help to seat them. I recite the history of the rite and entertain the guest of honor, Grandmother Yeongdeung, to the best of my ability with the food offerings and with song and dance. Then I ask for a bountiful catch and pray that she will take away all misfortune when she leaves.” He adds, “It is a ceremony not unlike those held when receiving important guests of the state today. We even engage in negotiations [between shaman and deity], discussing what to give and what to take.”

Lee notes, “We know that the gods are watching us from all around, so we concentrate and bow to them with all courtesy, and at those times we feel their weight resting on our shoulders.” These days, the number of rituals held on Jeju has decreased dramatically. “Before, the fishing boat owners were all Jeju locals, and there were more haenyeo [diving women] as well, so we had many more tables for the food offerings,” Lee says. “But now, there are fewer haenyeo, and the fishing boat owners are mainlanders. Still, now that this ritual has been designated a cultural heritage, people seem to find it quite comforting. I intend to do everything in my power to see that it is preserved.” The public is invited to the gut, with written guides and other materials provided in English as well as Korean. Enter from the west side of Sarabong near the docks, pass the lighthouse, and you will soon arrive at the Chilmeori dang area.

Jeju’s Yeongdeung gut (also called the Chilmeori dang gut)

Keun-simbang, the Great Shaman Kim Yun-su

Groups of female professional divers sharing the same workplace have been present in seaside villages for nearly two millennia. With their special and unique characteristics, these communities of divers exert a distinct influence on the life of the islanders. The societies first formed near natural outdoor formations called bulteok, which the women divers used for changing clothes. It was here that the women reared their children and taught them to dive. With their own ways of work, worship, and leisure, the women divers eventually came to forge a unique lifestyle, one that has become part of the rich culture of Jeju Island.

Jeju’s women divers do not dive alone except under special circumstances. Because of the dangers of their sea labor, they must work together to help out when one is in danger, and the rules of the community are based in an equitable distribution of income, with all divers working at the same time and place under the same conditions, each earning what she can.

Women divers in the early 20th century. Their outfits were thinner than the ones worn today.

Modern Jeju women divers at work

The bulteok is where the diving women change clothes, future divers are trained, and the women engage in discussions to establish their community. The word “bulteok” refers to a stone bonfire ring on the beach where the Jeju women divers congregate for their diving.

Recreation of a bulteok at Jeju’s Haenyeo Museum

SONGS OF THE DIVING WOMEN

Jeju has a strong tradition of collective labor accompanied by song. Two distinctive characteristics of this music are the alternation of corresponding phrases between a lead singer and the chorus and, in the farming songs, a freestyle rhythm thought to stem from a lack of musical instruments on the island until recently. The a capella aspect also provides a vocal ornamentation characteristic of plainsong. Threshing and rowing songs, on the other hand, contained contrasting short and simple phrases repeated with matching body movements.

Jeju people were known to be gifted in rhythm. In one charming custom, groups of women returning from the well with pottery water jars known as heobeok would stop to rest, set the jars in front of them, and begin beating on them with their hands to create a drumming sound, to which they would improvise a song.

The women of Jeju created pleasure in an exhausting routine by singing and dancing together by the water with their heobeok (water jars) before them.

Jeju’s Haenyeo Museum features a traditional diving culture performance on Saturdays by Kim Young-ja and Kang Deung-ja, holders of Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 1, the haenyeo songs.

The diving women had their own songs, typically sung as they rowed to and from their diving sites. The “Song of the Haenyeo,” sung throughout the majority of Jeju’s villages, included lyrics such as “This small woman’s mind shakes with the grief of a lifetime;”, “Merciful Dragon Sea God / Although we have good fortune / With abalone and conchs galore / Please let me dive in peace;” and “My youth is all spent / ... / The child becomes white-haired soon enough.” Interspersed with these words were haunting repetitions of the refrain “Ieodo, Ieodo,” referring to a mythical next world.

Other songs of the diving women include those sung by the chulga haenyeo, referring to those working away from home on the mainland or abroad. There were songs of the Japanese resistance movement, “merrymaking” songs intended purely for pleasure, and many more. The songs served to lighten the burden of their hard work, loneliness, and sorrow.

Today, these songs are kept by officially designated skills holders. Kim Young-ja and Kang Deung-ja are two individuals who possess the haenyeo songs, carrying them on for future generations. These two women have been performing the songs every Saturday afternoon at the Haenyeo Museum in Hado Village, on the eastern shore of Jeju, since April 2011. Initially scheduled to last for one month, their performance has been so wildly popular that it has been extended several times. They are accompanied by four musicians playing traditional instruments, along with a dozen or so dancers and performers, all members of the Sara Art Company. Audience members are encouraged to participate in singing, dancing, and heobeok drumming.

More than half of all the islands scattered throughout the world are inhabited by humans. Life on many islands is the same in that it has been led from the beginning by hardy and resilient women. The Jeju divers, who are representative of a naturally occurring women’s culture in an ordinary male-female cooperative society, provide a rare example of a community group that has been carried on for generations.

The divers, however, are not the only women who have forged their own unique culture on Jeju Island. The women who live in hillside villages and high atop mountains have contributed just as much as the women of the coast to creating Jeju’s special way of life. As such, the pattern of life that can be found on the mid-slope areas of Mt. Halla is just as special as that found along the coast.

In the past, there were two major spheres of influence on Jeju Island: the diving communities of the coastal areas and the farming communities of the mid-slope areas. Though both were female-oriented communities, they maintained different ways of behavior and thought. The farming islanders’ way of thinking was largely influenced by the island’s use as a place of exile by Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) rulers who subscribed to Confucianism. Over time, the islanders began to adopt the ways of the exiles. There was a government office in the mid-slope villages, and it was in the nearby communities that most of the exiles lived. It was thus natural that the farmers of the mid-slope regions would become familiar with Confucian customs. In terms of the work ethic, there was no reason for the farming villages to forge a different way of life from the diving villages. But the women of the farming villages were as steeped in Confucian ways as those of the mainland. The women of the rural communities sought to differentiate themselves from the divers, who stripped to near nudity before diving into the sea and were therefore considered a lowly segment.

The divers, however, were not concerned with whether the farmers looked down on them. They considered the rural women rigid and stuck in their ways, as well as ignorant of real freedom in life. Both groups had little desire to interact socially. As a result, while the two groups traded goods, they engaged in few other forms of exchange. They avoided intermarriage between communities and maintained a considerable degree of exclusivity from one another.

The barriers between the two groups of women have now been broken down for the most part, and the essential qualities of Jeju women have all been diluted over time. This is the result of major changes in the island’s living conditions. The divers still exist today, but not in the same form as before.

The origins of the lives of Jeju women are well preserved in many legends that remain extant today. The first Jeju woman was a goddess known as Grandmother Seolmundae, who created the island. The title “grandmother” can be interpreted in two ways: the word has its literal sense, but it is also used as a highly honorific title for a woman, much like “elder.” In this case, the latter meaning applies. Unlike other gods of creation, Seolmundae had no absolute authority or power, but her every act bears a trace of the intimate mother of Jeju Island. In essence, Seolmundae is akin to the goddesses of Greece and Rome, and especially the goddess of the earth, Gaia or Terra. Her creation of Jeju Island was near perfection, with no ecological flaws. But there was once a time when Jeju Island was considered unfit for human habitation. Because of its extreme wind, drought, and flooding, it was called the island of “the three disasters.” There were times when severe drought caused terrible suffering, but there were no prolonged dry periods. Rain eventually came to douse the earth, sometimes bringing floods. Psychologically, however, there was the understanding that water was there on the island, if only from a temporary natural phenomenon. These days, when it is no longer possible to rely only on surface and spring water, Jeju Island makes use of its plentiful supply of underground water. Seolmundae’s capability, wisdom, and care in creating the island as an adaptable land whose environment and conditions could be regulated for survival purposes are only now more fully understood.

Numerous models for the typical Jeju woman can be found in the myth of Seolmundae. According to lore, Seolmundae made Jeju Island with her own hands, carrying earth to and from it in the folds of her skirt. This shows a capacity for hard work that would be passed on to posterity. The myth also says that she worked laboriously until her only skirt became so tattered that it was unfit to wear. This symbolized the fact that life on the island was not abundant in material terms. Seolmundae wished for a pair of drawers that would cover her legs, allowing her to continue her work and connect Jeju Island to the mainland. In the intensity of her efforts, we can spy the special characteristics of Jeju women, who do not despair under even the harshest conditions, their pioneering spirit and strong will enabling them to take on any challenge.

Seolmundae was also Jeju Island’s first diver. According to a version of the story that is told in the Pyoseon Village region, Seolmundae first dived into the sea to gather food when she was pregnant with her five hundred sons, who were called the “five hundred generals.” The story has been passed down over the years mixed with bawdy tales describing her movements in the water. The myth ends with Seolmundae throwing herself into a pot of gruel to provide food for her sons. The storyline here should be interpreted from the perspective of feminism, in that it describes the womanly attribute of helping others and the spirit of self-sacrifice seen among Jeju’s women.

In addition to Seolmundae, other goddesses such as Segyeong, the earth mother, and Jacheongbi, the goddess of agriculture, provide models for the women of Jeju, who have enjoyed equal standing with men and lived full, active lives. If we take a closer look at these myths, we can easily imagine how Jeju women lived in the past. For example, Jacheongbi went out to do the laundry on her fifteenth birthday and never returned home. This was a sign that she had reached adulthood and ventured out into the world on her own. She proposed marriage to a man she met at the washing place, and they went to Okhwang to study. This story reveals the place of women in traditional Jeju society: receiving the protection of their parents in their youth and becoming their own people, free to act without restrictions, upon reaching adulthood. The initiative Jacheongbi showed in proposing marriage to a man is something that was, until very recently, unthinkable in Korean society. This provides evidence that the act of proposing marriage was not restricted to one particular sex in traditional mainland Jeju society. It is said that Jacheongbi received from her father-in-law the present of seeds for five grains. By planting them on the island, she laid the groundwork for the belief that the island’s agricultural society was initiated and led by women. The myth also indicates that Jeju women were on an equal footing with men and emphasizes the concept that there was no inherent difference between men and women in terms of their appearance or their activities and work.

In general, female societies are said to be weaker than male ones in various aspects. But numerous examples exist to show that the female society of Jeju Island was exceptional in many ways. One example involves the intense battle that the women divers waged against the Japanese colonial authorities. In the history of Korea’s movement to gain independence from Japanese colonialism, this stands out as the only example of a women’s professional group taking collective action. Though their anti-Japanese activities may be seen as a fight to protect their own ability to survive, the fact that it was organized and sustained in the first place is meaningful in both historical and social terms.

After Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, the women divers continued as a group in making efforts for the community’s well-being. For example, they would designate certain diving grounds from which all proceeds would be donated to educational authorities for the establishment of schools in seaside villages where there were none. Even today, there is an offshore area that is known as the “school sea.” And even in the turmoil of the April 3rd Uprising, many Jeju women sacrificed themselves to save others.

When all is said and done, it was the Jeju women’s capacity for work that enabled them to sustain their regional societies and economies. There is no question that they have been the island’s driving economic force. The Jeju women established a system of production based on a division of labor that survives to this day.

The women of Jeju Island are still highly active in the island’s economy. According to statistics, Jeju Island has the highest percentage of women in the workforce in Korea. About 58 percent of women over the age of 15 are economically active.

In the past, every Jeju homemaker had a special crock where she would store food in preparation for the future. At each meal, she would place a handful of uncooked rice in the crock. The woman of the house had complete authority over this crock, and it can be said that this kind of frugality laid the foundation for the prosperity Jeju Island enjoys today.

On Jeju Island, it was customary for married children to leave the family home and set up their own households. The idea behind this was to maintain small households that were compact and economically sound, with autonomy in domestic matters.

Today, it has become increasingly difficult to maintain the traditional ways of the Jeju woman because the basic environment has changed so drastically. Still, the basis of island life has not really changed in essence: the women of Jeju Island have as much influence on the shaping of life today as in the past.

The community-based way of life that is another striking characteristic of Jeju Island’s female society still has significant influence; despite today’s individualistic lifestyles, the islanders still hold on to the values of mutual dependence and assistance between neighbors.

In general, when people reach the stage of self-support, self-sufficiency and independence, they become less conscious of how other people may judge them. They become freer, and their reliance on others lessens. Life on Jeju Island has always been this way, and Jeju women have always embodied this philosophy.

Though it is possible to skim the surface of the subject of Jeju women, to talk about who they are and how they live, it is difficult to really pin them down in any way. But there is a great pleasure that comes from simply accepting Jeju women as they are.

KIM MAN-DEOK

Like the island goddesses, the women of Jeju possess a sense of self-identity and inner strength that allows them to blaze their own trails in life. As they struggled to satisfy the demands of the royal court amid the barren natural environment of Jeju, the women of long ago had to perform like superhuman beings.

Jeju’s first known female merchant, Kim Man-deok (1739-1812), not only lived an independent life but was charitable as well. She lost her parents at the age of 12 and was forced to make her own way in life. She fought to rise above her station as a gisaeng (entertainer and courtesan) by developing a head for business. She did not succumb to her adverse circumstances, and she eventually succeeded in trade as the first female merchant and entrepreneur in Korea, which enabled her to amass a personal fortune and demonstrate a sense of community-mindedness.

The people of Jeju grow up hearing that they “owe everything to Grandmother Man-deok.” When a severe famine swept the island in 1794, Kim used her entire fortune to buy rice, saving 1,100 residents of Jeju from starvation. When King Jeongjo learned of her generous deed, he told her he would grant her anything she desired. Kim told the king that she wanted to visit Mt. Geumgang (Diamond Mountain). She thus became the first resident of Jeju to travel to the mainland and visit this sacred mountain, thereby ending a two-century prohibition against travel that had denied the people of Jeju the option of visiting the peninsula.

Standard funeral portrait of Kim Man-deok

This prohibition dated back to the early Joseon era, when the men of Jeju took to the sea to fulfill the heavy burden of military service and provide local tribute to the royal court. They suffered greatly when they were mobilized to maintain the island’s defensive fortifications and deliver tributary items such as mandarin oranges, horses, and abalone. Over time, a growing number of residents relocated to the mainland to escape this burden. This led the royal court to impose a 1629 prohibition preventing island people from visiting the mainland, and to mobilize women as well for military duty. For this reason, the gathering of abalone, which had previously been done by men, became the work of women from the 17th century onward. The diving women had to supply the abalone they gathered as tribute to the royal court or as tax payments to the local government.

As a result, the sea became everything to the women of Jeju, their means of survival and everyday life. They began diving as children and continued to reap the sea’s bounty as they became elderly veterans with exceptional diving abilities. At times, they would put their lives at risk, diving into the treacherous depths to earn their livelihood. Even when they gave birth, they would return to the water after only a three-day rest.

In 1977, Kim Man-deok’s grave was moved from its original site in Hwabukdong to its current place on the grounds of Mochung Temple, located on the east side of Sarabong in Jeju City. It is a place of pilgrimage for many Korean women. A small memorial hall in her honor is maintained there by the monks.

The Kim Man-deok Festival is held every year in early October to honor the woman who rescued Jeju’s islanders from famine.