[South Korea] Traditional creatures
Ann Jellica
Every country has its own creatures. Like vampire, trol(?), dragon ect.
In Korea has many traaditional creatures too. After Japanese colonial era they changed our creatures similar as them. But many book of history and record left it wasn't shaped like before. So I'd like to request real Korean creatures remove Japan made it.
The most famous creature is goblin. In English, only that word could explain what is it, but it is totally different. We called it 도깨비. Follow the record, they looks like human. Most of them are man and tall. They like playing with human, so they treated many times. They enjoyed 씨름. this is kind of traditional sports in Korea. They didn't have any horn, scary things. They like drink and buckwheat jelly. They afraid of blood especially well-known as chicken's blood or horses. They are just like human and if human win in 씨름, they give them what they want. So still some village in Korea has many stories that 도깨비 helped people. Make bridge for people(it well-known that never cllapse until now, it made of rocks.), help them could grow grain well in dry season. And they always called human "김서방" Maybe they could thought Korean has many surname, Kim. It is very friendly image in history. You can see it in picture.
The angel of death is also not have any profit words to translated. We call them 저승사자. Main mission is same. They took dead people to the next world. When popular series of drama show them in TV to scare people, Recently people imagine that image. But in record, usually they wear very sparkle. Usually they wear traditional clothes of general. And sometimes do mistakes. They took people to their boss we call him 염라대왕. They comfused for same name, so they have to bring them back to live, but sometimes their body already burried so.. or sometimes they could reach before funeral ended, some people live again. They are like public official in the next world.
Also I hear nine tails fox are different than china and japan. In both countries it is scary creatures. But in Korea, we usually thought they have desire to be human. There has some method to do, It isn't important now.
We also seperated spirit dead before married. If it was girl, we called 처녀귀신. If it was boy, we called 몽달귀신. Well, also has baby spirit, but I'm not sure of it. I heard it calls 태자귀.
So many creatures was exist. But almost of them are not that harm to human. Just like surprising. Now it is hard to find, but we have 성주신, 조왕신, 측간신ect.
In pictures korean translated
----
I like singing, but I'm tone-deaf
an inability to lie
I really like ssireum
Wearing a pants jacket, smells like yellow
aversion to blood
the dislike of red bean porridge, which is similar in color to blood
Demon's post, bat, and so on.
a love of company
a fondness for mischief
He's big and strong
forgetfulness
lending money to good people
a fondness for women
the act of setting a fire with a goblin fire
Likes shady, dark places
hairy all over one's body
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Nonethewiser
I don't really speak Korean, so this was quite a challenge for me, but I did my best. I think this idea is very interesting, so here's a bit more information in English + pictures that some people might find helpful:
Dokkaebi
(도깨비) also known as "Korean goblins", are nature deities or spirits possessing extraordinary powers and abilities that are used to interact with humans, at times playing tricks on them and at times helping them.Jeoseung Saja
(the Angel of Death / Grim Reaper, 저승사자) does not really look like what people in West might expect him to, but does pretty much the same. JeoSeung Saja is always in human form and is personified wearing a black hanbok (traditional Korean attire) and traditional Korean black hat called gat 갓.Kumiho
or Gumiho
(the nine-tailed fox, 구미호). Korean kumiho shares many similarities to the Chinese huli jing
and the Japanese kitsune
. It can freely transform, among other things, into a beautiful woman often set out to seduce young men, and eat their liver.Korean dragons
are legendary creatures in Korean mythology and folklore. The appearance of the dragon reflects its relation to its East Asian counterparts, including the Chinese dragons.Cheonyeo Gwishin
(Korean virgin ghost, 처녀귀신) is the spirit of an unmarried woman in Korean folklore and urban legend. They mainly attach to young girls of their age, harassing and harming them.Bulgae
(불개; lit. fire dog) refers to the mythical fire dogs in Korean mythology, that come from the kingdom of darkness and always chase the sun and moon, causing eclipses when they bite both the celestial bodies.Yann2
Nonethewiser: WOW !!! amazing work, thank you.
Ann Jellica
Nonethewiser: Thank you for your help! How did you find it! Actually, the angel of death which you found is created for drama series. So before that it was looks like this pictures😊 Also nine-tail fox, in korea, usually known eat liver. Not a heart. But really appriciate you to find it and have interested in! Thanks a lot!
(This image also affected from budda. But in history it reveals like general to caught who run away from them😂😂)
Nonethewiser
Ann Jellica: You are very welcome! I am happy you liked what I found - it was more difficult than I though it would be, but very interesting. 😊
Thank you for your comments: I have updated the text about the nine-tail fox, but I am not sure what to do about the Angel of Death... If I understand correctly, the images you attached were seen and worshiped in Korean temples in the 18th and 19th centuries, but now they are all gone. Do you think today's generations in Korea will understand the reference?
The image with the black hat I used above seems to be the one that people know. Let me know what you think! 😊
Oh, and here is another request for
Korean fantastic beasts
, which seems like a nice addition to this idea.Yann2
Nonethewiser: well done, and with the beautiful presentation I can see I am in favour and voted for this one. Thank you Ann Jellica as well!