Introduction au Mouïsme: La religion populaire coréenne

Mouism, a popular Korean religion, was spread all over Korea for a very long period and was transmitted from one generation to another by the moudangfamilies. Ever since the arrival of Buddhism in the country until recently, the upper classes despised the moudang, who underwent continual per secution. The other social groups attempted to bring about the extinction of their group, and they were relegated to one of the lowest classes of the Korean society (neither civil rights, nor education, nor any form of power). The moudang families persevere nevertheless in maintaining their traditions. The rapid changes in the Korean society (introduction of democratic thought and abolition of the Confucian class sys tem) have given much importance to the influence of purely economic factors. As a consequence of these changes, the moudang are presently abandoning their former practices and taking up new jobs. Today the new generations are thought less and less about this traditional religious thought.