How a new generation of South Koreans are reviving Shamanism

Bangkok Post Group

Lee Kyoung-hyun is part of a growing number of Korean shamans embracing social media to attract or interact with clients, riding a wave of popular culture that is quickly warming up to a homegrown tradition once viewed with distrust. - REUTERS

Transcript

00:00 Lee Ki-young Hyun is performing a ritual dating back centuries in South Korea.

00:08 The 29-year-old is a practicing shaman with a modern twist.

00:13 She's better known as aegisonyo, or baby fairy, her social media handle with a large online

00:19 following.

00:21 It's how she's educating a new generation of Koreans about the ancient traditions.

00:26 "I've been a shaman for six, seven years, and there's been a shift.

00:33 Shamans are more out in the open now."

00:35 South Korea is one of the world's most high-tech economies.

00:39 Polls show more than half of its population of 51 million are not religiously affiliated.

00:45 Yet, Google Trends show that searches on YouTube for "shaman" and "fortune-telling" in Korean

00:51 have nearly doubled over the past five years.

00:54 "Shamanism is deeply rooted for Koreans.

00:59 It was believed to be an invisible, mysterious, and spiritual world.

01:04 But now, with all of these YouTube videos, people are finding it more approachable."

01:10 Korean shamans typically answer queries after conducting rituals that span from ringing

01:14 bells and tossing grains of rice to dancing on the edge of a knife to call on divine intervention.

01:23 And consultations can be pricey.

01:26 They typically charge around $70.

01:29 Thirty-two-year-old Park Chae-bin says she comes to Lee for a peace of mind.

01:36 "I'm here to get counseling from someone who understands me a little more and sees me through.

01:47 With that, I think I felt a sense of peace during situations of insecurity like an unemployment

01:53 crisis."

01:54 Lee says many of her other millennial and Gen Z clients ask about affordable housing

01:59 and the cost of raising children.

02:02 In Seoul, where Lee's based, the price of a home was more than 15 times the median salary

02:06 in 2022.

02:08 The country has also suffered from high inflation and interest rates.

02:13 That may be driving the trend, according to Han Seung-hoon, an assistant professor at

02:18 the Academy of Korean Studies.

02:20 "With shamans who are from the same generation, share similar cultural experiences, and live

02:27 in the city, people can have deeper conversations than they might with their close friends.

02:32 We can see that it is one of the reasons why the shaman as a friend counselor has emerged."

02:39 It's even seeping into pop culture.

02:41 One of South Korea's biggest movie hits of 2024 is the supernatural film "Exuma," in

02:46 which shamans are tasked with lifting a curse on a family.

02:50 A culture ministry agency estimated in 2022 that there are around 400,000 shamans and

02:55 fortune tellers in South Korea.

02:57 But there's still a stigma around seeing them.

03:00 A 2022 study in the journal BMC Psychiatry noticed a huge gap between South Koreans needing

03:06 mental health treatment and getting it, which it partly attributed to stigma too.

03:11 "I believe the current state of South Korean society, which is tough, is a factor that

03:17 can't be ignored."

03:19 to be ignored."

03:19 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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