In 2016, a strange yet intriguing love magic ritual began to come out on the internet among us Koreans.
(This is 99.9% true 'cuz I have seen those topics come out on the public by my eyes then! LOL)
The ritual is for (especially young) women who are looking for boyfriends and want to make one. Here is its manual:
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Go to the tomb of Jang Hui-bin(장희빈, Royal Noble Consort Jang, 1659~1701) with some offerings.
Jang was a concubine of King Sukjong of Joseon, and she is regarded as one of Femme Fatales in Korean history. I will explain about her life in the bottom of this topic. -
Dance Hakchum(학춤, Crane Dance), a kind of our traditional dance, in front of the tomb.
For those who wanna know what this dance is like, watch this YouTube video from 00:40. 국립국악원 수요춤전: 박재희 [2015.04.08.] 03. 학춤(Hakchum) - YouTube -
And you will get your guy, with the power of Jang!
Many women who claimed to have tried this ritual, experienced various outcomes. Some say that didn’t work at all, others say that worked but the guys they got was a bad one.
It could be a natural outcome, given that Jang’s marriage life was not that happy.
Actually, Jang lived a life similar to England’s Anne Boleyn: She was betrayed by her husband who she once loved, and died by his command.
Jang was a daughter of an official interpreter, came to court as a maid of honor, and fell in love with the King Sukjong.
She was originally a royal concubine, but when she bore the King his first son, Sukjong deposed his wife Queen Inhyeon who was childless and made Jang the Queen.
But when his love for Jang got cold, Sukjong forced her to go back to her concubine seat, and Inhyeon was restored.
Jang couldn’t bear that, and committed herself in Buddhism and Shamanism- which were equally considered heresies with the govt led by Confucianism.
Eventually she was had up, with the charge of cursing the Queen to death, and she was condemned to suicide (it was a manner of death penalty to upper class people).
Historians debate whether Jang really did curse or not- but even if she did, the Queen’s cause of death was inflammation, which was developed during her stressful life.
Back to the ritual story!
Shamans in Korea made negative comments about the ritual, saying it could trigger possession by spirit of Jang.
And I’m curious about the opinions of everyone in here about it!