Save Jeju Now

Greeting in peace! Let me tell you an old story of Jeju. It’s a story of Jeju’s god.

There was a grandmother called  Yeongdeun who lived near One-eyed island. One day, a fisher men was driven to this island due to the storm. The giants in One-eyed island wanted to eat the fisher men, so the  Yeongdeun grandmother helped the fisherman to hide away and she told the fishermen to shout out “guanembosar”(the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy) until he arrived the land, but when the fishermen was almost arriving on the land, he was too happy to remember it. As soon as he stopped speaking “guanembosar”, the storm again overwhelmed him and drove him to the One-eyed island.  Yeongdeun grandmother saved his life again but unfortunately she got killed by the giants instead. Her dead body was drifted toward the Shore of Jeju Island. To thank for the grandmother, the fishermen in the seashore villages in Jeju has continued the memorial service (a shaman ritual) for Yeongdeun Grandmother.

This year(2015), the Yeongdeun grandmother memorial ritual was held in several seashore villages in a rotating way, and Gangjeong village as one of the seashore village in Jeju also held it this year. It was said that it’s the first time for Gangjeong to do it. The ritual now has the meaning to plant the seeds of life in the land and sea. Do you know what seeds the Gangjeong villagers planted? They planted the seeds of Red-feet crab who used to live in the Gangjeong Gureombi coast. People made the cloth of Red-feet crabs and march together with Yeongdeun grandmother in the village. The Red-feet crab represents the seeds of life and peace.