Universality of Carnivalesque Aspects: Comparative Study of the Feast of Boy Bishop and Bongsan TalChum

초록

Universality of Carnivalesque Aspects:Comparative Study of the Feast of Boy Bishop and Bongsan TalChum Lee, Yonghee (Kangwon National University) In his influential book, Rabelais and His World, Bakhtin explicates the features of carnival in the medieval era in terms of its subversiveness and temporary suspension of social hierarchy. Carnival appeared to be quite radical and dangerous to the dominant class. Yet, there were a number of carnivalesque feasts during the medieval era. It is because a two-world condition that Bakhtin articulates. These feasts engendered a “second world and a second life outside officialdom [. . .] in which [people] lived during a given time of the year”(6). This study aims to examine carnivalesque aspects as universal feature found in festivals of both Europe and Korea. The feast of the Boy Bishop, was held as one of the pious feasts by the church. This feast was designed to celebrate the innocence of children based on the Bible. However, now that a boy played a religious role of a bishop, this feast possessed carnivalesque factors innately. Henceforth, as time went, this holy feast was deviated from its original purpose, instead, it became burlesque. Likewise, Bongsan TalChum, a Korean mask dance, demonstrates similar aspects to the feast of the Boy Bishop. Bongsan TalChum originated from a form of ritual to ward off the evil spirit and later on became a folk festival because of its carnivalesque narratives. Performing a mask dance in itself creates festive atmosphere for the town people and the storyline of Bongsan TalChum contains the subversion of the social hierarchy, which gives the people a good deal of carnivalesque laughter. Both carnivalesque festivals, the feast of the Boy Bishop and Bongsan TalChum, enabled the lower class to live in an equal and utopian community in spite of their temporariness. During these festivals, all the social status were suspended and the people became “social others,” which was impossible in reality. It is remarkable that the medieval feast and Korean mask dance demonstrate similar aspects of carnival.

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