Harm

Quote

Death pollution spreads beyond the village in the wake of the funeral bier as it is carried to the grave. When the bier is carried past another village, the village well must be covered, but the village itself does not fall under a state of ritual pollution. Persons who see or touch the bier are contaminated, but only temporarily. Persons who prepare the corpse are polluted. Death pollution spreads through kin ties irrespective of geographic proximity. For example, a man who is studying abroad in the United States, far away from Korea, hears of his father’s death and goes into mourning. As a mourner, he is polluted and potentially polluting. In this case, the social proximity of kin outweighs considerable geographic distance.

• Source: Ch’oe, Kil-song. “The meaning of polution in Korean ritual life” in Religion and ritual in Korean society, edited by Laurel Kendall and Griffin Dix, pp. 139-148. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 1987.
• Culture: Korea
• Location: Asia