Ungnyeo

Ungnyeo
Hangul	웅녀
Hanja	HùngNữ
Revised Romanization	Ungnyeo
McCune–Reischauer	Ungnyŏ

Ungnyeo(Korean:웅녀;Hanja:Hùng nữ,lit. 'bear woman') was abearthat became awomanaccording to thecreation mythof theKorean nation.

Story

In the tale, a tiger and a bear (Ungnyeo) lived together in a cave and prayed to the divine kingHwanungto be made human. Hwanung heard their prayers and gave them 20 cloves of garlic, a bundle ofmugwortand ordered them to stay out of the sunlight and eat only this food for 100 days. Due to hunger, the tiger left the cave after roughly 20 days, but the bear remained inside. After 21 days, she was transformed into a woman.

Ungnyeo was grateful and made offerings to Hwanung. Her lack of a husband drove her to depression, and she began to pray beneath a sacredbetula tree(신단수;Thần đàn thụ) to be blessed with a child. Hwanung heard her prayers and was deeply moved. He took Ungnyeo as his wife and soon after, she gave birth to a son,Dangun,who would go on to found the nation of Korea.

Interpretation of the story

There are two main characteristics of Ungnyeo. The founding myth of the Korean ancient nation generally sets the founder's paternal blood line as the Cheonsin (천신;Thiên thần;lit.sky god) and the mother line as the Jisin (Korean:지신;Hanja:Địa thần;lit.land god). As a result, Ungnyeo is regarded as a type oftotemdeified by Dangun's mother lineage.

On the other hand, the bear itself has religious implications. The bear is the god of the land and symbolizes the uterus that produces products in farming culture. Thus, bears are predominantly interpreted as female. Ungnyeo is also interpreted as a kind of female god.

External links

• Myth of Korea: Dangun