Dol hareubangs, also called tol harubangs, hareubangs, or harubangs, are large rock statues found on Jeju Island off the southern tip of South Korea. They are considered to be gods offering both protection and fertility and were placed outside of gates for protection against demons travelling between realities.
Description
Dol hareubangs are carved from porous basalt (volcanic rock) and can be up to three metres high. The statues' faces feature grinning expressions, bulging eyes without pupils, a long, broad nose, and slight smile, and their hands rest on their bellies, one slightly above the other. In sets of two, one has a higher left hand, and the other a higher right hand. The hat is commonly described as phallic or mushroom-like.[citation needed]
Etymology
The name dol hareubang derives from the Korean word for "stone", plus the Jeju dialect word hareubang, meaning "grandfather" or "senior" (harabeoji in Standard Korean), and was coined in the mid-20th century. Other earlier names for the statues include beoksumeori, museongmok, and useongmok. Beoksumeori, meaning shaman head, is used in the former area of Jeongui Hyeon (county), museongmok in Daejeong Hyeon and Jeongui Hyeon, and useongmok only in Jeju Hyeon. Historically, the Tamna Chronicles called them ongjungseok, but this usage is unknown today.
History
A dol hareubang in the National Museum of Korea in Seoul
There are three main theories as to the origin of dol hareubangs: either that they were introduced by visitors from the sea, that they are a counterpart to the jangseungs (totem poles) of mainland Korea, or that they spread with shamanic mushroom culture.[citation needed] Jangseungs are also called beoksu in southern Korea, and this similarity with the name beoksumeori lends credence to the second theory.
According to the Tamnaji a work dealing with the geography of Jejudo, the first dolhareubang was manufactured in 1754.[1] Dol hareubangs produced from 1763 to 1765 once stood outside the eastern, western, and southern gates of the Jeju City fortress as guardian deities.
In 2014, a Korea Aerospace University Professor Woo Sil-ha found a Chinese seokinsang (stone man statue) strikingly similar to dol hareubang in the Jianping Museum, Chaoyang, Liaoning, China. The seokinsang which is of Chinese Liao dynasty (907–1125) was discovered in December 2011 in Heishui, Jianping County, Liaoning, China. The Professor said that the origin of dol hareubang requires re-examination.
Dol hareubangs today
A dol hareubang at Hyeopjae Beach on Jeju Island
Dol hareubangs have become the symbol of Jeju Island, and replicas of various sizes are sold as tourist souvenirs. The statues are sometimes sold as sources of fertility, and small replicas are sometimes given to women with fertility problems. The origin of this may have more to do with Jeju Do's present-day status as a "honeymoon island" than tradition.
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