Mudang
The Korean shaman, usually a woman, who holds a gut: a rite of song, dance and spirit possession for the living and the dead.
Also: mansin, gut, korean shaman, kangshinmu
In Korea, the shaman is called mudang or mansin, the latter meaning ten thousand gods. Most are women. Many describe being chosen by a spirit through an illness, called sinbyeong, and then being initiated in a ceremony called naerim gut. At a gut, the mudang puts on bright robes, dances, calls on gods and ancestors, and is believed to be entered by them and speak. Gut are held for illness, business, a new house, and to guide the dead. Confucian officials, Christian missionaries and the 1970s Saemaul Undong campaign all treated this as superstition, yet it has survived. Gut is now also protected as heritage in Korea, and tourists sometimes attend. Some rites are not for outsiders.