Cheuksin (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

: 측신,

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

: 廁神) is the toilet goddess of

Korean mythology Korean mythology ( ) is the group of myths told by historical and modern Koreans. There are two types: the written, literary mythology in traditional histories, mostly about the founding monarchs of various historical kingdoms, and the much l ...

. Unlike better-known

household deities A household deity is a deity or spirit that protects the home, looking after the entire household or certain key members. It has been a common belief in paganism as well as in folklore across many parts of the world. Household deities fit into ...

such as

Jowangshin Jowangshin (in Hangul, ''조왕신'', in hanja, 竈王神) is the goddess of fire and the hearth in Korean shamanism. As the goddess of the hearth, the rituals dedicated to her were generally kept alive by housewives. She is no longer the subject o ...

, god of the

hearth A hearth () is the place in a home where a fire is or was traditionally kept for home heating and for cooking, usually constituted by at least a horizontal hearthstone and often enclosed to varying degrees by any combination of reredos (a lo ...

, her worship forms a minor part of the

Gasin In Korean shamanism, Gasin (, literally ''House's God'') are a branch of deities believed to protect the various objects and rooms of the house, such as jangdok or the kitchen. The Gasin faith is the faith based on worshipping these deities. Th ...

cult. She is believed to reside in the outhouse.

Mythology

Worship

Cheukshin was believed to appear as a young

virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

with hair. The goddess, infuriated at her exile to the

outhouse An outhouse is a small structure, separate from a main building, which covers a toilet. This is typically either a pit latrine or a bucket toilet, but other forms of dry toilet, dry (non-flushing) toilets may be encountered. The term may als ...

by the supreme deity Cheonjiwang and kitchen goddess

, was said to spend time counting her hairs. The goddess was believed to appear in the three days containing the number six; Koreans avoided the outhouse in these three days in order not to accidentally provoke her rage. Thus, Koreans held ''

jesa Jesa (, ) is a ceremony commonly practiced in the East Asian cultural sphere. Jesa functions as a memorial to the ancestors of the participants. Jesa are usually held on the anniversary of the ancestor's death. The majority of Catholics, Budd ...

s'', or rituals, to her in the sixth, sixteenth, and twenty-sixth days in the

lunar calendar A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases (synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly on the solar year. The most commonly used calendar, the Gre ...

, or when a shoe or a child fell in the

pit toilet A pit latrine, also known as pit toilet, is a type of toilet that collects human feces in a hole in the ground. Urine and feces enter the pit through a drop hole in the floor, which might be connected to a toilet seat or squatting pan for user ...

. ''Jesas'' were also done for her when a pig contracted disease and died, when a prophecy warned of the anger of the goddess, or when the outhouse was built. In the ''jesas'' dedicated to Cheukshin, Koreans put all ingredients possible inside a ''

Tteok ''Tteok'' ( ko, 떡) is a class of Korean rice cakes made with steamed flour made of various grains, including glutinous rice, glutinous or non-glutinous Japonica rice, rice. Steamed flour can also be pounded, shaped, or pan-fried to make ''tt ...

'', which was called the Ttongtteok, meaning 'dung rice cake'. The ''Ttongtteok'' was then served to the goddess. Nonglutinous rice was also served. She was regarded to be the most dangerous of the

Gashin In Korean shamanism, Gasin (, literally ''House's God'') are a branch of deities believed to protect the various objects and rooms of the house, such as jangdok or the kitchen. The Gasin faith is the faith based on worshipping these deities. T ...

; she was believed to despise children (possibly because of her downfall by the child Nokdisaengin; see below) and topple them into the pit toilet. When children fell in the pit, it was believed that they would die before reaching maturity unless a ''jesa'' was done to appease the goddess. If anyone entered the

without coughing three times, Cheukshin was believed to use her long hair to attack the intruder. When the hair of Cheukshin touched the skin of the intruder, the intruder grew sick and died. Even a ''

mudang ''Mu'' () is an ancient Korean word defining a shaman in the Korean traditional religion. Korean shamans hold rituals called '' gut'' (literally "good") for the welfare of the individuals and the society. In modern Korea different terms are ...

'', or

shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...

, could not appease the goddess if she attacked a person with her hair. She was believed to embody a strip of cloth or white paper on the outhouse ceiling. She was also believed to be the deity of

legal punishment Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other ...

, following the orders of the house deity Seongjushin. No '' gut'', or shamanistic rituals, were held to dedicate Cheukshin, unlike the many ''Guts'' and ''Bonpulis'' (biographies of deities) dedicated to other Gashin. This was because it was believed that Cheukshin was an evil and malevolent deity, unlike the other Gashin. Because of the conflict of Jowangshin and Cheukshin (see

Munjeon Bonpuli The ''Munjeon Bonpuri'' ( ko, 문전본풀이), meaning 'Annals of the Door', 'Book of the Door', 'Narration of the Door' or 'Explanation of the Door', is a myth of Jeju Island regarding Gasin, or deities that are believed to reside within t ...

), in Korea it was taboo to bring anything from the outhouse into the kitchen, and vice versa.

Other names

* Cheukganshin (측간신) * Byeonso

Gwishin Gwisin ( ko, 귀신) are a type of spirit or ghost in Korean folklore. They are considered similar to a ''Yogoe'' ( ko, 요괴);, and ''Mamul'' ( ko, 마물); they are people who have died, not monsters or creatures such as Dokkaebi. Accordi ...

(변소 귀신) * Dwitgan

(뒷간 귀신) * Buchul Gaxi (부출 각시) * Chikdo Buin (칙도 부인) * Cheukdo Buin (측도 부인) * Cheukshin Gaxi (측신 각시) * Chigwi (치귀) * Jeongnan

(정난 귀신)

References

{{Reflist Gasin faith Korean goddesses Toilet goddesses

Mythology

Worship

Other names

See also

References