Korean Mythology

Samshin Halmoni

Korean Mythology

Samshin Halmoni

Samsin Halmoni (Korean: 三神 할머니 rr: samsin halmeoni) or Samshin Halmoni, the Grandmother Samsin, is the triple goddess of childbirth and fate in Korean mythology.

Name

Samsin or Samshin means "Three Goddesses" in Korean, (literally, three spirits) and they appear collectively as three grandmothers. Halmoni means grandmother, a title for a venerated ancestor goddess, embodied as a wise crone goddess. When addressed with the honorary title Samsin Halmoni or just Samsin, the three goddessess are also thought of as one Samsin, the single goddess of childbirth in Korean shamanism. A mountain in South Korea is named after Samsin Halmoni, the Samsinbong, known as the Three Spirit Peak.

Worship

Samsin Halmoni would protect every child from birth until the seventh year of age, where the child would then be protected by the deity of Seven Stars, the Ursa Major bear.
Every village and every house would have its own Samsin of childbirth. Even today, the Korean people believe that the warmest part of the anbang which is the main living room, belongs to Samsin Halmoni and rituals and prayers to Samsin are still performed there.

Samsin Halmoni was honoured at childbirth and at birthday parties with offerings of rice, soy sauce and wine, laid out in the form of a dinner. 

At the third and seventh day after the childbirth, the underwear of the mother would be folded and placed in the anbang Samsin area and a little altar would be set upon them, where prayers for a long and healthy life of the child would be performed.
Samsin Halmoni or Samsin was also said to visit the Samsin Danji (Korean: 삼신 단지) dedicated to her, an earthenware pot kept in the inner wing of the house or in the warm part of the anbang. The pot was filled with rice, then covered in paper and sealed with a knot tied counterclockwise. However, some households would perform Geongung Samsin, the act of honoring Samsin, only in the mind. Samshin Halmoni was honored with Jesas at every festival or birthday celebration in the household, and also at the third, seventh and thirty-seventh day after delivery.

When a woman in the household was pregnant or has given delivery, the room where the Samsin Danji was kept, would be sealed with ropes to symbolize and contain the strong power of Samshin Halmoni. After the delivery, a rope would be also hung on the outside of the house to mark the lucky event of "opening what has been tied", symbolizing the act of birth, and to ward off evil spirits that could threaten the mother and the new baby. The belief in Samsin Halmoni would be strongest in Jeju Island.
To conceive, a childless woman would share her Samsin rice meal with a mother who recently delivered, pray to Samsin in the anbang area or wear a cloth that has touched a coffin.

In Myth

In oral tradition, Samsin Halmoni would be the 3 daughters of the virgin sky goddess who became the first mudang shamaness, who was named T'ang Kum Agassi, or Tanggum Aeggi. She descended from heaven to Earth and gave birth to the Samsin in a cave, which is a reference to bear worship and Korean shamanism. Later, after male-oriented Buddhism has entered Korea, the myth was amended with Tanggum Aeggi also giving birth to 3 sons, who became Buddhistic heaven gods.
The Samsin Halmoni then created and gave birth to the first humans on Earth, becoming the mother goddesses and ancestors of all humans.
In a Samsin myth, both of the main characters - the malevolent Princess of the Dragon Palace of the East Sea and the kind Princess of the Kingdom of Myeongjin - are female, underlining how the ancient myth is related to female-oriented Korean shamanism.