English | Korean Buddhist Culture: Salt Offering in Ceremony of Fire Dragon King
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Author Jogye On13-06-19 17:58 Views16,739 Comments0Related links
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Korean Buddhist Culture: Salt Offering in Ceremony of Fire Dragon King
June 13th (May 5th on lunar calendar) is Korean Dano day, which is one of the strongest day with Yang energy. On this day, an offering of Salt to the Fire Dragon Kin in hopes for rain/water is performed, a tradition which lasted more than one hundred years in Korea.
Haeinsa temple had experienced seven great fires since 1695 and the temple monks follow very distinct traditional culture of burying salt in Mt. Gayasan.
Also in Tongdo-sa, Ceremony of Fire Dragon King is performed with an altar with numerous salt jars. The old jar situated on the corners of temple buildings then exchanged with a new jar after the ceremony.
Normally these rituals and ceremonies can not be seen by the general public. But, the ceremonies began to be shared since a few years back.
These ceremonies are performed in wish for the dragon king to protect the temples from great fires.