A Study on the Symbolism of Mourning Dress - Focused on Mourning Dress -

The ceremonies were roughly categorized into four： coming of age, marriage, funeral and ancestral worship. Among them, the funeral was a representative example to show ancestral worship. As it symbolizes the worship to ancestors, its procedure was complicated and formalized. It was undoubtedly certain that formalized mourning dresses and complicated table setting for sacrificial services to ancestors were burdens. Although what was symbolized by mourning dresses was different depending on the wearers purposes, it was thought that no clothing had such unusual symbolism as mourning dress. When the composition of mourning dress was examined, it was shown that Taoism, family relation of Confucianism or symbolic clothing system of Shamanism were combined. Mourning dress first represented the Confucian idea of ancestral worship. For the composition of clothing in which a shamanistic element was inherent, forms of birds were used to guide the dead soul to the other world. In cutting out mourning dress, opposite concepts of Yin and Yang, and closure and openness were used to show a harmony between heaven and the earth. Male and female were represented through sewing techniques. The period of observing the mourning period depended on the degree of kinship. The degree to which the clothing was loose indicated the degree of sadness and kinship. Load blocks and tear pads indicated the degree of sadness. In considering the above indicators, family relation and filial piety to ancestors had a great effect on the form and details of mourning dress. Shamanistic elements as well as Confucian ones were inherent in mourning dress, which resulted in the combination of Taoism and Confucianism.

상복에서의 상징성 연구 - 상복저고리를 중심으로 -