Research on the Impact of Jeju Rural Area's Changing Funeral Ritual about Shrouds

The objective of this research is to find out status and consciousness about shrouds according to changes of Jeju's rural funeral ritual while reviewing Jeju's traditional shrouds. Consciousness of customs regarding tradition is much stronger in Jeju Island. Since it was said that shrouds and changes of funeral ritual have very systematic correlation according to the result of precedent researches, changes of funeral rituals of Jeju's rural area were examined. At the same time, consciousness about traditional shrouds of Jeju people was also studied. As the result of examination through literary investigation, visits to rural homes, visits to production places of Jeju's shrouds and interviews with grandmothers designated as human cultural assets of traditional Jeju shrouds, etc, it was found out that Jeju's rural funeral rituals had been rapidly changed since 2000. Traditional Jeju shrouds are also disappearing. In particular, old women of Jeju have considered preparation of their own and their husbands' shrouds in advance as a virtue. However, as it gradually became more difficult to produce and prepare traditional shrouds at homes and as the space of funeral was changed from their own houses to hospitals and/or commercial funeral homes, it was found out that a ratio of people's using general shrouds sold in market was increased and it is believed that this kind of trend will be accelerated more and more in the future.