A long time ago when tigers smoked, it was common to protect the boundary of a village in order to prevent malignant spirits from entering. Without ritual veneration of tutelary god(s) which resided in sacred trees or cairns placed at the village entrance — hardship, disease, crop failure, a poor catch (in coastal communities) or death could befall the inhabitants. In addition to fulfilling a spiritual function, the village ‘shrine’ provided a social and communal space for raising collective concerns or sharing neighbourhood gossip combining prosaic matters with the supernatural underpinned by a reverence for coexistence with nature. These guardian trees were adorned with geumjul (금줄), a left-tied straw rope threaded with rectangular strips of hanji (한지), white mulberry paper which represents purity and occasionally other symbolic articles such as pine needles to expel the malicious spirits. The rope served to delineate the boundary between secular and sacred spaces.

As a cultural practice rooted in shamanic origin tied to an agrarian society, the inevitable decline in practice has been driven by rapid industrialisation, the rise of organised religion and rural flight. As the elderly population who retain living memory of the social, spiritual and cultural functions of these beliefs pass away, who will tie the golden rope around the deities’ altar, recite the necessary incantations to placate the gods or make periodic ritual offerings to ensure the safety and prosperity of the village?