Dangun myth

Knowing Hwanung's desire for the human world, his father Hwanin looked down at the world, and realized that the three Wisdom Taebaek (三危太白) among them was a good land for human beings, he gave three heavenly gods to go down and rule them.

Hearing the prayers of bears and tigers (mountain gods) to make them human, King Hwanungcheon gave them spiritual mugwort and 20 garlic cloves, and said, “If you eat this and avoid sunlight in 100 days, you will get a human body.” said The bear obeyed the taboo and obtained a woman's body, but the tiger broke the taboo and gave up halfway through, so her dream did not come true.

The bear, it is a pure Korean word meaning god. Japanese reading of God as kami, both the dragon and the turtle in ancient Korean and the bear in modern Korean were collectively called bear. It is natural for dragons to contain the will of the gods, and the turtle also has a sacred meaning if we consider the oracle bone script of the Eun Dynasty and the story of the birth of King Suro. Corresponds to the tiger, the bear is indeed a totem animal 'bear'.

Hearing Ungnyeo's wish to have a child, Sindansu, standing on the top of Taebaeksan Mountain sacred water, Hwanung granted the blessing. Hwanung, who came down to earth, was a 'heaven'.

Hwanung came down to the human world with Pungbaek, Usa, and Unsa for the purpose of 'Hongik Ingan (弘益人間),' who said 'to benefit people widely'. Among the three weather gods in charge of wind, rain, and clouds in the founding myth of Gojoseon, Pungbaek, which uses Baek (伯) in its name, is higher than the other gods.

For Pungbaek alone, the eldest son, Baek (伯), has the highest authority among the three because priests sometimes take the place of the king or monarch in a society of unity.

There is no ethnic group that is farming or hunting, and the climate is not important. This refers to the climatic conditions most closely related to human life.

In order to control the climate, Poongbaek became an object of faith. In Silla, on the feast day after Ipchun every year, a national ritual was held regularly to Poongbaek at a place called Gyeonsugokmun (犬首谷門). The feast day is 'Cow Day' in the zodiac, and it was celebrated because the cow is a beneficial animal necessary for farming, and Gyeonsugokmun was located at the northeast point of the royal palace in Seorabeol.

Unsa played the sword and Usa beat the drum, and accompanied Hwanung and Dangun in their march. Pungbaek was the monarch's advisor or priest, Unsa was the general in charge of military affairs, and Usa was the civil servant or prime minister in charge of administration.

The ‘first human’ of the mountain god worship in national tradition was King Hwanungcheon, and his son Dangun Wanggeom took over the position of the mountain god.

Dangun Wanggeom founded Joseon, and moved the capital from Pyongyang Fortress to Asadal, Mt. Baegak, and ruled for 1,500 years. And the Dangun myth states, “At the time of the enthronement of King Zhuho, Giza was sealed to Joseon, and Dangun moved to Jangdanggyeong, and later hid back in Asadal and became a mountain god. Su (壽) was one hundred and eighty years old.”