(319) Games: a way of divinatory play

By Janet Shin

Why do people do divination? You may relate it with a certain type of supernatural ability, so it is performed by an extraordinary person such as a shaman. You may also consider it to be practiced for special events. The reality is not always the case as you might assume. It is true that divination was conducted in times of war and for national matters since the olden days. However, it is actually one of the most universal rituals that people do in their daily routines.

Let me explain it along with an intriguing theme. Stewart Culin (1858-1929), an American ethnographer, wrote how games across cultures are associated with acts of divination in his book ‘Chess and Playing-Cards’ published in 1896. Furthermore his book ‘Korean Games ― With Notes on the Corresponding Games of China and Japan’ (1895) introduces 95 traditional Korean games and compares them with Chinese and Japanese games. It is mentioned that games are derived from acts of incantation from ancient times. They are a part of divinatory rituals to relieve people’s anxieties.

His book ‘Chess and Playing-Cards’ contains valuable information concerning games and divinatory processes from many clans and cultures across the continents, both East and West, which he shows all have similar origins. In his introduction, he mentions, “The object of this collection is to illustrate the probable origin, significance and development of the games of chess and playing-cards… The basis of the divinatory systems from which games have arisen is assumed to be the classification of all things according to the four directions.”

The collection includes not only the game of Nyout in Korea, which is regarded as a prototype of most common games, but also that of dice, chess and cards, including tarot cards. There are hundreds of games, illustrations and figures portrayed in his book. For example, “Chinese play a great variety of dice-games and cosmological significance is attached to the dice throws, the six being called heaven and its opposite, one, is earth. The four between them is designated as man.” It is basically similar to the Eastern concept of heaven, earth and human. In addition, by playing with a pair of dice, they combine the numbers to result in ‘civil,’ ‘military,’ ‘harmony’ and so on.

In some sense, games can be regarded as gambling. Drawing lots is believed to be a general manner of games. When it comes to gambling, one may associate it with various hand skills and elaborate calculations. However, the essence of a game is its property of contingency. It doesn’t involve a causal relationship so the intention of computation must be excluded in the process of generating the outcomes.

These games originated from people living in ancient days facing many unexpected happenings. The most threatening situation obviously was when they were confronted with changes of nature and especially when nature could harm their lives. The quartering of the moon, for instance, would have been a wonder and it is needless to say the fear of primitive people when they encountered an eclipse of the sun or the moon. And this explains why sorcerers used to be the head of clans because it was such an important duty to deal with natural issues and communicate with heaven.

Natural calamity was not the only incident for which people carried out rituals in the form of divination. People were often helpless as they couldn’t forecast the weather and many daily incidents. Without the benefits of scientific civilization, they were devastated when drought was severe and didn’t know when it would rain. This was the intrinsic motivation that drove primitive peoples to conduct divination in their everyday lives.

There were many other situations that people used to try to foretell and find ways to harmonize contradictions in their daily lives. Apparently, laws and norms, which are more authorized means to mediate and compromise any sort of social discord, were established as civilization progressed. Ancient groups had to find ways to reach mutual agreements. Playing rock-paper-scissors was one method to reconcile conflicts without further dispute. It was the background of the universality of divination and why it relates with playing games.

We frequently find ourselves standing at a crossroads. Our everyday lives are full of ambiguities for which we have to choose either one way or another. Will it be better to move or stay in the same place? Will I pass the entrance examination? Which school should I select? Not only for critical, but for many possible disquieting occurrences that require genuine and detached judgment, people rely on simple fortune-telling and play games using objects such as dice, cards and more primeval implements like staves, bones and fruit stones.

For further information, visit Janet’s website at www.fourpillarskorea.com, contact her at 010-5414-7461 or email janetshin@hotmail.com. The writer is the author of “Life’s Secrets.”