Pig Head Ritual

11/12/12 Walking to publishing class this evening, I passed a presumably new car with it’s hood open. In front of it on the ground was an altar made from a Korean round floor table. On the altar was a pig’s head with a piece of paper in it’s mouth; a pot with some kind of steaming meat; various fruits, 2 candles, and bottles of makgeolli. It appears to have been a new car blessing ritual. It is called kosa. It is a blessing for safety or money. A new car, a new house, a new store may get this kind of blessing.It was probably an envelope of money in the pig's mouth. I surveyed some of my students about this. A couple had a parent of relative who had done kosa; most had only seen it on TV or heard stories. A similar ritual is performed at Chuseok and Solnal, called jaesa, done without the pig's head.

It looked similar to the photos on this blog link.

http://apexoutboundresidentebenstein.blogspot.kr/2011/08/traditional-korean-rites-at-seoul-art.html

Here is a youtube clip that looks similar to what I saw.

Links to other pig head news:
http://skisoldiers.blogspot.kr/2010/10/pighead-ceremony.html

http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=N5dN_A29v58C&pg=PA102&lpg=PA102&dq=pig+head+ritual+korea&source=bl&ots=jxK-q6iqOZ&sig=V5lHmATMom_c1R3FTGf2ltLx_KU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=R-qgUNjTH4GtiAe9lIGQDA&ved=0CF0Q6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=pig%20head%20ritual%20korea&f=false