Why Koreans Make Wishes on Stone Cairns — From Village Shrines to Maisan Tapsa
Hike almost any trail in Korea and you'll pass small stones carefully balanced on rocks or by the path. No one knows who placed the first one. Each passer-by added another, and over time a little tower grew. Why do people stack stones when they make a wish?
Seonangdang stone mounds: wishes on the road
In the old days, at the edge of a village or the top of a mountain pass, there was often a seonangdang, a shrine to the spirit believed to protect the village and those travelling through it. Typically it was a large tree with a mound of stones at its foot and strips of five-coloured cloth tied to its branches. Travellers would stop, pick up a stone and add it to the mound, praying for a safe journey and peace for the family they'd left at home.
Scholars sometimes call these mounds nuseokdan, "altars of piled stones". They weren't built by one person on purpose. They grew from countless stones left by people coming and going. Similar customs appear across Asia, like the ovoo of Mongolia and the stone piles of Tibet and the Himalayas. Setting down your worries on the road, one stone at a time, seems to be a very human impulse.
Small cairns in temple yards and on trails
Today the cairns you're most likely to see are small ones in temple courtyards and along hiking paths. A Buddhist stone pagoda is a sacred structure enshrining relics, but the stacks people build by hand are humble towers of personal prayer. Exam results, a parent's health, a child's future: each stone carries someone's hope.
Maisan Tapsa: towers built by one man
The best-known stone towers in Korea stand at Tapsa temple on Maisan, a twin-peaked mountain in Jinan, North Jeolla. According to tradition, a hermit named Yi Gap-ryong came here in the late 19th century and spent decades stacking stones by himself, raising some eighty towers. They're made only of natural stones, without mortar, yet are famous for standing firm against strong winds, which many visitors find remarkable. People still walk among the towers making wishes, and leave a small stone of their own near the entrance.
Why stones?
- They last. Stones don't wash away in wind or rain. They carry the hope that a wish will stay put for a long time.
- They're everywhere. Anyone can pick one up from the path. It was the most equal way to make a wish, with no money or preparation needed.
- They add up. One stone is small, but many together make a tower. Your wish rises toward the sky alongside everyone else's.
- They take care. Balancing a stone so it won't fall means pausing and focusing. That brief moment becomes the time you set your wish in your heart.
Cairn etiquette
- Never knock down someone else's cairn. Every stone is someone's wish. Be careful about moving stones for photos, too.
- Pick small, stable stones. A big stone can topple the stack. Flat stones smaller than your palm are best.
- Leave nature as you found it. Prising stones from stream beds or peeling up mossy rocks can destroy small creatures' homes. Some national parks restrict moving or stacking stones, so check the signs.
- Keep your voice down. Others are making wishes here too.
A cairn online
Wishing Stone Cairn brings this custom onto the screen. Like a seonangdang mound, anyone passing by can add a stone, and everyone's stones build a single tower. The one difference is that moss grows on your stone each day. Wipe it away, remember your wish once a day, and your stone climbs higher in step with your devotion. Even on days you can't get to the mountains, or for someone far away, you can still add a stone.