<![CDATA[The transformation of Jesa in contemporary Korean society has reflected a shift in symbolic meaning driven by changes in family structure, modernization, and women's active participation in ritual practices. Women have no longer merely performed supportive domestic roles but have emerged as cultural agents who reinterpret the symbolic elements of Jesa, including altar arrangement, the selection of ritual offerings, spatial organization, and their positions within the ceremonial procession. In many families, women's participation as ritual leaders has demonstrated the resemanticization of hyo (filial piety), shifting it from a patrilineal obligation toward a more egalitarian and contextually grounded form of ancestral veneration. Through the symbolic perspective of Ernst Cassirer, these transformations can be understood as a process of reconstructing symbolic forms that reshape the network of meanings sustaining the cultural identity of Korean families. Women function not only as interpreters and custodians of symbolic continuity but also as creators of new ritual configurations that enable Jesa to remain relevant amid the dynamics of contemporary social change.]]>
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