Holiday Week: Valentine's Day and Daeboreum

[samedi]

As I'm sure many of you know, Valentine's Day took place on Monday this week. While it's true that the observance of Valentine's Day (밸런타인데이) is different in Korea than it is in most of North American and Western Europe it's not really a subject that I considered writing about. I did, however, receive chocolate from a few of my female students

Comments

[samedi]

I'll be at work for most of the day so I don't have anything special planned.

You're still glad even though I didn't write about the use of turtle statues as memorial tablet bases? ;)

[samedi]

I wouldn't recommend holding your breath. Someone else asked me to write about a different type of funerary statue last year and I still haven't gotten around to it! ;)

Amanda Here

[anonymous]

I usually ask Good Man about your posts. He, too, claims "nobody does it anymore," but then when I push he admits some people do.

Of course, Good Man also didn't know why the female wedding goose had a ribbon on her beak or why the 60th birthday party was such a big deal in Korea. Sometimes I think he's not Korean.

Re: Amanda Here

[samedi]

Well, if someone with a name (Good Man, or anyone who posts a name with their comment) says that an event doesn't happen anymore I'm willing to listen. What I was referring to in my entry are the completely anonymous posters - typically with an ISP in Seoul - who drop by to say people don't do x anymore, and when I tell them that my students, coworkers, a friend, or whomever still does x their response is, "Oh, they're lying to you".

At what point should I consider seeking a job with the Cultural Heritage Administration in Korea? ;)

Re: Amanda Here

[anonymous]

"Oh, they're lying to you." So, not only are you stupid for researching these traditions, Paul, but you're also so stupid you don't even know that your friends, coworkers are students are lying to your face on a daily basis. Ha ha!

I wonder if the anons are expats who are pissed that you have a clue?

And I think you could apply for that job NOW.

Re: Amanda Here

[samedi]

Apparently I'm not cynical enough to write about my experience in Korea. Ha!

They very well could be expats who are upset by an alternative depiction of the country. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to hear that an expat working in 강남 whose only Korean friends are well-off 20-somethings has a different experience than I do. The problem is in assuming that one of us has to be right and the other wrong. (Especially if I only want to claim that a tradition exists; not that it's widespread.)

First I have to figure out what kind of position I should look for with the CHA. English-language liaison? Something else? Hmmm.

A Request from Amanda

[anonymous]

By the way, if you ever come across a chapter about tradtional units of measurement or something like that, I'd love to know about it. Last night I read "5리" as a unit of measurement. When I asked Good Man he said "오리 is duck." ㅋㅋ Once we cleared the 오/다섯 issue he said it was a measurement (which I'd figured out). But it wasn't in my dictionary.

I know a 근 is about what you can hold in your cupped hands. Now I need to go find 리...

Re: A Request from Amanda

[samedi]

I know how much a 리 is (hooray for me!) so I can make an entry about that and a couple of other measurements some time tonight or tomorrow. (평 is another one that gets used often enough that I'll make sure I include.)

I don't know that I've encountered 근 before. Hmmm. I might need to take a stroll through the Uijeongbu Market to see if it crops up anyway.

The confusion between 오리 and 5리 has me cracking up. Awesome! ㅋㅋ

[brighidn]

How much of these anonymous tradition-deniers do you figure are involved in the sort of cultural cringe still evident throughout much of Asia? Is this more eagerness to be seen as modern, Western, and perhaps Christian?

I've had traditionally-uneducated Chinese tell me to my face that certain religious and cultural customs are practiced "only by peasants", though they ought to suspect I know very well that there is a resurgence of such things in the cities now. Also reminds me of relatives who insisted on showing me all the boring tall towers in the city center of Nanning, though I had rather have gone to the Zhuang minority college library... Not sure what accounts for this attempt at PR, but it's lost on me, frankly.

[samedi]

As these comments come from anonymous visitors it's impossible to know for sure, but my impression is that they come from foreigners (more precisely, English teachers) in Korea or who ones used to live here. I don't get comments like that very often, but when I do it seems like the person involved cannot believe that someone would hold a different view of Korea from their own -- one that involves traditional customs, politeness from old people, etc

[anonymous]

Vey sweet Valentines day. Super sweet. :)