Archive for 'Uncategorized'
Musumnal (머슴날) Posted by Ginny on Feb 1, 2009
Musumnal (머슴날) is a quaint, rural festival celebrated the first of every February. Musum (머슴) means servant or farm hand, while nal (날) means day. Altogether musumnal (머슴날) means the ‘festival of servants.’ This festival is celebrated on Jeju Island (제주). On this day a shamanistic rite called yungdunggui (영등구이) is performed. The rite is…
Minsok Chun (민속촌) Posted by Ginny on Jan 10, 2009
Minsok Chun (민속촌) is a Korean folk village in Youngin (용인) province. It’s a living museum of how Korean people lived; way before any contact with foreign nations. If you go to Minsok Chun (민속촌), you’ll get to see what Korean people did and how they spent their time. This is the age before television, so…
Ogok-bap (오곡밥) Posted by Ginny on Jan 8, 2009
Ogok-bap (오곡밥) is a common dish consumed on Deborum (대보람) or the full moon festival. What is ogok-bap (오곡밥)? It’s a dish of five different types of grain. The most prominent ingredient in ogok-bap (오곡밥) is chapssal (찹쌀). Chapssal (찹쌀) is glutinous rice. When glutinous rice is cooked, it becomes sticky. Despite it’s name, glutinous…
Deborum (대보름) Posted by Ginny on Jan 7, 2009
Deborum (대보름) is an up-coming festival celebrated on the fifteenth of January. This festival is based on the lunar calendar and means ‘great full moon.’ The locals believe that the first full moon appears on the fifteenth of January. Like many Korean festivals, there are always traditional activities that highlight the festival. For example there…
New Years Food Posted by Ginny on Jan 3, 2009
Hi everyone! Let’s talk about what Koreans eat on New Year’s Day. The typical day of the New Year starts with breakfast. Breakfast consists of a rice cake soup called ddok-kuk (떡국). Ddok-kuk (떡국) is a soup made of beef broth with thinly shaped oval rice cakes. Actually, I’m not sure why Americans call ddok-kuk (떡국) a…
Sul (설) Posted by Ginny on Jan 1, 2009
Hi everyone! This is the first post for 2009! Todays is Sul nal (설날) or New Years Day in Korea. The typical phrase you’ll hear is sehe bok mani baduseyo (새해 복 많이 받으세요). Let’s break this phrase down so that we can understand this quirky greeting. Sehe (새해) means ‘new year.’ Bok (복) means…
Sung-tan-jul (성탄절) Posted by Ginny on Dec 21, 2008
What is sung-tan-jul (성탄절)? Sung-tan-jul (성탄절) is Christmas in Korean. As you know, some South Koreans celebrate Christmas. However, the story’s different for North Korea. Christianity is seen as a doctrine imported by the West. As a result, the North Korean government views Christmas and anything associated with the West with suspicion. Although there are…