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This week's updates go along the same line as my general philosophy towards travelling and studying in another country and culture: when an opportunity presents itself, just go for it.  Earlier in the term that applied to plays on campus, then later just exploring the Seoul area and beyond for new things to see.  Then it was the concerts on campus by the school's student bands.  Today it's something a little more traditional than a rock concert by college students.

When visiting the Namsan Hanok Folk Vilalge I noticed signs for a traditional wedding performance.  Curious, I followed them and ended up an area set up for just that.  Since I had heard things about traditional Korean weddings, I decided to stick around and see just what one would be like.  First I noticed that there was a carpet for the partcipants to walk on that was just as colorful as the sleeves on some traditional garments.  On a more practical side it prevents the dirt from getting onto the hanbok worn by the people taking part in the ceremony.



Another thing I noted was jost how many objects were set up at the altar up front.  Not just plants and candles but also tea and what I assume were biscuits or fruit.  These would come into play later in the ceremony but first those fake chickens you see above would  come into play.  One is presented to the groom's family and one to the bride's, as well as a duck (also fake) presented to the father of the bride (presumably) by the groom.  All of this is strikingly different from the Western style ceremonies that have become so popular in Korea over the years.  Sure they'd get gifts for the newlyweds or at least give money to the couple so they  can buy things themselves.  But at a traditional ceremony perhaps the birds were once real birds, and false ones are now used primarily for a symbolic purpose.

Before the ceremony got started the man who presided over it spoke, but as you can see I didn't get a good picture of him; his face is totally obscured by that shrubbery.  However there were also musicians in hanbok to the side who performed mainly before the ceremony so as to create the right mood for it.  While several were women I recall learning in Introduction to Korean History that in the past wome wouldn't have been allowed to perform at a wedding.  Therefore this is a mix of modern sensibilities with traditional aesthetics.

The groom presents a false duck as a gift.

Once the music and readings stop, the groom enters with two lady attendants, likely family members, who will assist him during the ceremony.  Much more difficult is the job of the bride, whose hanbok is much more cumbersome than that worn by her husband-to-be.  Because she has to keep her face obscured by the silk tapestry draped on her arms, she also has attendants, who help her walk safely to the ceremony.  In addition women have a specific way they have to place their feet in order to bow fully, so the attendants asssit the bride in doing that as well.  While the hanbok is undoubtedly beautiful, this must be a very difficult thing to put up with, and could be part of why traditional garments aren't worn often in South Korea.

Both bride and groom take turns bowing deeply to each other, and then the ceremony commences with the sharing of tea and food.  This is where those biscuits and fruit I mentioned earlier came in.  Each party's attendants feed the morsels to their wards.  The gestures with which the attendants retrieve the morsels and tea appeared highly practiced or at the very least very smooth.  Like the traditional garments the ceremony itself is an art, and like any art likely must be practiced often enough that everything is done properly.  This adds to the beauty of the ceremony.

It's also worth mentioning that there are non-Korean influences that can be seen in the traditional ceremony.  Chiefly that the headdress and red dots worn by the bride are not of Korean origin at all.  Rather they are descended from Mongolian wedding traditions, dating back to the Yuan Dynasty  (when the Mongols controlled China).  Korean kings had to marry Mongolian princesses, and Koryo (the kingdom at the time in Korea) was a client state of the Mongolian Empire.  Those days are long since past but traces of Mongolia's influence can still be found in Korea today.

Just as she needed help sitting, the bride has to have assistance to safely stand up.

Once all those things have been consumed jointly by bride and groom the pair stand and move to the front of the altar.  While standing together another blessing is read.  It was at this point where I wondered if this was merely a performance or maybe something more.  My reasons for doubt were as follows: there was a cameraman present to record the ceremony, that didn't seem like something that would happen if it was just a performance piece.  Also one of the family members (presumed) was dressed in plain clothes and mixed in with the rest in their traditional clothes.  Finally the bride made eye contact with someone she seemed to know in the audience, then smiled in amusement when that woman laughed.  Most likely it was just a performance, but who knows?

Also have to mention that it was pretty windy that day.  Which isn't a good combination when you're the bride in a traditional Korean wedding ceremony and have a silk tapestry draped over your arms.  A few times early in the wedding the wind made it fly up a little but nothing too serious.  At the end of the ceremony though it was a very different story; a few gusts made it fly up increasingly more, and I worried it might hit her in the face.  Sure enough, just after I took the above pictures it did.  Bemused the groom then pulled it down and held it in place until the wind died down.

Once that last blessing was read the couple backed up and bowed to each other, then jointly bowed to the assembled crowd.  This seems likely a gesture to thank what would normally be the families of both bride and groom who'd be assembled for the wedding.  All in all it was a very neat thing to have just happened to come across while I was exploring the Hanok village.  You can learn things just by observing, and there are a lot of places to see tradition still alive in South Korea.  Even if the wind does make things kind of dicey every now and then.