By Kim Ji-myung
What comes to your mind when you hear the term “Korean traditions”? What are the keywords of traditional Korean culture? As we are celebrating the traditional thanksgiving holidays of Chuseok, these questions come to my mind once again.
According to the official website of the Korean government, Korean-style houses (hanok) with their floor heating system called ondol, Korean food (hansik) represented by kimchi and green tea, Korean paper (hanji) and Korean clothing (hanbok) are the quintessential elements of Korean culture. And most of all, there is the Korean alphabet Hangeul, the pride of the people. Yes! We really have distinctive and superb cultural assets.
Last year I had a chance to conduct a brief survey on what image foreigners have in their minds about Korea. Of some 120 participants in an international symposium, some 80 experts and scholars of Korean Studies responded. It was not a scheduled survey but an on-the-spot questionnaire that asked them to write down the words that came to mind when they think about “Korea.”
The answers were not entirely extraordinary but mostly of the sort that are expected. Kimchi, taekwondo, Korean dramas, dynamic, speedy, sauna and etc. If it was done last week, “Psy” could have been the first word. Their general concept was neither well organized nor systematic, which is quite natural as most Koreans themselves do not share a clear consensus.
The discrepancy in attitude toward tradition among people surfaces most dramatically when families gather together at their parents’ house on traditional holidays such as Chuseok, which falls on Sept. 30 this year.
Older people behave mostly by the traditional rules of a slower agrarian society: community-based, collective-minded, with a caring and somewhat interfering attitude. The more individualistic younger generation with an urban lifestyle resents and defies such questions such as “Why don’t you get married to a decent spouse?” or “Have you found a job?” The absolute authority of older people is hard to find anymore, while young daughters-in-law are not willing to blindly obey customs and rules.
Korean society has changed so rapidly from an idyllic rural society to an IT industry OECD member country that even media professionals seem to fail to keep up with the changes.
Statistics show that single-member households now account for some 24 percent of the total population, while another 24 percent of households consist of only two members. And yet, on every traditional holiday, reporters try to present an emotional story by interviewing “solitary, lonely aged people who live alone.” Very often the interviewee finds it hard to respond to the piteous questions because that is not what is in his/her mind.
Filial piety towards parents, loyalty to the king, differentiation between husband and wife, respect for elders and solidarity among friends were the most cherished values. These customs and values are inscribed in the veins of older generations of the Koreans. Nothing could take priority before these values.
The obligations of a son, especially the first son, preceded any other duties in Joseon Dynasty. Even King Sejong the Great (early 14th century), refused to eat or perform any official duties when his mother, the queen, passed away. After many days of fasting, his courtiers had to force him to drink gruel.
Sometimes we Koreans are surprised to see how well we adapt to rapidly changing environments by revising our ways of thinking and lifestyle. Some attribute it to our experience of modern history. The solid and deeply rooted family and social traditions of a feudal kingdom were uprooted and shattered during Japanese colonial rule and again by the civil war on the peninsula.
In recent years many executives of big companies spend the Lunar New Year and Chuseok holidays abroad planning for future business. Even ordinary citizens flood the airports during at these times of year to enjoy holidays out of the country. No one criticizes such travel as anti-traditional acts perpetrated by unfaithful descendants. Some first-born sons even conduct ancestral rituals at resorts to fulfill their duties. And in this convenient country, ready-made ceremonial food for such occasions is available at supermarkets.
We have to admit that the world has changed, and is changing. People now think differently. Someone said that tradition is carried on through families at home. But families and homes themselves are also rapidly changing.
Hey, reporters of newspapers and TV networks, could you do me a favor? Please don’t just look up and copy articles from the past, and paste them in for this year. Please don’t repeat the sorry stories of “lost tradition” and “good old beautiful customs”.
Readers already know that your article on New Year’s Day will start with a comment by an aged man living in a public facility saying, “I am so lonely. I wish I was living with my son!” Or on Chuseok, an 87-year-old grandma living alone saying “Nobody comes to visit us. Of course we feel deserted!
Each of us, regardless of our positions, need to get smart, so as to keep up with the changes around us. Just stop and think for one moment, what can you do to sustain our authentic tradition, without unrealistically romanticizing it?
The American movie star Woody Allen may be right when he said, “Tradition is the illusion of permanence.”
The writer is the chairwoman of the Korea Heritage Education Institute (K*Heritage). Her email address is Heritagekorea21@gmail.com.