Often found at theaters and museums, Kwon Mee-yoo has covered a wide range of cultural fields from K-pop and dramas to theater and fine art for over a decade. Now as K-Culture Desk editor, she tries to connect Korean culture with global readers through fresh perspectives.
Year of Ox highlights longstanding bovine-human relations
"Painting of a Herdsman" from late Joseon era attributed to Noga / Courtesy of National Museum of Korea
By Kwon Mee-yoo
By Kwon Mee-yoo
The year 2021 is the Year of the Ox in the Chinese Zodiac. Creatures of the bovine subfamily were among the earliest animals raised as livestock, first domesticated over 10,000 years ago. Bovines and humans have been influencing each other throughout history, including when the first modern vaccine against contagious diseases was invented.
The ox is the second animal in the Chinese Zodiac, and represents 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. in terms of time, and north-northeast on a compass. Though slow, the ox is known for doing its job, showcasing its earnest and prudent characteristics.
Though commonly called the Year of the Ox in English, though the original Chinese term encompasses all varieties of cattle.
Cow as one of the 12 guardians in Chinese Zodiac / Courtesy of National Folk Museum of Korea
Chun Myung-sun, professor at Seoul National University's College of Veterinary Medicine, said cattle are one of the largest domesticated animals. The herbivore with four stomachs can eat up to 70 kilograms of grass if put out to pasture, ruminating all day.
"Nowadays, the term cow is more closely related to beef, but before beef, there is cow," Chun said. "The natural lifespan of cattle would be up to 30 years in the wild, but beef cattle are butchered around 30 months and dairy cattle at around five years."
The history of cattle with humans dates back to the cave art of Altamira, which is believed to have been created over 20,000 years ago.
"The cave paintings were made during the Paleolithic Era, before human settled down and tamed cattle. However, the Paleolithic men examined the bovine animal very closely and in detail, probably as a game," Chun explained.
"The domestication of cattle began around BC 8000, or the Neolithic Revolution. Different species of cattle were domesticated in different parts of the world; in China, India and Mesopotamia around the same time."
After humans domesticated cattle, cattle became smaller and lived in areas designated by humans, who also provided with food and protection.
Chun gave an example of how the humble cow saved humans from one of the worst diseases in human history. Smallpox is one of the oldest recorded human diseases, with the virus found in Egyptian mummies from the 3rd century.
"Early on the Chinese used variolation to treat smallpox patients, but Edward Jenner's 1796 inoculation consisting of pus taken from a cowpox pustule on a boy is considered the first modern vaccine. He discovered that milkmaids who had cowpox did not contract smallpox and experimented injecting cowpox pus to prove his theory, which succeeded," she said. "The word vaccine, one of the hottest keywords of 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world, originates from vacca, the Latin word for cow."
Chun added that humans also contributed to saving cows by using tuberculin extracted from human tuberculosis virus in testing bovine tuberculosis treatments.
"The history of humans and cattle was one of adjusting to each other. In early days, humans literally lived with cattle, but nowadays cattle ranches are separated from people's houses, as people use cattle, instead of living together," Chun said. "We have to think about how we would co-exist with cattle, one of the most important domesticated animals in human history."
A cow drawing a cart in 1959 in Hwasun, South Jeolla Province, taken by photographer Kang Bong-kyu. Courtesy of Seoul Museum of Art
Ox in Korean culture
The importance of cattle comes from its indispensable role in the agrarian society.
"Cows are significant in three ways in terms of farming ― workforce, property and sacrificial offerings. It was the best labor power a farming family had and was monetarily valuable ― easily the most expensive property of a household," Jung Yon-hak, National Folk Museum of Korea curator, said. "Being a symbol of Byeoksa, or repelling evil spirits, and the cow's great strength made it the preferred sacrifice for shamanic rituals."
Historical evidence of farming with cows in Korea dates back to around the 15th century BCE. Cow bones and plowshares were found among Korean Bronze Age relics. Nose rings for cows appears in Goguryeo era murals of Anak Tomb No. 3 in South Hwanghae Province, now North Korea, created in 357 and Yaksu-ri tomb in South Pyongan Province in 408.
According to Jung, cows were used as working animals as they have strong endurance and are more obedient, while bulls were raised for meat.
"Training cattle to work began with putting a ring through a calf's snout. It was an important way to control a cow," Jung said. "The nose ring was inserted when the calf was between five and 16 months old, when their nose is still soft. Yew or ash tree were popular as they are flexible and resistant to moisture, but do not break."
The yoke was used to increase the cow's traction power. "In early days, a yoke was used between a pair of cows, bringing families with a cow each together for farming. The yoke was developed to suitable for a single cow," Jung said.
Since cows were such an important farming animal, they were closely related to rituals wishing for a good harvest.
"The God of Farming Sinnong, also known as Shennong in China, was described as having a cow's head on a human body. It is also related to the Korean ritual of 'Gosure,' throwing food into the air before eating outdoors as an offering for Sinnong," Jung explained.
During the 918-1392 Goryeo Kingdom, having a prolific harvest year was crucial in people's life, so the king plowed a field himself in ceremonies for a rich harvest. The Seonnongje ritual was held at the Seonnongdan Altar and the soup provided at the ritual was called Seonnongtang which some Koreans argue to be the origin of the popular Korean dish, cow bone soup, or “seolleongtang.”
"Farmers also predicted the year's yield by serving rice and herbs to a cow on the first full moon of the year. If the cow eats rice first, it signals a bumper crop, while eating herbs first meant poor harvest. It represents how much farmers relied on cows for farming," Jung said.
Ox-horn Plated Box / Courtesy of National Folk Museum of Korea
Cows were the most valuable possession of a family in Korea for a long time and even an insurance for cows was introduced in 1879 by the company Great Joseon Insurance.
"An insurance policy of Great Joseon Insurance is in our museum's collection. The cow insurance provided coverage in the event of unexpected death or theft of a farmer's cow, but it was abolished after about 100 days as people misunderstood it as a new kind of tax on cows," Jung said.
Cows were once the strongest labor source in the farming industry, but the introduction of agricultural machinery changed everything.
"Cows are not used for farming flatlands anymore. A few sloped farm fields in Gangwon Province still uses cows for plowing fields, but they have been replaced by heavy vehicles as well. The value of cows in agriculture is disappearing. We need to look back on and research cow-related farming methods and equipment," Jung said.