Cracked pots
A pottery market circa 1900s.
By Robert Neff
In the 1900s, when the residents of Seoul needed pots and crockery they could either go to the market and buy them or, the market could come to them.
Crockery vendors, with their wares on their backs, had to tread carefully through the streets crowded with pedestrians, pack animals and barking dogs.
But, according to the Korea Review― an English language magazine printed in Seoul in 1901 ― the greatest danger to their goods was a household in mourning:
“When there is a dead body in the house no vendor of pots or jars dares come near the place; for not only must not the people of that house buy a jar but they must smash every jar or pot that the unlucky vendor carries.”
According to the article, the purchase of new pots and jars might mistakenly signal to the spirit of the deceased that its passing had been forgotten and the rest of the household was ready to move on with their lives.
This disrespect would not go unanswered and the spirit would soon claim another member of the household.
A heavy load circa 1900s.