Opinion - The Korea Times

Ancestor ceremonies today

By Mark Peterson After writing about modern “jesa” ― ancestor ceremonies in today's Korea ― it occured to me that many readers do not understand much about ancestor ceremonies, either today or yesterday. Korea readers will largely know from their own experiences, but the foreigner has probably only read about “ancestor worship” and has not attended a ceremony. Let's look at the ancestor ceremonies briefly today.Last week I wrote about visiting the Gwangsan Kim ceremony in a modern hotel with some of the traditional trappings of the ceremonies and some new features ― such as holding the ceremonies in a hotel ballroom.For those who have never attended a ceremony in Korea, it might be worth taking a minute to learn more about the ceremonies. First, they are the heart of Confucianism ― the core ceremony in Confucianism. Oft times one reads about “ancestor worship,” but that phrase is misleading. One performs the ceremony at home for close relatives who die, and there are ceremonies for those ancestors of greater and greater distance, but no one is real

Apr 8, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Understanding ancestor ceremonies

By Mark PetersonOn my recent trip to Korea I was privileged to be invited to the annual meeting of the Gwangsan Kim lineage association. I didn't realize at the outset that it was virtually a modern version of the ancestor ceremonies, without the ancestor ceremonies! I have attended many ancestor ceremonies over the last 50 years of living in (and out) of Korea. Because of my interest in Confucianism and my interest in Korean history, I've always wanted to see actual ceremonies, and not just read about them in books. I am also interested in Korean families and how they function, their value system, and how they acculturate the succeeding generations. I've always been impressed with Korean families ― how solid they are and how Korea values are perpetuated in the family.The ancestor ceremonies tell us a lot, and although they are Confucian in their origin, people who outwardly do not claim to be Confucian, still, carry on the ancestor ceremonies. In fact, people who are critical of Confucianism and even blame Confucianism for some of Korea's problems will still carry out the family cer

Mar 29, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Thousand-year border

By Mark Peterson Today, I want to return to an earlier theme that I like to write about ― that of the stability of Korean history. The stability argument runs counter to the general perception of Korean history among the average Korean citizen these days. Of course, the 20th century was not very happy for Korea, with the Japanese takeover, division, war and unresolved division, but if one looks beyond the 20th century ― both forward to the 21st century, and back into the 19th century and earlier, leaving the 20th century, the hallmark of Korean history and culture is stability.I have written about Korea's long dynasties, and the smooth transitions from one dynasty to the next. I've written about the uniqueness of Korea's surnames ― that there are so few, compared to other civilizations ― and that such large percentages of the population bear few surnames: Kim, 21 percent; Yi, 15 percent, Pak 9 percent. And that these surnames were the royalty of former dynasties. Along these lines, I thank professor Martina Deuchler for arguing that Korea's ruling aristocracy has not changed or been

Mar 17, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

'Show me the money'

By Mark Peterson One of the primary cultural symbols of any country are the figures they put on their money. In most cases these figures are historic people. The United States has a law that only deceased people can appear on the money; by contrast a living Queen Elizabeth in on the currency of many countries in the commonwealth (like the Bahamas, where several years ago I visited and was surprised to see the Queen staring back at me when I looked at the new money in my hands).Who is on the money in Korea, and what does it mean?When the 1,000 won note came out, the powers that be had decided that a true cultural hero was the 16th century Confucian scholar, Yi Hwang, known also as Toegye. Soon thereafter, the descendants and disciples of the “other 16th century pillar of Confucian philosophy,” Yi I, better known as Yulgok, were able to get their man on the 5,000 won note. The 10,000 won note has the image of the great Confucian king, Sejong. The theme so far has been Confucianism. Two Confucian scholars and a king whose primary legacy was Confucian scholarship. He was

Mar 12, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Traditional ancestor ceremonies

By Mark PetersonI've been writing about the 1688 inheritance document that was one of the first to espouse the disinheritance of daughters. I've written on that aspect of the document the last two weeks. There is more. The document said that daughters would only receive a one-third share of property (when compared to the sons), and it also said that daughters would no longer be able to participate in the rotation of hosting the ancestor ceremonies.To most of us, the traditional ancestor ceremonies were hosted by the eldest son, and the participants were all the other sons. No daughters. This became a “thing” ― the role of the eldest son had a special term ― the “jongson.” (English readers, please read the “O's” with a long [o] sound ― it's not jangsan, the natural pronunciation for an English speaker. It's johng-sohn ― with an O as in yoyo. This is a hopeless issue; for how many years have Americans been calling the U.S. Army base is Seoul “yahngsahn” ― when it is Yongsan, yong as in yoyo.) Before the 1680s the jongson did not have a sp

Feb 21, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

'Our family is different from other families'

By Mark PetersonSome years ago, in my study of Korean history and culture, I came upon a document that was revealing on many levels. It was a 1688 will or inheritance document of the Buan Kim family. In the preamble to the document it states they are going to change their procedure of giving property to the next generation.In the West, inheritance documents are called “wills” or the intention of the property-owning parent generation in giving their property to the next generation. In Korea there is a kind of “will” that is called a “heoyeo mungi,” which is translated as a “documentation of a gift” or a special allocation of property while the owner is alive. But most divisions of property occur after the parents die and is determined by the next generation, not the parent generation. Such documents are called “dongsaeng hwahoe mungi” or literally “a document of the peacefully assembled siblings.” The purpose of the document is like that of the “will” in the West, but it is the siblings who decided whi

Jan 21, 2019By Mark Peterson

'Our family is different from other families'

Mark Peterson

Confucianization in family trees

By Mark PetersonKorea has known Confucianism for over 1,500 years. But Confucianism in Korea was not always the same kind of Confucianism. Social practices changed over time: Initially Confucianism was adopted and adapted to fit Korean society of the Silla period (beginning roughly in the 4th century), but later, Confucianism conformed to the texts on ritual and social behavior and transformed into a totally orthodox ― or as one of my readers likes to say ― “fundamentalist” style of Confucianism.The tipping point came in the late 17th century when, due perhaps to population pressures, and perhaps because of forever reading the texts and making excuses for not conforming, and perhaps due to the fall of the Ming Dynasty, Korea's “older brother,” Korea accepted a thorough-going, orthodox form of Confucianism.Last week I showed two examples of jokbo ― the typical Korean printed genealogical tables ― showing how they were radically different in organization and in representation of their society in early and late Joseon. Today I want to address a special form of ge

Jan 15, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Changes in Jokbo

By Mark Peterson Jokbo is the Korean word for the published genealogical tables. The term is well-known in Korea, and for good reason. Korea probably has the greatest concentration of genealogical publications of any country on Earth. In other words, more Koreans are recorded in genealogical books than any other people in any other country on Earth. Koreans publish a lot of jokbo.As I wrote last week, the Korean textbooks ignore the Confucian orthodoxy movement of the late 17th century when so many social practices came in line with fundamentalist Confucianism. In addition to ceremonies, inheritances and marriage practices, the genealogies changed ― jokbo came to be recorded in a different way.The Andong Gweon jokbo of 1476Let's illustrate the change by looking at an early Joseon period jokbo and a contemporary jokbo:Here we can see one of the differences between early Joseon society and late Joseon society or contemporary society. The one from 1476 ― the first printed jokbo in Korea ― shows that sons and daughters were recorded equally ― that is, the children in each family were rec

Jan 6, 2019By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Korean textbook improvements

By Mark PetersonLast week I wrote about some of the work I've done over the last 24 years to try to improve American textbooks ― specifically, in how they cover Korea. I think I will spend the next 24 years trying to improve Korean textbooks on how they cover ― not America ― but how they cover Korea.Korean textbooks, on the whole, are very good. But like everything, there is room for improvement, and my career in Korean studies has highlighted several things that I think Korean textbooks can improve on. I'm not qualified to evaluate the textbooks in their total treatment of Korean history and culture, but there are a few areas in which I have personally conducted research where I think I can offer some suggestions for improvements. First, in the area of understanding Confucianism, there is almost no mention of Korea's transformation into a classic ― maybe the best example on the planet ― patrilineal society, better known in Korea as bugye society ― or in simple terms a male-dominated society. What is meant by the sociologists jargon “a patrilineal society” is often called

Dec 31, 2018By Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson

Read more

Ancestor ceremonies today

Understanding ancestor ceremonies

Thousand-year border

'Show me the money'

Traditional ancestor ceremonies

More on 1688 document

'Our family is different from other families'

Confucianization in family trees

Changes in Jokbo

Korean textbook improvements

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