By Lee Hyo-sik
Korea’s “jongga,” or head family of a clan sharing the same last name and tradition under Confucian ideas, has been fading over the years as the country becomes more Westernized and urbanized.
But there are still hundreds of jongga in rural areas who uphold and maintain tradition. In a move to raise public awareness of head families and revive their culture and tradition, North Gyeongsang Provincial Government has developed seals for 12 representative jongga within its jurisdiction, in partnership with the Institute of Visual Art at Seoul National University.
During the Jongga Forum 2010 held at the Coex in southern Seoul, Tuesday, the seals were on display under the theme of “The Culture of Main Families in Communication with the World,” attracting over 1,000 people, including Confucian scholars, foreign diplomats and members of jongga households from the province.
Jongga is a household descended from a distinguished ancestor through the eldest son of each generation. Some of these families’ histories are over 500 years old.
In North Gyeongsang Province, a total of 120 traditional jongga houses have been designated as national cultural assets, the most across the country, because the region was relatively less damaged during the 1950-53 Korean War.
In March, the provincial government selected 12 jongga out of 90, who wanted to develop their own seals.
Since then, government officials and researchers from the institute visited each family and created unique crests. One seal was shaped like an orchid and others were in the form of a glass vase, an ink stone and a traditional roof tile.
“When the extended family structure was the norm here, jongga exerted a greater influence on Korean society. But with the falling birthrates and the spread of the nuclear family structure, the jongga tradition has largely become a thing of the past,” said Ryu Mun-gyu, director of the cultural asset division at the provincial government.
He said creating seals for the 12 jongga and showing them to the public is part of the provincial government’s effort to draw interest to its culture and tradition, adding the concept of jongga is a pillar of the province’s cultural identity.
“There are many head families based in our province. We are trying to promote their culture and tradition, and turn them into national brands. In 2008 and 2009, we held an exhibition in Daegu. But to spread the appeal of jongga and its tradition to larger crowds, we decided to organize a display in Seoul,” Ryu said, adding the provincial government will develop seals for more head families in the region.