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(Inner) coffin
관 ( 棺 )
A coffin; a box in which the body of a deceased person is placed for burial. In the Paleolithic Era the bodies of the dead were interred in the soil without coffins. While no clear archaeological evidence has yet been discovered, archaeologists theorize that in the Neolithic Era containers made of wood were used to place corpses in before burial. In the Bronze Age, the settlers of the Korean Peninsula began to use coffins made of huge pottery jars or by hollowing logs. It was also in this period
Korean Rites of Passage -
60th wedding ceremony
회혼례 ( 回婚禮 )
Ceremony celebrating one’s 60th wedding anniversary. In the traditional Korean society of extended families, little significance was attached to wedding anniversaries with the exception of hoehon, or the 60th wedding anniversary. To hold a banquet to celebrate the 60th wedding anniversary, it was a prerequisite that the couple had grown gray together with one or more children between them, of whom none had died. On this anniversary, the elderly couple dress in wedding garments reenact the weddin
Korean Rites of Passage -
61st birthday
회갑 ( 回甲 )
The age of 61. Hoegap (회갑, 回甲) literally means “the return to gap” or completing the traditional sexagenarian cycle, that is, five cycles of the zodiac’s twelve years. The year one reaches the age of 61 is also called hwangamnyeon (lit. year of the return to gap) or gamnyeon (lit. gap year), and one’s birthday in that year is called hwangamnal (lit. day of the return to gap) or gamnal (lit. gap day). In the morning of one’s 61st birthday, the children throw a banquet to celebrate the occasion an
Korean Rites of Passage -
Ancestor worship
조상숭배 ( 祖上崇拜 )
Worship of ancestors by a family, clan, or national community. Ancestor worship has the socio-religious aspect of clan regulations and the ceremonial aspect of ritual. In study of the succession of memorial rites, the descendants should have religious belief in ancestors and conduct a series of ceremonies to them since the ancestors have descendants from a certain genealogy. Not all of the deceased can be ancestors; human relations are succeeded based on descendants or clans, and the deceased be
Korean Rites of Passage -
Ancestral grave visit
성묘 ( 省墓 )
Visiting ancestral graves to clean and look after them. Seongmyo refers to visiting ancestral graves on major traditional holidays such as Chuseok (Kor. 추석, Chin. 秋夕, harvest moon festival, fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month) or seasonal occasions such as Hansik (Kor. 한식, Chin. 寒食, lit. cold food [day]) to clean and take care of them. Looking after the ancestral graves where the bodies are buried has been traditionally considered as important as holding ancestral rites in honor of the ances
Korean Rites of Passage -
Ancestral rites held on holidays
차례 ( 茶禮 )
An ancestral rite held in the daytime on major holidays or seasonal festive occasions in honor of the four latest generations of ancestors. Charye (차례, 茶禮) is an ancestral rite held on holidays or certain days that mark the change of seasons. Today, it is not common to observe memorial rites on days that mark the changing of seasons and charye rites held on Seol, or the first day of the first lunar month, and Chuseok (추석, 秋夕), which falls on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, are the o
Korean Rites of Passage -
Ancestral tablet enshrinement rite
길제 ( 吉祭 )
A memorial rite held when an ancestral tablet is placed in the family shrine. Gilje is the last of the funeral rites. It is held when the spirit tablet of a recently deceased ancestor is placed in the family shrine. The addition of a new ancestral tablet to the existing tablets of the four latest generations of ancestors means that the oldest tablet is removed from the shrine. This procedure is hence the formal enshrinement of an ancestral tablet in the family shrine. The procedures of gilje are
Korean Rites of Passage -
Aristocratic families with equal standing in terms of marriage eligibility
혼반 ( 婚班 )
A clan-based community created through generations of intermarriage among upper class families. Honban refers to “compatible social status suitable for marriage” or “aristocratic families with equal standing in terms of marriage eligibility.” But in social science, it refers to a social alliance formed through frequent intermarriage between aristocratic families of equal social status where the marriage is arranged by a relative. In pre-modern society, marriage was a symbol of the family’s socia
Korean Rites of Passage -
Arrangement of food offerings
진설 ( 陳設 )
The process of arranging jegu (Kor. 제구, Chin. 祭具, ritual implements), jegi (Kor. 제기, Chin. 祭器, ritual vessels), and jesu (Kor. 제수, Chin. 祭需, ritual offerings) to be used during an ancestral rites ceremony. Jinseol, as preparation for a memorial rite, is the procedure of setting ritual implements, vessels and food offerings upon a table. During the table-setting procedure, spoons and liquor cups are first arranged along with fish, po (Kor. 포, Chin. 脯, dried meat), fruits and vegetables, food item
Korean Rites of Passage -
Arrangement of marriage
의혼 ( 議婚 )
Preliminary discussion of marriage before a wedding. Uihon is a preliminary discussion that involves the proposal and approval of marriage. Generally, it refers to the disucssions through the whole marriage process from the first talk of marriage until the actual wedding ceremony. During this process, both families concerned discuss the would-be bride and groom’s age, family tradition and circumstances, generic diseases, recent history of funerals, or whether they have the same surnames or ances
Korean Rites of Passage
