Gang-gang-sul-lae

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 53
Occupation: Doctor
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 27th, 2018
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English, Mandarin

Story 

Gang-gang-sul-lae is a Korean folk dance that is exclusively performed by women of the community. It is also known as Ganggangsuwollae (강강수월래 in Hangeul/ 强羌水越來 in Hanja, which are Traditional Chinese Characters. It is a traditional dance where group of women hold hands in a circle, spinning around and singing. 

My mother, who I collected this data from said: “When I learned the history of Gang-gang-sul-lae in elementary school, I was told that admiral Yi Sun-sin (이순신) , during the Japanese invasion of Korea in the 16th Century, devised a plan to dress all the women into men’s clothing and dance around in circles. Then the Japanese soliders thought that admiral Yi had a big army and retreated in intimidation.”

Context

I remember first seeing Gang-gang-sul-lae in the field of my public school when celebrating Chuseok (추석/ Mid-Autumn Festival). It was during 2005, which was the same year when I started attending elementary school. I remember my mother and I dressing up in Hanbok (한복/ Traditional Korean Attire) and having a valuable cultural experience provided by the local community. This traditional dance has significance to my mother and many other Korean women as they have partaken in Gang-gang-sul-lae themselves. Because my mother now resides in Los Angeles and has not performed the Gang-gang-sul-lae for over a decade, singing and spinning around the living room while holding her son’s hand apparently brought back a “joyous memory”. 

Analysis

Despite being well known through its role it allegedly served in the 1592-1598 Japanese invasions of Korea, Gang-gang-sul-lae’s role in modern day society serves as a symbol of Korean culture and ‘heritage’. It is rare to see youth to play though performing the dance, it can always be seen at cultural events, which are especially prevalent during traditional holidays such as the first full moon of the lunar calendar and the mid-autumn festival.

A-ri-rang

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 53
Occupation: Doctor
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 27th, 2018
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English, Mandarin

Song

 

A-ri-rang is a renowned South Korean folk song

Line Original Script Phonetic Script Translation
1 아리랑, 아리랑, 아라리요… A-ri-rang, A-ri-rang, Arariyo…A-ri-rang gogaero neomeoganda

 

 A-ri-rang, A-ri-rang, Arariyo…You are going over A-ri-rang hill

 
2 아리랑 고개로 넘어간다  A-ri-rang go-gae-ro neom-eo-gan-da  You are going over A-ri-rang hill 
3 나를 버리고 가시는 님은  Na-reul beo-ri-go ga-shi-neun nim-eun  My love, you are leaving me 
4 십리도 못가서 발병난다. Shim-ri-do mot-ga-seo bal-byeong-nan-da. Your feet will be sore before you go ten li.
5 청천하늘엔 잔별도 많고 Cheong-cheon-han-eur-en jan-byeol-do man-ko Just as there are many stars in the clear sky,
6 우리네 가슴엔 희망도 많다. Uri ne ga-seum-en hui-mang-do man-ta.  There are also many dreams in our heart. 
7 저기 저 산이 백두산이라지 Jeo-gi jeo san-i Baek-du-san-i-ra-ji There, over there, that mountain is Baekdu Mountain,
8 동지 섣달에도 꽃만 핀다. Dong-ji seot-dar-e-do kkot-man- pin-da. Where, even in the middle of winter days, flowers bloom.

 

 

Context

 

The performer, my mother, heard of A-ri-rang the same way as I did: through the mother singing it to the child since youth. Despite many beliefs of the origin of the song, for my mother, the song was learnt through my grandmother, who lived through the Korean war in the Gangwon province as a child. My mother told me that A-ri-rang has special significance for my maternal side of the family as during the fearful times of the war, my then young grandmother would sing the song with others in order to feel hopeful and feel the bond with those in the same dreadful situation.

During my studies in Shanghai, China, my grandmother visited during the Chinese New Year period. During these times, those celebrating the holiday sets off tremendous amounts of fireworks. In the evening, while the rest of the family were enjoying the sight of the fireworks in the sky, my grandmother told us that the sound of the fireworks reminded her of the times of the Korean War.

 

Analysis

 

According to The Dual Career of “A-ri-rang”: The Korean Resistance Anthem That Became a Japanese Pop Hit by E. Taylor Atkins, A-ri-rang was a resistance anthem during the Japanese Colonization of South Korea of 1910 to 1945. It is famous for being sang during the famous March 1st demonstration against Japan in 1919 (known as 삼일절/ Sam-il Jeol/ Three-one day).

When looking into the meaning of the song, it can be clearly seen as why it was chosen as the resistance anthem. In the second line, “You are going over A-ri-rang hill” symbolizes one going through hardship, which in this case is Japan colonizing South Korea. Those “Leaving” in the third line refers to those leaving the South Korean side to the Japanese. “Your feet will be sore before you go ten li” means that they will not go far and “ten li” here is four kilometers in distance. The sixth line mentions having “dreams in the heart” while dream in this case is more close to hope in literal translation. This hope is the hope of one day being free from the Japanese oppression. And Finally, the eighth line, “Where, even in the middle of winter days, flowers bloom” refers that even during the struggle, they will fight through and they will succeed.

Although I had heard the song many times before, my mother mentioning this context that was relevant not only to my grandmother, but everyone in her generation, made the performance of the song in my opinion more poignant.

 

 

 

The Anatomy Room of Hallym (한림) University

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 53
Occupation: Doctor
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 29th, 2018
Primary Language: Korean
Language: Mandarin, English

Story

 

“Anatomy practical exams, from my experience, have two parts: identifying samples on a microscope and general gross anatomy. The identifying sample part was set up to have multiple microscopes around the anatomy lab. Students would have to identify what was under the microscope and also be able to answer related questions. The gross anatomy exam just had pieces of organs fresh from a cadaver on display and students also had to answer questions on that.

There was a tradition in my university of people fearing to enter the anatomy room the night before the exam. The story was that few years’ prior, a nearly failing student decided to sneak into the anatomy room on the night before. He was expecting both the microscope test and gross anatomy test to be set up. However, none of the tests were set up, and all there was in the room was a cadaver in the middle of the room. The student, out of desperation, decides to stay the night in the anatomy lab and study the cadaver in preparation of the upcoming test. The student studied but could not resist his sleep late at night. So he turned off the lights of the lab. He decides to sit on a chair and rest his head on an empty table to sleep. During his sleep, the student felt something cold brushing slowly against his arm, which caused him to wake up. When he turned on the lights to see the room, the cadaver was missing from the middle of the room. The student left the campus instantly and could not make the anatomy exam out of fear.

Whenever there was an anatomy exam near, all the students would talk about the living anatomy room cadaver and the variants they heard. Even our anatomy professor told us to stay out of the anatomy room the day before the exam.”

 

Context

 

I collected this piece from my mother, who attended and trained to become a doctor at Hallym University in Chucheon, South Korea. This story is significant to my mother as she says it is one of the few memories she has about the culture and tradition of her university life. Being on a path to become a surgeon, my mother says she did not have ample time to thoroughly experience the diverse regional culture that her universiry experience provided.

 

Analysis

 

This is an urban legend has the moral to not cheat. Had the student not attempted to cheat, the whole ‘supernatural’ experience could have been prevented. Additionally, this leads to other students deterring away from cheating.

Tsuru Nyōbō (鶴女房/ Crane Wife)

Nationality: Japanese
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Massachusetts, Boston
Performance Date: March 29th, 2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Japanese, Mandarin

 

Story

 

Tsuru Nyōbō is a Japanese folk legend about a man who helps a crane.

“There once lived a young man in Japan. One day, a crane plummets to his feet from the air and the man sees that the crane has been shot down by an arrow. He helped the crow heal and regain flying by treating the wound. The young man let the crane go, warning it of hunters, then the crane flew around the man’s head three times to thank him before taking off.

When the young man got home at night, there was a beautiful woman waiting for him, who stated that she was now his wife. When the man tells the woman that he cannot support her due to his wealth status, the woman stated that she has plenty of rice and started cooking dinner. The rice sack never depleted, and the two started to live together.

One day the woman asked the man for a weaving room. Once completed, she warned the man to never look inside the room and went into the room for seven days. She came out with a very beautiful weaved cloth. Then she told the man go sell it at the market at a high price, which he did.

The man became curious of the wife’s weaving skills, especially because she had no thread. When he looked inside the room ignoring his wife’s warnings, he saw a crane pulling its feathers off to weave into cloth. The crane realized the man was peeking, identified itself as the crane that the man saved, and the crane decided to become the wife of the man to repay him for the debt of its life. However, because the man now knew of the crane’s true form, the crane could no longer stay with him. It threw the cloth it just finished weaving to the man as something to remember [the crane] by and abandons him.”

 

Context

 

I collected this from my Japanese friend that I befriended during my times studying abroad in Shanghai, China. She says that Tsuru Nyōbō significant to her because when she first heard of the story during her childhood, she was amazed by the selflessness of the crane and its loyalty to repay debt.

 

Analysis

 

The moral of Tsuru Nyōbō is to not break promises that we made. Although the man is a kind and caring man for taking care of the crane, he made the mistake of breaking the promise that he made to his wife, which led to losing all the benefits of the crane and additionally losing a loved one.

The numbers three and seven can be seen in this story. The crane swirls three times above the young man’s head to communicate its thanks to the man. The wife was in the weaving room for seven days. The presence of these numbers are significant as they play a role in shaping our cosmological view. When children are subjected to folkloric stories with specific numbers being very prevalent, e.g. three, they grow up believing that there are ‘natural’ qualities beyond its value and significant just as a number.

 

 

P.I.G.

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 10th April 2018
Primary Language: English

Story

 

“So P.I.G. is just like the basketball game H.O.R.S.E. First player takes a shot. If they make it, the next player has to take the same shot from the same place as the first person, imitating it. If they make it, the third person goes and so on. If they fail to make the same shot as the previous person’s, they receive an alphabet. First person to receive all P.I.G. or H.O.R.S.E. loses.

Amongst my friends, P.I.G. was a more suitable game than H.O.R.S.E. just because it had less alphabets. Our break times were short and after school. We would prefer to play a real game of ball anyways”.

 

Context

 

I collected this from my friend that I made in university. He is Asian American and grew up in the city of Walnut his whole life. He is an avid basketball player and always stayed in school to either go play basketball or go longboarding with friends. P.I.G. is a significant game because not only did the game help him have enjoyable break times, but also because he would recognize those playing P.I.G. with him as folk. His friendships got strong through playing this game, and small folk games like these that can diversify and enhance the overall playing experience.

 

Analysis

 

One thing that immediately caught my attention is that the P.I.G., which is a variant of the game H.O.R.S.E. also maintained its theme of animals within the name of the game. There could have been other animals that are perceived as more common while having three letters such as D.O.G. or C.A.T. When the players lose, they receive all the alphabets and therefore become the animal that is the name of the game. It can be hypothesized that because P.I.G. and H.O.R.S.E. are common insults, the end results of the game could have become more humorous with a designated pig or horse of the group. Although cat and dog can both be insults, pig and horse are animals where the literal term of the animal can be used in an insulting context, while it may be more difficult to humiliate others by calling them a cat.