Tag Archives: Korean culture

Chuseok: Korean Thanksgiving

Nationality: American; Korean
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Fairfield, Connecticut
Performance Date: 04/25/2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

Main Text: 

Chuseok: Korean Thanksgiving 

Background on Informant: 

Currently a student, my informant grew up in a Korean household and has shared with me the many traditions she grew up practicing and experienced throughout her life. 

Context: 

She explains:

“In Korea we have this ‘holiday’ called Chuseok, which translates to ‘Autumn eve’.  It is celebrated on August 15th as it usually is a full moon on the lunar calendar and goes on for three days. It is kind of like a harvest festival and can be said to be an equivalent to the American Thanksgiving. 

Because we live in the USA and not Korea, we don’t follow the tradition to a tee, as it would require us to go to our hometown to visit our ancestors. 

Instead we hang up pictures of our dead relatives and bow down to their pictures as a sign of respect and ask them for guidance or luck. 

After our version of this ‘ancestral worship’ we have a huge feast  which includes: Songpyeon (rice cake), Jeon (Korean pancake), Japchae (noodle dish), and many others. 

Sometimes we have relatives or family friends who give us gifts but this one is more of a modern custom that hasn’t been around for that long. 

I love celebrating it, I think it really helps implement my Korean identity, and it’s a really fun tradition.”

Analysis/Thoughts: 

Before this interview, I did not know much about the Chuseok celebration, but was indeed intrigued after hearing my informant tell me about her experiences. As a first generation American myself, I know firsthand the struggle of trying to retain your cultural identity, and how typical traditions have had to morph somewhat into the American ideals. I love how even though her family can’t be in Korea they have developed their own version on how to celebrate that I find beautiful and heart-warming. I like how they continue to practice this in order to preserve their heritage and customs and how it has played an important part in my informants’ life and her connection to her culture. Overall, I love this tradition and how even though it has a long past, it continues to be practiced and the honor that is given to ancestors as a means of wisdom and remembrance. 

Birthday Soup

Nationality: American; Korean
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Fairfield, Connecticut
Performance Date: 04/25/2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

Main Text: 

Birthday Soup 

Background on Informant: 

Currently a student, my informant grew up in a Korean household and has shared with me the many traditions she grew up practicing and experienced throughout her life. 

Context: 

She explains

“I’m not really sure what the history behind it is but every year on your birthday, you need to eat seaweed soup or Miyeokguk (미역국) It’s a tradition that I’m pretty sure every Korean has practiced or at least heard about.

Some typical ingredients include: beef, oysters or clam, sesame seeds, scallions, sometimes shrimp, soy sauce, broth, and many others. 

It is meant to symbolize or rather it means that by eating it you will live another year healthy and prosperous. 

I know that traditionally this type of soup also helps with metabolism, purifying blood, and detoxing which is probably why when you eat it, it’s supposed to increase your health. 

My mom usually prepares it for me but my parents will prepare it for themselves on their birthdays to show gratitude to their mothers. 

Although there is one exception to this — you can’t eat it on a day of a big exam or it mean you will fail.” 

Analysis/Thoughts: 

Food is a great way of preserving cultural identity and tradition. I loved learning about the tradition of Miyeokguk (미역국) and the history behind it. I loved how it serves as a connection to the mother and how much it is valued. I love how it serves to honor mothers and the wisdom behind the prosperous life is one that a lot of other birthday traditions also practice. Overall, I enjoyed learning more about a small part of Korean culture and the importance it places on birthdays, mothers, and prosperous living. 

Insider and Outsider

Nationality: Korean
Age: 24
Occupation: Barista
Residence: Seoul, Korea
Performance Date: 14 April 2020
Primary Language: Korean
Language: engish

Original Script: 인싸, 아싸

Phonetic (Roman) Script: Inssa and Ahssa

Full translation: Insider and Outsider

Main Piece:

The following is transcribed from a conversation between the interviewer and the informant, and it was translated from its original language Korean.

Informant: There’s this popular slang in Korea, especially for school and office settings, mostly college. It’s “Inssa” and “Ahssa”, they alway go in Paris. Inssa is shortened for insider, and ahssah is shortened for outsider. They describe the type of person you are in a given social setting. Insiders are those who can blend well with the crowd. They’re popular, outgoing, they’d get drinks all the time, talk to professors well, all that. Outsiders are, well, outsiders. They’re the people who don’t have any friends, who are not up to date with pop culture and all the new slangs.

Interviewer: Is this concept any different from the pre-established introvert and extrovert?

Informant: I think inssa and ahssa are more exclusively to these specific social settings, like schools, and more specifically colleges. I think it’s just a newer way of saying the same stuff, but it has slightly different tones. Introvert and extrovert are more like internal, personality trait things. I think you can be an introvert and an inssa, like you don’t have to be an extrovert to have good connections.

Interviewer: Are there any variations of these terms?

Informant: Yes. You can add the word ‘haek’ in front of them. Haek is Korean for nuclear, and Koreans use that word as kind of an additive to really emphasize things. So a ‘haek-inssa’ would be a really extreme insider, someone who knows everyone in their school. A haek-ahssa would be someone who’s like invisible.

Interviewer: How would you describe yourself when you were in college?

Informant: I think I was more of an inssa at first, but towards later years I jus stopped caring so much

Background:

My informant is a Korean male in his mid 20s, working as a barista in Seoul. He graduated from college already, but he describes himself as well versed with current Korean lingo and college culture.

Context:

The conversation took place on the phone. The informant was in house by himself in a comfforbtale setting.

My thoughts:

These new words came across as more jokey than serious, but they still gave me the sense that it was to point out people who weren’t outgoing. I’m not sure if categorizing everyone in these standards would be positive, but I did find the terminology very catchy.

Zzam-Tiger

Nationality: korean
Age: 24
Occupation: Barista
Residence: Seoul, Korea
Performance Date: 14 April 2020
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English

Original Script: 짬타이거

Phonetic (Roman) Script: Zzam tiger

Transliteration: Leftover tiger

Translation: Leftover cat

Main Piece:

The following conversation was translated from its original language Korean.

All Korean men have to serve in the military, so there’s a lot of military specific stuff and language that most men know. One thing that I remember is the zzam-tiger. “Zzam” is a shortened word for “zzanban” which means leftover food. Zzam tigers are cats that roam around army bases and eat leftover food. They are called tigers because I think it’s a cuter nickname, and Koreans just love anything that have to do with tigers. Most zzam-tigers are stray cats, but quite often there are upper ranking officers who bring their own pet cats to their bases, so it’s a mixed bag. But either way, no soldier is supposed to harm or even remotely be rude to the cat. Besides risking insulting your officer’s pet, why would you just be a dick to a cat? That’s mean. Most soldiers are really nice to these cats, because they’re cute. Most zzam-tigers are treated as mascots of those bases, and all bases have at least one zzam-tiger. It’s like having a communal pet. And it’s really therapeutic to have a cat around, because these cats are really friendly. They can also get rid of rats, if your base has any. Similarly, if your base has a dog, they are called zzam-wolf, and seagulls near navy ships are called zzam-phoenix. The part of the joke is to call them stronger than they really are. It’s part of the fun.

Background:

My informant is a Korean man in his mid 20s, who had just been discharged from his mandatory service about a year ago. His base also had a stray cat that was beloved by him and his fellow soldiers. Military jargon and tales are very a large part of Korean culture, especially for Korean men, as mandatory military service is an almost-universal experience for them. It is a unifying thing that most Korean men share, and a frequent conversation starter.

Context:

The conversation took place over the phone. My informant was at his house in Seoul, Korea, and he was alone in a comfortable setting.

My thoughts:

It is common to find stories of animals living amongst soldiers all around the world. Most U.S. bases in foreign countries allow soldiers to have pets, and historically most navy ships and submarines had cats on board to get rid of rats. Animals are known for providing therapeutic presence, and for soldiers who have high stress occupations, having these animals around seem like an effective way to help them.

Wonhyo and the Skull Water

Nationality: Korean
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Seoul, Korea
Performance Date: 3 April 2020
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English

Main Piece:

The following was transcribed from a conversation between the interviewer and the informant.

Informant: Korean culture is built on Confucianism and Buddhist teachings are very common. So a lot of proverbs, old sayings, and things like that nature are based on these concepts. A very famous story that’s even relevant today is Wonhyo. Wonhyo was an early Buddhist monk, a scholar, and a philosopher in Shinla dynasty, which is around like during the 600s. The story goes that he was on his way to China for essentially a study abroad. One night on his journey, he found a cave to take shelter in and decided to spend the night there. Inside the cave he found a bucket of water, and because he was thirsty he drank it all and it was delicious- tasted like water. Next morning, we woke up and realized that it was actually a human skull not a bucket, and the water was actually like some remnants from the brain basically. He learned from that incident that everything is up to your own beliefs, because like he believed the water to be good and his body in part made him to believe that, you know, so he decided not to pursue the study abroad and came back to Shinla (Korea).

Interviewer: Can you give me examples of how this story has become modernized? How do people nowadays use it?

Informant: It’s mostly like for comedic, or funny situations. Like for example, I saw this post on Twitter that basically this girl who works at Subway ran out of salt, so whenever a customer would ask for more salt she’d had to shake an empty salt shaker just to front. But apparently one customer complained that there was too much salt in their sandwich. In that situation, Koreans would describe it as the ‘skull salt shaker’, it’s like you add skull in front of the object in question, that makes the joke.

Interviewer: Why and how do you think a story that old stayed relevant even till this day?

Informant: I think with stories like these, the older the better, because they’re so distanced from any time specific things that it makes the story almost universal. And it’s just a relatable morale, everything depends on how you decided to look at it, that’s something that people can think about, no matter what year it is.

Background:

The informant is a student living in Seoul, Korea. She’s finished all her general education (from elementary to high school) in Korea, and now currently goes to a college in Seoul. She describes that the first time she read about the story of Wonhyo was through a history text book in 5th grade. Even though the informant isn’t a practicing Buddhist (she describes herself as atheist, like most Koreans), these beliefs and teachings are widely accepted and used disregard one’s religious beliefs.

Context:

The conversation took place over the phone, while the informant was alone in her college dorm, in a safe and comfortable environment.

My thoughts:

Upon doing some research, I learned that there are a few different versions of the story of Wonhyo. In the Japanese telling, Wonhyo went inside a cave only to learn next morning that it was actually a grave (so the water and skull is absent in this version). In another telling, it’s the combination of the two- he went inside a grave and drank the skull water. No matter which version of the story is the most faithful to what actually happened, the central morale of the tale remains the same.