Saturday 27 December 2008

Traditional Korean Marriage

Origin & Meaning , Before Ceremony
(Traditional Korean Marriage)

Origin and Meaning
Eum/Yang (Yin and Yang)
Marriage represented the perfect union and balancing of the two primary elements of the world: Eum, the dark, female element; and Yang, the bright, male element ("yin" and "yang"). Often, the marriage ceremony took place at dusk, representing a balance between light (day) and darkness (night) The color blue stands for Eum, while red represents Yang.

Kireogi (Wild Geese)
A pair of wild geese made from wood represent the new husband and wife. In the Jeonanrye part of the marriage ceremony, the groom gives a single kireogi to his mother-in-law. The geese symbolize several virtues that the couple should follow in their married life:

Chickens
A male and female chicken (one wrapped in a blue cloth, the other in a red one) sit on or under the wedding table. One meaning is the symbolism associated between roosters and the morning. The crowing of the rooster marked the beginning of the day, a bright, fresh start, just like the marriage should be. The crowing of the rooster also told the evil spirits that day was coming and they had to disappear. The rooster in the wedding ceremony marks a hope that evil spirits will go away and not trouble the new couple.
A secondary meaning represents the hopes that the couple will have many children, very important in a traditional agrarian society. As productive chickens made many eggs, thus should the new bride produce many children.

Before Ceremony

Eui Hon
(Matchmaking)

The process of finding a prospective wife or husband for ones child usually involved the services of professional matchmakers who would gather information about local unmarried people and their respective social levels, education, and family lineages. The matchmaker would match prospective partners and have their parents meet each other. The parents would also meet the prospective mate for their own child, but the future bride and groom would not meet each other at this time. The groom's family would send a proposal of marriage to the bride's parents, who would either accept or decline the proposal on behalf of their daughter.

Napchae (Date Setting)
saju After the proposal was accepted, the groom's family would prepare a Saju, which specified the year, month, date, and exact hour of the groom's birth, according to the lunar calendar, and deliver it to the bride's family. White paper, 40 cm tall and 90 cm wide, was folded 5 times evenly, and the Saju written in the middle, then put in a white envelope. Rather than sealing the envelope, the groom's family wrapped the envelope in bamboo branches then tied it with red and blue thread. Finally, the entire package was wrapped with Sajubo, a wrapping cloth with red fabric on the inside and blue on the outside.

Based on the information contained in the Saju, a fortune teller determined the best date for the wedding. The bride's family then sent a Yeongil to the groom's family that stated the wedding date and inquired about the groom's body size.

Napp'ae (Exchanging Valuables)
Before the wedding, the groom's family sent presents to the bride and her family in a box called a Ham. Additionally, the Hamjinabi (person who delivered the Ham) and a small group of close friends of the groom also took a pot of Bongch'i Deok (red bean rice cake) from the groom's family. The bride's family would have a small party for the group, offering them food and drink for their efforts. The ceremony of delivering the Ham has evolved into a major event for friends of the groom, with the bearers "selling" the contents of Ham to the bride's parents. (In recent years, the groups have become very boisterous, demanding large sums of money that they promptly spend on alcohol.) The Ham usually contained 3 items. The Honseo (marriage paper), wrapped in black silk, specified the name of the sender and the purpose (marriage) of sending. It symbolized the dedication of the wife to only one husband. The wife was to keep this document with her forever, having it buried with her when she died. Ch'aedan was a collection of red and blue fabrics, used to make clothing. The blue fabrics were wrapped with red threads, while the red fabrics were wrapped with blue threads. The two colors represented the philosophy of Eum/Yang (Yin/Yang). The Honsu was a collection of other valuables for the bride from the groom's parents.

source by: lifeinkorea.com

0 komentar:

Post a Comment

 

The Greatest Wedding-Template by IdoMarried © 2009-2015