Ringing in the New Year

In honor of the new year, I thought I would briefly explain one Korean New Year's tradition and my own personal experience along with it.

On January 1st, Koreans literally ring in the new year by ringing the Bosingak bell by Jonggak Station. This bell was traditionally  rung during the Joseon dynasty to announce the closing of the city gates or to notify citizens of any emergency situations. However, in modern days, the bell is most famously rung at midnight on New Year's Eve to ring in the new year. The bell is rung 33 times starting exactly at midnight of New Year's Eve. See the above news report from YTN to see some images of the ringing of the bell and the immense crowds that gather to watch. 

I however, did not spend my New Year's Eve here. In fact, I was not even in the country, and I've never even been in Seoul for New Year's Eve (I'm usually skiing or traveling). But, that does not not mean that I have never run the Bosingak bell.

Yes, that's right. I have rung this famous bell. It was an amazing moment for me. I was probably more excited about it than your typical tourist, as I pass this bell quite often since I have been working in the area for the past year and a half, and am slightly obsessed with anything historical.

 Here is Bosingak belfry. It can be found on Jongno at Jonggak Station, across the street from the unmistakable Jongno Tower. Generally the entrance is blocked, but you can see it quite clearly, just as in this photo.

However, one fateful day in September, I was passing by just before noon with my mother and friend, who were visiting from out of town, and I noticed that the front entrance was not blocked. Not only was it not blocked, but a staff member was encouraging us to come up to the second floor where the bell is located.

Having passed this building many a time, I jumped at the chance to see the bell close up (the current bell was newly made in just 1985). As we reached the second floor and approached the bell, some staff members were collecting volunteers to ring the bell. I couldn't let this opportunity pass by, so I pushed my way to the front (ok, actually there weren't that many people clamoring to ring it). I passed my camera to my friend and waited my turn.

As you can see in the photos, the bell is enormous, and it takes five people to ring it. The man in the back guided us. As you can see in the photo, when ringing a bell of this size, you don't just strike it any way you want. We swung the wooden ringer several times, then all together pushed it toward the great bell.  I was shocked by the vibration released by the bell, I felt it throughout my whole body.

They let us ring it several times before we had to pass it on to the next group of four volunteer bell ringers.  So, I reluctantly passed on my post to the next person.

According to the Visit Korea website, Bosingak has a bell ringing ceremony every day starting at 11:40am, except for Mondays. On your next trip to Seoul, be sure to pass by Bosingak just before noon to get a chance to ring it for yourself!

Chuseok Events at Namsangol Hanok Village

Namsangol Hanok Village is always the best place to go for every holiday in Korea. Chuseok this year was no different. A friend and I went over Saturday morning, the day before Chuseok and we found the place buzzing with excitement.

Traditional Korean Spinning Wheel

First we walked through the historic homes and found some traditional crafts from life in the past.

Close Up of Spinning Yarn

Machine for making rope out of reeds

Grinding grains with a hand mill

Ironing, Korean style

Making crafts from dried grasses

Making crafts from dried grasses

Girl in Hanbok playing 굴렁쇠, gullongswe, rolling a hoop on a metal stick

A variety of traditional Korean hats

After walking around the village, we headed back out and caught a ssirum (씨름) demonstration near the front gate of the hanok village. First we had a demo of how to tie the sash around your legs and how to position oneself in order to prepare to fight.

Sash before being folded and tied around the waist

Demonstrating how to tie the sash

Demonstrating how to position oneself to prepare for the match

Two men demonstrating the basic moves of ssirum. Their shorts say 씨 (heart) 름

Finally, the real action began. These two first demonstrated the basic ssirum moves, and then had a three round match to demonstrate the game.

After the pros had their turn, kids were allowed to jump in and try their hand at ssirum, too.

Two boys attempting ssirum

This was a great start to my Chuseok weekend. Be sure to come by Namsangol Hanok Village for the next Korean holiday!

A Covered Bridge in Vermont

I bought a bunch of post cards a week ago with the idea that I would send them out as thank you cards to those who gave us nice gifts for our housewarming party. All the prettiest post cards had covered bridges on them so I wound up getting four post cards with photos of different covered bridges in Vermont. Then I realized that I had never seen one for myself and started to wonder where all these bridges were hiding. But, today, in a quest to find the home of the officiant for my friend's wedding way far out in the countryside of Vermont we actually had to cross a covered bridge to get to the house. So, of course, being me, I shouted for my friend to pull over so I could take a few photos because I may never get this opportunity again... So, for those of you who have never seen or heard of a covered bridge, here is a real live (photo of) one for you to see: 

 Just a typical New England covered bridge

 Inside the covered bridge. Yes, it is completely made of wood. 

The officiant's mailbox was actually built into the bridge.  Wish I could tell people to leave my mail at the bridge....

View from the other side...

Yeongneung: The Tomb of King Sejong, Yeoju

Upon arriving in Yeoju, we had to find something interesting to do, so we followed the signs and found ourselves at King Sejong's Tomb. King Sejong, of course, is the most famous of the Joseon Dynasty kings. Most well renown for the invention of hangul under his reign, other famous deeds attributed to his reign were a new calendar that used Seoul as the center, rather than the Chinese capital, advances in agriculture among many others.

After his death in 1450 he was buried along side his already deceased queen in a tomb in Gwangju, but later, because the geomantic position (think: feng shui) of the location was not good enough, their remains were relocated here to Yeongneung 영릉, in Yeoju.

King Sejong

If you have some extra time while you're here, you can also take a little hike through the woods to find one more tomb, Nyeongneung(녕릉): the tomb of King Hyojong. King Hyojong doesn't usually make it onto the tourist/ foreigner's scope of Korean history, but he's a name that is known to most Koreans from their high school history classes. King Hyojong planned to conquer Northern Asia, and therefore reformed the military. While he never managed to control Northern Asia, he did have a rather intersteting life, having spent time as a captive of the Manchus and ordering some stranded Dutch sailors to build Korea's first muskets.

King Hyojong

If you're in Yeoju, there's no reason not to visit this place. It was only 10 minutes by bicycle from the downtown area, easy to find by just following the signs which are everywhere in town. Entry is only 500 won, so it's about as cheap as it gets. Is it really exciting? Not really, but you can impress all your Korean friends by telling them you have been within feet of King Sejong. 

Cádiz

After a week of traveling in Spain, we finally made it to the Mediterranean. The city of  Cádiz has a history like no other. The oldest city on the Iberian peninsula, and possibly in all of western Europe it was founded by the Phoenicians as a port city, then was later taken by the Romans, then the Visigoths, next the Moores and of course the Spanish who control it today. The city itself can not grow any larger because it is built on a tiny peninsula. The landscape today hasn't changed much in the past 400 years or so.

While outside of the city has some beautiful beaches to offer, in the city proper, the beach feels a bit like Haeundae beach in the summer, except for the fact that, while there are many umbrellas, there are just as many people sitting away from the umbrellas basking in the sun instead of hiding from it like the do in Busan. 

Cadiz does its best to keep its history alive for visitors with many museums around the town. One of the city's most famous sights are the Phonetician sarcophagi in the architectural museum. 

But, while the Phoenician  sarcophagi bring the tourists in, the rest of the museum, chuck full of remains from Roman times, Phoenician times and all the rest of this city's 3,000 year history can be found here as well.

Fortress Wall Neighborhood: 이화동 Ehwa-dong

A few weekends ago, just before 장마 (rainy) season began, we took a newcomer to Seoul up for another day of exploration of the Seoul Fortress Wall that I blogged about a month or two ago now. Since I'd been before, we decided this time it would be a day more for photography since the yellow dust made my photos come out so miserably the first time around. 이화동 makes a great place to take photos, and to take the same route as me, you should start from Dongdaemun, going on the high road along the fortress wall which starts across the street from Dongdaemun gate.

First we walked up to 낙산공원, Naksan Park again and caught a few interesting sights on the way up.

Reads:
창고앞 주차금지
주차시빵구
Or, "Don't park here or we'll puncture your tires."
Don't mess with this guy...

The old falling down houses in this neighborhood always impress me the most. It's hard to believe you're in Seoul when walking through this neighborhood.

Finally, we got to Naksan park and decided to double back through the park and head down through 이화동 but before we left, we came across this little garden with a long history. It's called Hong Deok's Garden and it belonged to the caretaker of a prince many many years ago during the times of serious Chinese influence in Korea. The prince had to go to China for many years before he became King and he was able to take along a woman named Hong Deok as his caretaker. She kept a garden there and cooked him many wonderful meals, as when they returned to Korea, he gave her this garden so that she could continue to grow cabbage to make the kim chi he so dearly loved. And, now, still to this day, the garden is kept up to remember Hong Deok's beloved cooking.

Then, from there, we made our way further inside 이화동 and stumbled across a little part of town where many buildings have been painted. I've never heard of this place, but apparently it's on the tourist map because we passed quite a few Japanese here snapping photos before jumping back into their tour vans.

To follow the same course we did, start from Dongdaemun station and follow the high side of the fortress wall which starts across the street from Dongdaemun gate. Follow the trail up to Naksan Park. Then head down the stairs to the left toward 홍덕이밭  or Hong Deok's Garden. From there just wonder through the streets of 이화동 (Ehwa-dong) and see what discoveries you make! It is quite close to Daehakno, so you may want to stop over there too and check out the theater district too!

Foreign Missionary's Cemetery, Hapjeong, Seoul

Last Thursday I found myself with some spare time in the Hapjeong area and I walked over to check out the Foreign Missionary's Cemetery which is only a 3 minute walk from the station area.  It was interesting to see all the different kinds of people who have lived, and died, here in Korea.

 

You can learn about the stories of so many interesting individuals. The grave pictured above is the grave of the second Episcopal bishop of Korea. He was the leader of the YMCA in Korea and he assisted in the resistance against the Japanese during the colonial period.

While many graves here are of missionaries, there are also many other foreigners buried here too.  The photo above shows the graves of some US military personnel and their wives. It makes me wonder who they were and how they wound up being here until the death. Did they want to be buried here? Did their families want them buried here? Did their families from home make it to Korea to attend the funeral? It makes me sad to think of people being buried so far from where they are from. But, then again, maybe they thought of Korea as their home. I can't help ponder these ideas as I walk through this cemetery.

These are the graves of babies. The dates are all a few days or a few weeks between each other.  So sad...

But, cemeteries have a certain beauty about them. Korean tour groups are always walking through with tour guides explaining the history of these forigners who shaped the history of Korea so much. It's a very peaceful place and it really feels like being at home, too.

You can get here by going out exit 7 of Hapjeong Station (line 6/2) and following the signs down into a back alley. Go under the bridge and you'll find the cemetery, worship hall and Jeoldusan Martyr’s Shrine in the area. It's located about 3 minutes from the subway station.