Rites De Passage: “Ipchun,” the first day of spring followed by Daeboreum

The lunar calendar of Korea confirms that “Ipchun,” the first day of spring, falls on this coming Saturday. Two days later there will be a festival coming up called “Daeborum,” the first full moon of the lunar calendar . The moon is already blown out itself up in preparation for the traditional marry making ceremonies.

The first day of spring is traditionally, celebrated with “ipchuncheop,” a handwritten poster with greetings for the change in seasons and good wishes. The most common phrases include “ip-chun-dae-gil,” or “may the coming of spring be blessed with great happiness,” and “geon-yang-da-gyeong,” which is roughly translated to “great news and good luck will take place in the new year.”



Photo credit: The Korea Times


Daeboreum literally meaning "Great Full Moon", is a Korean holiday which celebrates the first full moon of the new year of the lunar Korean calendar. This holiday is accompanied by many traditions.
The full moon is an important event during the agricultural times. Festivals including bonfires in the fields and smaller fires inside a can. The latter's would be attached to a string and swing around, later food is offered to the gods of the land for prosperity.

In this occasion, food is a great part of the ritual. The so-called ear-quickening wine and a variety of nuts are served. The former is actually just “cheongju,” a clear rice wine, which takes a special moniker out of the belief that when drunk chilled, it would heighten one’s sense of hearing for the entire year. Cracking nuts in one’s mouth is associated with good health. Finally, steamed rice with mixed grains is served to wish for a fruitful year.



Cracking nuts with one's own teeth is a familiar custom . It is believed that this practice will help keep our teeth healthy throughout the year. On the other hand, in the countrysides, people climb mountains, braving cold weather, trying to catch the first rise of the moon. There is a saying that the first person to see the moon rise will have good luck all year or a their wishes will come true.




Photo credit: The Korea Times


Historically, people played the traditional game named geuybulnori (쥐불놀이) in the night before the festival Daeboreum. People burned dry grass on the ridges between rice fields while children whirled around cans full of holes, through which charcoal fire blazed. These cans fertilized the fields and get rid from harmful worms which destroyed the new crops.



For breakfast on Daeboreum or Jeongwol Daeboreum,Koreans eat Ogok-bap or five-grain rice with an assortment of seasoned vegetables over the festival. Ogok-bap (오곡밥), a five-grain rice consisting of rice, millet, Indian millet, beans, and red beans is served (gok includes grains and beans). This is eaten with various dried herbs. One of the special foods of Daeboreum is Yaksik (약식). This treat is made of glutinous rice, chestnuts, pinenuts, honey, sauce, and sesame oil.
On this day, Koreans traditionally do not give any food to dogs since it is believed that dogs that eat on this day will contract gad flies and become ill during the coming summer.




In the past, when it was a luxury to have three meals a day, it was believed that going around the neighborhood and getting at least three helpings of the dish would bring good luck and health throughout the year. It was a custom to promote a giving spirit among neighbors by sharing food when the country was poor.



The food of Daeboreum focuses on using the opportunity to restore appetite and nutrition lost over the cold winter months. Eating hearty, nutritious fare is also important because it is the beginning of the farming season.






Daeboreum Activities:

The night before, farmers burned dry grasses on the ridges between the rice fields. Charcoal fires blazed in cans, through which holes were pierced, that were placed along the rice fields. Although the purpose is to get rid of insects that will destroy new crops that are supposedly to be soon planting, children have fun dancing and whirling around the cans.





These days, people hold a special bonfire and on Jeju Island, there’s an annual Daeboreum Festival, complete with bonfire and other activities.


Daeboreum Legend:

There is a legend that Yaksik is eaten in memory of the crow that saved the life of King Yuri (24-57) from the Silla Kingdom. King Yuri was eating ‘alfresco’ in his garden on the day of the first full moon, when a passing crow dropped a’letter’ at his feet. On the outside was written, “If opened, two shall die. If not opened, one will die.” The puzzled king as some of his advisors for an explanation and was given the following interpretation, “The ‘one’ refers to your majesty, while the ‘two’ are other people.” So the King opened the letter and read the message it contained, “Shoot an arrow into the harp case.” He hurried back to the palace and did so. As he looked into the case, he found his Queen and a monk, dead in each other’s embrace. It appears, that the Queen had fallen in love with the monk and the two had been planning to murder her husband, the King, that very night. To repay the the crow, the King proclaimed the 15th, the day of the first full moon, the day on which his life was saved, as Crow Thanksgiving Day.



In gratitude, a rite to the crow was held with an offering of black rice, the color of the crow. During the Goryeo period, black rice was replaced with sweetened rice made with honey, dates and chestnuts. The common people usually replace the expensive yaksik with the more affordable five-grain dish, ogokbap.

All villages and towns celebrate the first full moon together. People play with fire and pray that their New Year’s dream will come true.
Not only communities but families also celebrate Full Moon Day in their houses. People usually eat cooked rice mixed with four other grains, seasoned vegetables, and nuts. In the days around the Full Moon Day, it is easy to find grains, dried vegetables and nuts in markets or grocery stores.

Last year when I was in Korea, I also collects bunch of peanuts, walnuts, and chestnuts when me and my friends went shopping. I planned to celebrate with my roommates. Korean people refer to Full Moon Day nuts as “Bureom” because people believe that they can prevent from boils (Buseureom meaning “boil” in Korean).




Me and my friends cracked number of nuts with our teeth. Because of this particular ceremony we compete to cracked as many nuts. Later we enjoyed Jeongwol Daeboreum with many Korean special delicious items.



The National Folk Museum is going to host some of the traditions on the two dates. Fifteen different programs are on offer, including food and beverages.

Photo Credits: The Chosun Ilbo
The Korea Times
Wikipedia

The History of Seoul's Hondgdae in 'Street H'

Street H is a local magazine made by the creative younger generation thriving in Hongdae and for those that congregate in Hongdae.



Hongdae is an abbreviation of Hongik University (Hongik Daehakgyo) in Korean, and generally refers to the area of Seogyo-dong, a hub for young artists and underground culture in Seoul.

The neighborhood overflows with unique cafes, restaurants, shops and clubs along with artists' studios, cultural spaces and festivals year-round. Packed with people on weekends the district can be thumping well past dawn the next day. Revelers may abound but the real Hongdae people and those involved with Street H know it’s not just about clubbing or decadence.



The magazine explores a variety of themes infused in the area. In fact, anything about Hongdae could be a topic for Street H _ small bookshops, a bike-riding map, real estate prices, cafes with terraces, humanities studies, the death of Club Day and the streets of Hongdae seen from the second floor.

Street H was established in June 2009 and last month released its 32nd volume featuring Hongdae people with particular jobs such as a tattooist, interdisciplinary artist and creature creator.

The free magazine is published by a man who lived in the area for around 30 years.



"There are many interesting things happening in this neighborhood and I thought I would do something interesting about the area,” said Jang Sung-hwan, publisher and Street H and CEO of Design Studio 203. As expected he earned his bachelor's degree in visual design and master's degree in industrial design at Hongik University.

Local magazines in New York City such as L Magazine and Village Voice inspired Jang to do something similar. "I have worked in the magazine and publishing industry for some 20 years and I decided to do what I can do best _ make a magazine about the Hongdae area."

Two-thousand copies of Street H are distributed across Hongdae area every month through selected cafes, book stores and tourist information centers. The magazine, including back numbers, is available through its website at www.street-h.com and electronic magazine platforms such as Moazine and MegaVista as well.



"The magazine is quite popular in the area and it is all gone within a week after distribution, sometimes faster," he said. “We might increase the circulation a bit as more people want to read Street H, but we won’t print 10,000 copies of it because it would be too much for a local paper focused on just the Hongdae area.”

Making Street H

Currently, Street H is written by guest reporters and a talented group of contributing writers. It is not sponsored or print advertisements. Though they are not paid, they write about every part of the neighborhood in an affectionate way. “The difference comes from the fact that we ‘stay’ here. Other reporters come here to write the story,” Jang said.

Each volume of Street H has a map of Hongdae area marked with cafes, clubs and other cultural spaces. Jang believes the map contains more than just location information.



"I think the map is about existence information which bears information about what is here now and what is gone," Jang said. "When the maps are accumulated and layered, it is history.”

Jang said the map has changed a lot since the beginning in 2009. “At first, our map only covered the Seogyo-dong area in front of Hongik University. Now it is expanded to include Sangsu-dong, Hapjeong-dong and Donggyo-dong,” he said. “When we had put the 24 maps together at the magazine’s 2nd anniversary exhibition, it showed the changes of the neighborhood at a glance.”

Street H is a magazine that cares about people. The stories "cover every inch of Hongdae _ the people who make everything here and those who come to participate in the culture," he said. "We are interested in what people are doing and why."



However, the monthly is not all about hip youngsters in the area. It also interviews older people who are longtime residents, art supply store managers and other mom-and-pop store owners.

“We try to balance the magazine by paying attention to social issues happening in the area such as Dooriban, a noodle restaurant that fought hard against a redevelopment project,” he said.




Archiving Hongdae

The cover of the January 2012 issue was an illustration depicting the scenery at a three-way intersection showing the yellow-sign of Record Forum and a house with a red roof.

"In 2012, we will depict the year of Hongdae through illustrations,” the publisher said. “I know it is impossible to document everything about the Hongdae area, but we do want to record as much as possible, especially meaningful places such as the Richemont Bakery.”

Richemont, a bakery that opened in front of Hongik University in 1984, closed on Jan. 31 due to the termination of the rental contract with the landlord. The place will reopen as a franchise coffee shop run by a conglomerate in February.

The closure of the cherished bakery did not go unnoticed by local merchants. “Though the physical place is gone, the bakery will remain in our memories. I think that is one of the reasons why we document the Hongdae area,” he said.

Street H is expanding communication with readers and local residents through Twitter (@_streeth) as well. “When we asked for recommendations for next month’s cover illustration, we received a lot of interesting feedback. One of them said he was born at a house now turned into a restaurant. The history of the area is made up of such developments,” Jang said.

Street H published "12 Fascinating Cafes," the first of its accordion book series featuring illustrations of 12 cafes in the Hongdae area by Hur Kyung-mi, in January. The 15 centimeter by 15 centimeter book expands to 1.8 meters when fully unfolded. The 12 cafes in the book include local fixtures B-hind, 405 Kitchen, Jenny's Cafe, D'avant, Cafe Sukara, Coffee Lab and Mobssie.

"We chose cafes that lasted for at least three years and are expected to stay longer," Jang said. "We aim to capture the nostalgia of the district in the book."

Jang plans to continue the accordion book series with various ways to remember the alley ways in Hongdae area. "I could collaborate with artists who take photos of life in the streets or make stamps of buildings," he said. "There is no souvenir of Hongdae which people can take home and remember this area booming with creativity. The book is a result of a designer's answer to this dilemma."

It is a part of Street H's bigger plan to create a cultural hub in the area.

"It's tentatively named Street H Spot. The place is going to be a magnet for tourists where they can have a cup of coffee or a bowl of warm vegetable soup, share information on the Hongdae area and get some souvenirs,” he said. “The accordion book is like a part of Hongdae you can take home and cherish.”

For more information about the magazine, visit www.street-h.com or call (02) 323-2569.

Source: The Korea Times

Daeboreum

Daeboreum literally meaning "Great Full Moon", is a Korean holiday which celebrates the first full moon of the new year of the lunar Korean calendar. This holiday is accompanied by many traditions.

One familiar custom is to crack nuts with one's teeth. It is believed that this practice will help keep one's teeth healthy for the year.
In the countryside, people climb mountains, braving cold weather, trying to catch the first rise of the moon. It is said that the first person to see the moon rise will have good luck all year or a wish will be granted.
Historically, people played the traditional game named geuybulnori (쥐불놀이) the night before daeboreum. They burned the dry grass on ridges between rice fields while children whirled around cans full of holes, through which charcoal fire blazed. These cans fertilized the fields and get rid of harmful worms that destroyed the new crops.

For breakfast on Daeboreum, Ogokbap (오곡밥 / 五穀밥), a five-"grain" rice consisting of rice, millet, Indian millet, beans, and red beans is served (gok includes grains and beans). This is eaten with various dried herbs. One of the special foods of Daeboreum is Yaksik (약식 / 藥食). This treat is made of glutinous rice, chestnuts, pinenuts, honey, sauce, and sesame oil.
On this day, Koreans traditionally do not give any food to dogs since it is believed that dogs that eat on this day will contract gad flies and become ill during the coming summer.

South Korean Leading Brand Samsung races ahead in tech industry

Samsung Electronics aims to sell more premium smartphones and advanced TVs, as well as chips and flat-screens.

``Samsung Electronics has continued to generate outstanding results despite an unfavorable economic climate and is widening the gap with regional competitors,’’ said Fitch Ratings. The company had a record-breaking year in 2011.

The world’s biggest manufacturer of memory chips and liquid crystal displays (LCDs), said demand for semiconductors for mobile products and servers remained solid despite a weaker showing in personal computers, due to competition from the rising popularity of tablets.



``Samsung aims at 180 trillion won in revenue or slightly more throughout this year. We are optimistic in attaining our target of $200 billion in revenue earlier than planned,’’ CEO Choi Gee-sung said recently.



Despite this the company admitted that its growth last year was slower than expected because of economic uncertainties in developed markets, the massive earthquake in Japan and the aftermath of massive flooding in Thailand.

In 2011 Samsung saw 7 percent revenue growth with a 165 trillion won total compared to the previous year, said investor relations chief Robert Yi.

The company and its affiliates plan to invest a record 47.8 trillion won this year on new product research and upgrading plants.

Samsung has diversified into value-added chips capitalizing on mobile application processors (APs) for tablets, smartphones and corporate servers.

The world’s biggest memory chipmaker sells twice as many ``specialty DRAM chips,’’ where margins are higher, as commoditized chips used in PCs, said Shinhan Investment in a recent report to clients.



One ace in the hole is the soaring popularity of Samsung’s Galaxy-branded smartphones.

The top smartphone seller in 2011, is pretty confident to outpace the Finnish handset maker Nokia to become the world’s biggest mobile phone producer, said CEO Choi.

It aims to sell over 130 million smartphones by the end of this year of a total 360 million target, according to company executives.

Smartphone sales in 2011 more than quadrupled from the year before, said Boston-based Strategy Analytics, generating record operating profit and revenue for the telecommunications division. Profit jumped 79 percent to 2.64 trillion won in the fourth quarter of last year.

``By expanding the lineup of smartphones and feature-based devices, Samsung will outpace market growth,’’ said Lee Young-hee, a senior vice president for the mobile division.



The company’s smartphone business was the biggest contributor to the corporation’s bottom line last year. With improving signs for traditionally-strong businesses ― chips, LCDs and TVs ― smartphones is the strongest provider of profits.

``In smartphones, the whole competition boils down to Apple and Samsung now,’’ said Lee Jin-woo, a fund manager at Seoul-based KTB Asset Management.

Samsung has been expanding its patent litigation against Apple after the latter sued it in April last year in the United States by claiming that ``Samsung slavishly copied the designs Apple smartphones and iPads.’’

The legal tussle has now spilled over into 10 countries, according to officials. The court fight is entering a ``big turning-point’’ after the latest ruling in Germany sided with Apple.

``The patent fight will have a lesser impact on Samsung’s smartphone business because we will release more models in all markets,’’ said a spokesman.

Samsung is also preparing a comeback in its television business after last year’s dismal performances hit by the debt-crisis in the eurozone and declining prices.

The company aims to sell 50 million flat-screen TVs this year, according to executives. ``Samsung sold 43 million, last year and we are aiming to sell 15 percent more this year,’’ said Yoon Boo-keun, the chief of the consumer electronics division.

This year’s key phrase for the company’s TV business is ``beyond comparison,’’ said Yoon, expecting demand in emerging markets to ``significantly grow.’’

Samsung is adding more features to its Web-connected or ``Smart TVs,’’ the TVs that allow users to download apps, movies and surf the Internet. Samsung defines a smart TV as having built-in computer-style processors and a software platform that allows for custom-made applications.

``Last year, sales of smartphones and tablets negatively affected TV demand, but this year, those products will create synergies with smart TVs,’’ said Yoon, adding Samsung is prepared to fight Apple over ``Apple TVs,’’ which will be released sometime in the second half.

In personal computers, which Samsung has seen higher growth over the past few years, its chief Nam Seong-woo said the company will sell 19 million this year up from 14 million in 2011.

``That’s enough to lift the worldwide ranking to the 6th biggest manufacturer. We are on track. We will gain more profitability by selling more premium-level products,’’ said Nam.

In chips and flat-screens, Samsung confirmed its bullish stance to widen market gaps with its rivals.

Out of the total allocation for semiconductors this year ― 15 trillion won ― the world’s biggest memory chipmaker plans to invest 9 trillion won in the less-volatile and profitable non-memory chips.

These chips are used to control an entire computing system and are more profitable. Samsung supplies some of these chips to Apple.

In conventional memory chips, Yi said the company will raise the portion of DRAM chips using below 30-nanometer processing technology to 60 percent by the end of the year, while that for NAND flash chips using 20-nanometer will be over 90 percent.

In the fourth quarter, the semiconductor division had a 2.31 trillion won operating profit on 9.17 trillion won in revenue, on the back of the rising shipment of more profitable chips.

The spending amid technology migration and rising profit contrasts with Asian rivals including Japan’s only DRAM chipmaker Elpida Memory, which was unprofitable for four straight quarters to September and faces a deadline to repay debts.

``We’ve acknowledged that Elpida is moving to integrate business management with Micron Technology of the United States and Nanya from Taiwan as a strategy to compete with Samsung and even Hynix, however, we don’t worry too much,’’ said a senior executive.

In organic light-emitting diode (OLED) business, considered the next-generation display format that will eventually replace LCDs and plasma panels, Samsung plans to invest 5 trillion won out of 6.6 trillion won allocated to its entire display-panel business.

``Our LCD screen business was in the red last year. But we will do our best to see an early turnaround in the display-making business by expanding OLED production and cutting costs in LCDs by using advanced technology,’’ said Yi.

Source: The Korea Times

Korean Ministry to expand hallyu to traditions

Culture Minister Choe Kwang-shik a scholar of Korean history, has been an ardent promoter of Korea’s traditional culture.During his term, one of his main goals is to promote Korea’s traditional arts and challenge the perception some people have that “hallyu” is limited to K-pop and TV dramas.

“There is more interest in traditional Korean culture because of the spread of hallyu,” Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choe said during a press conference Monday. “So far, the phenomenon has mostly revolved around Korea’s popular culture. Now we must think about what we can do to engage our traditional culture as a foundation for hallyu.”

An ad-hoc organization was launched Monday within the ministry to that purpose.

“The time has come for us to work toward a new wave of hallyu that spurs global interest in our traditional culture, arts, sports and literature,” Choe said. “We hope to gradually achieve this through more cultural exchanges with other countries.”

To step up efforts to promote Korean culture abroad, the ministry will also expand the number of Korean culture centers in foreign countries.

Up till now, the Korea Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) runs 21 centers but the number will expand to 24 by the end of 2012, in light of the growing popularity of Korea’s popular culture.

In the first half of 2012, Hungary, Mexico and India will open Korean cultural centers. There are plans to establish centers in Thailand, Belgium, Brazil and Egypt. Choe visit Hungary to open the facility there in February.

The ministry also announced a series of policy goals to promote hallyu, including the redecorating of public buildings and Korean diplomatic missions to give them a more traditional look and creating spaces within airports and major hotels to promote the nation’s traditional culture.

The ministry will also set up a new promotional center for “hanbok” (traditional Korean dress) and incorporate more classes on traditional arts in the school curriculum.

Korea: National Museum director pursues homely atmosphere

Kim Young-na, director of the National Museum of Korea, said she would make the museum a more homely yet sophisticated place, at a press conference Monday.

Kim will celebrate her first anniversary as the museum director on Feb. 9. The former art history professor at Seoul National University said she was lucky as her first year went smooth with the return of “Uigwe,” or the royal protocols of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910), from Japan and there was an increase in the number of visitors this year to 3.3 million from 3.1 million in 2010.




Putting quality over quantity, her focal project this year will be renovating permanent exhibition displays.

“The displays were a little bit old-fashioned. All artifacts were built into the walls and visitors had to bend down to see them. I think we need design in the museum,” the director said.

She renovated the Paleolithic Period Gallery and Neolithic Period Gallery first last year and reopened them in December and other permanent exhibition galleries will be revamped one by one, starting from Central Asia Gallery in March and Joseon Dynasty 5 Gallery in May to Metal Crafts and Buddhist Sculpture Gallery in October. Kim plans to employ a Dutch designer for the renovation of exhibition rooms featuring gold crown and Pensive Buddha Images.

Major special exhibitions this year include “Emperors in Istanbul” in May; “Korean Art Collections in the United States” in June; “The Civilization of Maya” in September and “The Best under Heaven, the Celadons of Korea” in October.

As local schools plan to fully introduce the five-day school week, from the current biweekly Saturday off, the museum will run educational programs every Saturday from March to November and distribute an illustrated series on cultural assets in textbook form through 700 subsidiary organizations across the country.

Expanding international exchange is another project. “Riding on the popularity of ’hallyu,’ many foreign ambassadors to Korea ask for exhibitions of Korean cultural properties in their countries,” Kim said.

The museum is planning two overseas exhibitions this year — Joseon Celadon exhibition in Topkapi Museum in Turkey in September and a museum in Sao Paolo in Brazil in November. She added the museum is also discussing future exhibitions with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the United States and a museum in Italy.

To improve the image of Korean Room in overseas museums, the National Museum will support budget and lend cultural properties.

Kim is interested in building networks with international museums. It includes a year-round fellowship program and personal exchanges with national museums in China and Japan.

“We will offer a three-week training program for Koreanology students in their master and doctoral course in summer,” Kim said.

Kim also cares about details on making the museum a more sophisticated place representing Korea.

An underground passageway connecting the museum and nearby Ichon Station on subway line 4 will be completed by October. A “Moving Museum” will be established at the path to provide information on the museum collection and exhibitions.

Global dimension: Korea University holds Model UN

Korea University opened the 2012 Model United Nations conference Tuesday as it celebrated the 10th anniversary of the school’s Division of International Studies (DIS).



The conference runs until Friday at the university’s Inchon Memorial Hall and International Studies Hall. The event is co-hosted by the Nuclear Security Summit Preparatory Secretariat, the Seoul office of United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Development Program.

The Model UN is a meeting that mimics conferences held at the United Nations. At the gathering, high school and college students debate on global issues and draw up a resolution. About 400 students are participating in this year’s event.

“The Model UN allows students to understand the role and activities of the UN and affiliated organizations through direct participation. It’s a great opportunity for students to build their capabilities as future leaders,” said Chung Suh-yong, a professor at DIS who is supervising the event. “Since the Nuclear Security Summit will be held in Seoul this March and since the organization is co-hosting the event, it will be an opportunity for students to discuss and learn about nuclear security issues.”

At the conference, the dean of DIS Park Sung-Hoon, the head of the UNDP’s Seoul office Anne-Isabelle Degryse-Blateau, and Anne Mary Campbell, the representative of UNHCR’s Seoul office, along with other important figures in the diplomatic circle will discuss “the role of international organizations in the globalized era.”