Tag Archives: Korean

Drinking Barley Tea before a Test – Korea (Jea Mo)

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Title: Drinking Barley Tea before a Test (Korea)

General Information

  • Customary Folklore: Pre-test custom, superstition
  • Interview language: English
  • Location of origin: Idaho, United States
  • Informant: RY
  • Date collected: 11/6/2021

Informant

  • RY is a sophomore (’24) at Dartmouth College who is from Idaho. His family is Korean, but he was born and raised in the U.S. The informant identified himself as an avid tea brewer and fan.

Contextual Data

  • Cultural Context: The drinking and brewing of tea is a large part of Korean culture as well as many East Asian cultures. There is even a Korean term 다도 [dado] that translates into English as the “art of tea” or “tea ritual/ceremony.” Tea rituals may no longer be an essential part of Koreans’ daily lives in the contemporary era, but drinking tea has become a part of daily life. Barley tea, which is mentioned by the informant, is a typical kind of tea that most Koreans would enjoy drinking; it is easy to see Korean students carrying a bottle of barley tea around instead of plain water. In summer, there are more students who drink cold barley tea with ice, and in winter, hot barley tea in a thermo is more popular. Furthermore, many families seem to endorse the belief that drinking tea (a form of boiled water) is healthier than drinking plain tap water.
  • Social Context: This item was collected during an in-person interview. The informant mentioned that he is very fond of tea and enjoys drinking and brewing various types of tea. He said that the activity is very soothing and allows him to concentrate his focus on a particular activity that would normally require a lot of mental energy.

Item:

  • Before taking a test, the informant would brew himself hot barley tea.

Associated File

보리차 - 나무위키

Transcript:

  • “I’m a huge fan of tea – I like brewing it and drinking it. I try to make myself a cup of hot barley. It’s really relaxing – just the act of making it and drinking it.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • “Barley tea is what I usually go for, but I’m down for any other tea as well. It’s just that barley tea is my go-to tea.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • As someone who drank a lot of barley tea during middle and high schools, I agree with the fact that it can help one calm down enough to take a test with a clear mind.

Collector’s Name: Jea Mo

Tags/Keywords

  • Korean
  • Customary Folklore
  • Pre-test ritual

Making contact with a Classmate with the Best GPA (South Korea)

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Title: Making contact with a Classmate with the Best GPA (South Korea)

General Information

  • Customary Folklore: Pre-test custom, superstition
  • Interview Language: English
  • Location of Origin: Seoul, South Korea
  • Informant: SM (currently a junior in high school)
  • Date Collected: 10/26/2021

Informant

  •  SM is currently a junior in an international school in Seoul, South Korea. She describes herself as an “overachiever” when it comes to grades and said that she tends to get very nervous before important tests such as midterms and final exams. Prior to entering an international school in 10th grade, she studied at a Korean middle school and high school where she experienced a lot of cut-throat competition.

Contextual Data

  • Cultural Context: The informant’s experience of attending a Korean middle school and high school has led her to endorse this superstition. Unlike how students are assessed and graded based on their individual performance in the American education system, the Korean education system forces some schools to assess students based on how well they do compared to other students. Only the top one or two percent of students are allowed to get an A on their transcript. This creates extra competition as well as an intense and almost toxic environment in which students must study harder to do better than their classmates. Consequently, Korean students, especially those in middle and high school, tend to endorse unscientific superstitions that may help them to feel better when taking an important test. Some of these superstitions, such as the item below, involve contagious magic. The informant did emphasize that this is not something that most Korean students would typically do.
  • Social Context: This item was collected inevitably over a scheduled zoom call due to the 13-hour time difference between Hanover and Seoul, South Korea. The informant noted that she would usually do this ritual the day before she takes an important test and that she started doing it because one of her friends told her about it.

Item

  • Before taking a test, students may approach the classmate with the best GPA and request that they hold a pencil or pencil case in their hand. Doing this is said to make the students taking the test feel better. In some cases, students may even ask for a strand of hair from the classmate. They would then place the hair inside their mechanical pencils and use them to take the test.

Associated File

Review : KBDMania - 국민 샤프 JEDO 다시는 돌아올 수 없는 영광?
This is an image of some typical mechanical pencils that Korean students might use. The lid can be separated from the main part of the pencil, showing a tiny empty space where a loose hair may be placed.

Transcript

  • “I know this sounds, like, super weird, but I try going to a classmate with the best GPA and ask for them to hold my pencil for a bit. Then I’d take it back and use that pencil to take the test – I don’t really use another pencil. Sometimes I ask them to just hold my pencil case. I don’t do this, trust me, but I also know that some students would ask for a strand of loose hair from the best person in the class and put it inside their mechanical pencils when they take the test.”

Informant’s Comments

  • “I know that the hair part is, like, super weird. And I’m trying not to do something like this in general. I don’t want to rely on stuff like this. But sometimes it just makes me feel a little better.”

Collector’s Comments

  • I can empathize with the informant’s concerns regarding how bizarre this superstition may look. I went to a Korean middle school, and the competition was definitely intense enough for a student to resort to measures such as this.

Collector’s Name: Jea Mo

Tags/Keywords

  • Korean
  • Customary Folklore
  • Pre-test ritual

Chopsticks in Rice

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Title: Chopsticks in Rice

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Korean Superstition (Bad luck)
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Korea
  • Informant: A.A.
  • Date Collected: November 10, 2018

Informant Data:

  • A.A. was born in Seoul, South Korea where he lived with his grandparents in the middle of the country. When he was three years old, J. moved to Tijuana, Mexico, before eventually immigrating to the United States and settling down in the Los Angeles, California area. Currently, J. is Junior undergraduate student at Dartmouth College. He is double majoring in Psychology and Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context:

    Whenever J. and his family would get together for dinner, one of the foods that they would consume often is rice. As J. finished his meal, he put down his chopsticks and placed them upright in the bowl in front of him. His mother, who noticed this, quickly grabbed the chopsticks out of the bit of rice left in the bowl and placed them on the table. She scolded J. for his actions and told him to never put his chopsticks in his rice bowl in the upright position. Confused, J. asked his mother why she did that. She explained that by putting the chopsticks upright, he was attracting ghosts and other unclean spirits into the house because it is reminiscent of incense that gets laid out for the dead. Frightened, J. never puts his chopsticks in a rice bowl in the upright position.

    Cultural Context:

    Korean cultures focus a lot on life after death and the soul of a person. This superstition is one that is true to belief as many Koreans still believe this today. Koreans believe that even after death, spirits and ghosts have the ability to come back to earth and live amongst living humans. Incense is one of the ways that spirits can come back to the world and communicate with people.

Item:

  • One is cursed with evil ghosts and spirits as a result of putting chopsticks in a bowl of rice in the upright position. This is thought to be symbolic of incense, which is used to attract spirits and ghosts back to the world. By doing this improper action, the person is inviting unclean spirits and ghosts into their home, and causing bad luck to themselves.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Chopsticks in a Rice Bowl

Collector’s Comments:

  • The superstition of the evil eye is the most common Korean superstition that is still believed and practiced today. It resembles a deep spiritual belief in the afterlife. This is also an example of magic superstition.

Collector’s Name: Clay Han

Tags/Keywords:

  • Korean. Superstition. Chopsticks. Rice Bowl. Magic Superstition.

Crow vs. Magpie

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Title: Crow vs. Magpie

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Korean Superstition (Bad luck vs. Good luck)
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Korea
  • Informant: Sunglim Kim
  • Date Collected: November 5, 2018

Informant Data:

  • Sunglim Kim was born and raised in Seoul, Korea until the age of 17. Her family origins are Korean. When she was a junior in high school she moved to the United States, and went to high school in Seattle, Washington. She then went to UC Berkeley for her undergraduate degree, went back to work in Korea for a few years, and then came back to the United States to get her masters degree at the University of Kansas, and then went back to Berkeley for her PHD. Currently, she is a professor of Korean Art and Culture, in the department of Art History at Dartmouth College. This is her 7th year teaching at Dartmouth College. She is a mother of two children.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context:At a very young age (around the age of 6) Sunglim Kim’s friends told her about this superstition. This was a commonly held superstition that all of her friends also believed in. When she was younger she said that she used to believe in these superstitions, and if she saw a crow in the morning going to school it would give her a nervous pit in her stomach that something bad was going to happen. However, she says now that she does not believe in these superstitions. But she will still say that it is a good omen when she sees a magpie.
  • Cultural Context:This folklore is widely held in Korean culture, although our informants did not know when this originated. This folklore originated in Korea. However, there are others cultures that associate the crow with folklore. In India for instance, the crow represents their ancestors, so it is not a bad omen. In Japan and America however, the crow is also associated with a bad omen, but not necessarily bad luck. There is also other folklore tied to these birds in Korean culture as well, Sunglim Kim described. For instance, there is a story about a boy saving a magpie from a snake. The snake then got mad at the boy and tried to attack him, but the magpie got involved and sacrificed itself for the boy. This story represents the magpie as the weak yet good person that doesn’t harm anyone else.

Item:

  • If you see a crow cawing it is considered to bring you bad luck, however, if you see a magpie singing, it is considered to bring you good luck and possibly will bring good guests to visit your house.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript of Associated File:

  • “There are two black birds. Crow is Bad Luck, but Magpie will bring good luck, or good guests will come to the house.”

Informants Comments:

  • The informant said that she believed in this folklore when she was a kid, however, she no longer believes in this folklore.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This folklore was interesting to me because Sunglim Kim did not still believe in the bad luck and good luck associated from seeing these birds, yet she admitted that she would still have positive thought associated with magpies and negative thoughts associated with crows. This shows how folklore will engrain an idea into peoples heads, even if they are not conscious of this belief. This piece of folklore is a Sign Superstition, which means if A, then B. So if you see a magpie, it brings good luck. Whereas if you see a crow, it brings bad luck.

Collector’s Name: Kipling Weisel

Tags/Keywords:

  • Korean. Superstition. Crow. Magpie. Good Luck. Bad Luck. Sign Superstition.

Throwing Salt When Returning from a Funeral

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Title: Throwing Salt When Returning from a Funeral 

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Korean Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Korea
  • Informant: Sunglim Kim
  • Date Collected: November 5, 2018

Informant Data:

  • Sunglim Kim was born and raised in Seoul, Korea until the age of 17. Her family origins are Korean. When she was a junior in high school she moved to the United States, and went to high school in Seattle, Washington. She then went to UC Berkeley for her undergraduate degree, went back to work in Korea for a few years, and then came back to the United States to get her masters degree at the University of Kansas, and then went back to Berkeley for her PHD. Currently, she is a professor of Korean Art and Culture, in the department of Art History at Dartmouth College. This is her 7thyear teaching at Dartmouth College. She is a mother of two children.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context:When Sunglim Kim was 13 years old, and living in Seoul, Korea, her dad left for a funeral without her mom, and when he came back, her mom performed the superstition explained in the item below. She knew that this was a common practice in her culture beforehand. However, this was the first time she witnessed someone practicing this superstition. She agrees that it was a good idea and it was something that her family continued to do frequently, and Sunglim Kim continues to practice this today. Sunglim Kim also explained that women usually do not go to funerals, so her mom would usually be at home whenever her dad went to a funeral. This is because her mom normally needed to look after her and tend to domestic duties.
  • Cultural Context:Women in general usually did not attend funerals. This was because they would need to stay home and tend to their kids and other domestic duties. Women who are pregnant especially do not go to funerals, because women did not want to see anything negative during a time of pregnancy, with the idea that this might bring bad things into their child’s life. This superstition originated in Korean culture, and it was a very much engrained and a traditional part of their culture. It was a superstition accepted by most households, according to Sunglim Kim, and also accepted by all ages.

Item:

  • When someone comes back from a funeral, which is usually the man or husband, the family member at home will throw salt on them as they enter the door to ensure that they do not carry with them any spirits of the dead into the house. Spirits of the dead that entered the house could potentially be harmful, and bring more death or negative things to the family. The salt would remove the dead spirits, and maintain the purity of the person and the house.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript of Associated File:

  • “Whenever my father came back from funerals, and then my mother, before he entered, would always put some salt around him.”

Informants Comments:

  • Sunglim Kim believed this to be an important superstition to abide by when someone returned to the house after a funeral. She said that normally her mom did not go to the funerals, so it was usually her mom that was throwing salt on her dad when he returned.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I thought this was a very interesting superstition because it demonstrates gender roles within Korean culture. It was traditionally the man that was going to the funerals and the woman that stayed at home. This shows that the women’s duties are very much valued, and women can’t get much time off from tending to their kids. Also, it shows that pregnant women are treated very well in the time of pregnancy since pregnant women were not allowed to go to funerals since they were not meant to see anything negative in the time of pregnancy. This is also an example of a Conversion Superstition, which means if A, then B, unless C. So in this case, if the husband goes to a funeral, then he will bring spirits of the dead with him back to the house unless he gets salt put on him.

Collector’s Name: Kipling Weisel

Tags/Keywords:

  • Korean. Superstition. Throwing Salt on Husband. Conversion Superstition.

Don’t Cut Finger Nails at Night

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Title: Cutting Finger Nails at Night

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Korean Superstition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: Japan
  • Informant: Sunglim Kim
  • Date Collected: November 5, 2018

Informant Data:

  • Sunglim Kim was born and raised in Seoul, Korea until the age of 17. Her family origins are Korean. When she was a junior in high school she moved to the United States, and went to high school in Seattle, Washington. She then went to UC Berkeley for her undergraduate degree, went back to work in Korea for a few years, and then came back to the United States to get her masters degree at the University of Kansas, and then went back to Berkeley for PHD. Currently, she is a professor of Korean Art and Culture, in the department of Art History at Dartmouth College. This is her 7thyear teaching at Dartmouth College. She is a mother of two children.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context:When Sunglim Kim was young (around the age of 5 years old) she remembers wanting to cut her toenails one night, but her mom came in and stopped her because of this superstition. Sunglim Kim was ignorant to this superstition at the time, and this was the first time that her mom explained the superstition that will be described in the item section below. Sunglim Kim was terrified by the superstition, and it prevented her from cutting her toe nails or finger nails at night for the rest of her youth. She had terrible nightmares about rats turning into monsters and haunting her because of this superstition. She said that most of her friends at the time believed in the superstition as well when they were young, so they also did not cut their toe nails at night. Sunglim Kim now will cut her toenails at night, because she no longer believes in this superstition. However, she will always make sure that the lights are on when cutting her nails, to make sure that her nails do not get on the ground.
  • Cultural Context:This superstition is deeply prevalent in Korean culture. It is a variant of a similar Japanese superstition about cutting fingernails at night.

Item:

  • If you cut your toe nails or fingernails at night then rats will eat the toe nails off of the ground. The rats that now have a piece of you will be able to transform into you, and also can take your soul. Cutting toenails in the daytime is acceptable, but it is still important to not leave any toe nail clippings on the ground, since the rats will still be able to eat them at night.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript of Associated File:

  • “They don’t allow me cut my nails, like toe nails or finger nails at night. And they said, the rats will eat them, and they can transform into you.”

Informants Comments:

  • The informant was very confident about the fact that this was a widely held belief. She believed in the superstition for a while when she was young, and said that all of her friends believed in it as well. She then stopped believing in it when she was older, around the age of 11 she said.

Collector’s Comments:

  • I found this superstition very interesting and entertaining. I was surprised by how widely held a belief it was in Korean culture, and that it had crossover from Japanese culture. It is an example of contagious magic in Korean culture, however in Japanese culture it is not an example of contagious magic. In Japanese culture, the variation is that if you cut your fingernails at night, then it opens up a way for bad spirits to enter your body through the fresh cut in your fingernails. In Japanese folklore, bad spirits are only around at night, so that is why you should not cut fingernails at night.

Collector’s Name: Kipling Weisel

Tags/Keywords:

  • Korean. Superstition. Cutting Fingernails. Contagious Magic.