The day before the Ch’usok holiday most of the Kindergerten kids came into school dressed in traditional Korean dress or Hanbok (pickies below) – they looked adorable. They only had one of their three normal lessons on this day, the rest of their day was spent learning about Ch’usok (I think. The lesson was in Korean!) and playing traditional Korean games.

I decided to find out more about the Hanbok, their Ch’usok lesson and the games they were playing.

The Hanbok is not directly related to Ch’usok and is worn during many Korean holidays and special occasions. I found this information on a website about Korea.

The Korean costume is called hanbok. It is characterized by simple lines and no pockets. The women’s hanbok comprise a wrap skirt and a bolero-like jacket, and the men’s, roomy pants bound at the ankles and a short jacket. Hanbok are worn by Koreans of all ages, particularly on traditional holidays and when attending social affairs having a Korean overtone.

Some of the basic elements of today’s hanbok, namely the jacket (chogori) and pants (paji), were probably worn at a very early date, but it was not until the Three Kingdoms period (57 B.C.-A.D.668) that the two-piece costume of today began to evolve. Short, tight trousers and tight, waist-length jackets were worn by both men and women during the early part of the period as evidenced by ancient tomb paintings.

Toward the end of the Three Kingdoms period, T’ang China introduced Koreans to silk mandarin robes and they were adopted for wear by royalty and officials. Noblewomen began to wear full-length skirt-trousers and wide-sleeved, hip-length jackets belted at the waist and noblemen began to wear roomy trousers bound in at the ankles and a narrow, tunic-style jacket cuffed at the wrists and belted at the waist.

Some more information can be found here and here.

During their lesson about Ch’usok the kids were given instructions on how to do this bowing/preying thing. After spending some time researching online I have come to the conclusion that there were being taught how to bow to their ancestral shrine. Something that is commonly done during Ch’usok. A website called Hidden Korea gave this explanation:

Everyone bows to the ancestral shrine, including the women of the family. Until fairly recently only men were permitted to carry out this ceremony, but times have changed and women now have equal access to religious rites. The whole ceremony is called Jesa, or “ceremony to the dead.”

After the ceremony in the home, the family will walk to their ancestors’ burial mound. There they bow again two and a half times and offer the spirit food and drink. Some of the food is set out around the tomb facing certain directions in conformity with the Confucian belief that cardinal points on the compass have mystical powers. Food and stones are once again piled up as signs of good fortune for the family and for the spirits of the ancestors.

The kids were separated into boys and girls as they shown how to do this.

After they kids finished learning about Ch’usok they had their pictures taken. This is another striking difference between Korean and English schools. In England taking photographs of children (even during school performances) is strictly banned. But here the teachers were busily taking pictures of the kids and were more than happy for me to do the same.

After the photo call the kids played some games. In the first game they had to throw sticks with brightly coloured ribbons on the end into a bucket. I’m not sure if three was any Korean tradition involved in this game because I don’t know its name and haven’t been to find any information about it.

The second game they played was a traditional Korean game, often played during holidays, called Yut.

This game uses a a retculangular or square board (mal-pan, 말판) which is normally made up of stitched cloth, or it can be drawn on the floor. The board has two straight courses and two diagonal courses, each of the straight courses has  five stations and the diagonal courses have five stations, too, but one is shared. This means there are 29 stations in total.

Instead of dice, yut sticks are used. There are two kinds of yut stick: jang-jak yut (장작 윷) and bam yut (밤 윷).

Jang-jak yut are made of Chestnut or Birch wood, the wood is chosen for its weight and fresh sound when playing. There are four sticks, which are split into halves and are about 15cm long and a 2cm to 3cm in dimater.

Bam yut are wooden sticks, again split into halves. They are about 3cm long and 1cm in diameter. The bam yut are played in a small bowl, shaken in the palm, and then released.

Each team, has its own small tokens to move around the board.

Yut

The Yut sticks are thrown to determine how far a token can move. The score is determined by counting the sticks which are over (flat side up), and those which are up (round side up). Each combination has its own name. If one stick is over and three sticks are up it is called do (pig). Two sticks up and two sticks over is called gae (dog). One stick up and three sticks over is called geol (chicken). All sticks over is called yut (cow), whereas all sticks up is called mo (horse). A do is worth one point, a gae is worth two points, a geol is worth 3 points, yut is worth 4 points, and mo is worth 5 points.

The game has two players, either teams or partners. Because Yut can be played in a team there is no limit to the number of participants, which means it can be played by a large group.

The starter of the game is determined by each team casting the yut sticks. The team with the higher points achieved take the first go. Each team then casts the sticks in turn. A player achieving a yut or mo is allowed to cast again. There is no limit to the number of times a player can cast again before the end of a turn, provided he or she keeps casting yuts or mos. Each team moves one space on the board according to the score achieved. If a you land on a station occupied by the opponent’s team, the opponent’s mal is removed from the course, and returned to the starting position. If you lands on a station occupied by your own team, these counters can travel together from that point on (counting as one). However, if an opponent lands their counter on a station occupied by several counter of the opponent, all these are removed from the course.

The counters travel around the board and can move forward only. However, when landing on one of the big stations (in the corner and the centre), the team can choose to take the shorter way should they wish to. There are four possible courses.

The game is won by the team who bring all their counter home first. A course is completed if a mal reaches the station where the game is started (cham-meoki).

Yut is often played for three or more wins.

Wow. Thats enough for one post.

Hopefully I’ll get to the PC room early next week to fill you in on the Mask dance festival but I’m moving on Sunday so we’ll see how it goes.

I’ll blog soon. Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

* Posted by j150vsc on 13/10/2006.