As someone who has had a love affair going on with South Korea for the past 32 years, when I recently heard President Moon Jae-in call this winter’s Olympic Games the “Peace Olympics,” one of my grandmother’s favorite expressions came to mind: “From your lips to God’s ears.” The image of his words floating skyward…
2018 is the Year of the Dog, one of my favorite zodiac animals. It’s certainly higher on my list than the snake or the rat (a small relative of which is currently having a grand old time behind my refrigerator in spite of my best attempts to convince him to move on.) According to the…
Soohorang and Bandabi, the mascots for the Olympic Winter Games and the Paralympic Winter Games, both to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea starting this week and continuing through mid-March, are much more than loveable cartoon characters. With auspicious meaning and powers, the white tiger and the Asian black bear embody Korea’s long-standing reverence for…
In Korean art and culture, two different types of “monsters” are often seen—Nathwi Masks and Dokkaebi. Although the two types have very different meanings, they are both examples of an image that is unique to Korean folk art—the smiling beast. Probably going back to animist/Shaminist belief in a world of spirits that inhabit all…
Each time we visit Seoul, we are struck by the number of grinning faces we are met with. Plenty of those are of the human variety, because Koreans are, after all, a very friendly people. But take the people out of the equation, and there’s still lots of grinning going on — on sculptures, paintings, signs, door…
When I think of a thimble, I imagine a metal cap that fits on my finger with indentations to help stabilize the needle I might be using. Not so the Korean thimble! Traditionally and even today, they are made of natural materials (often layers of stiffened paper) and then covered lovingly with brightly colored silk…
I love animals. Nearly all of them, with the exception of the annoying insects (mosquitos, flies, and gnats, I’m talking about you), rats and some snakes. I even like what’s been voted the world’s ugliest animal – the unfortunate blobfish. You can’t hate something that has to go through life looking like that. It wouldn’t be…
Walking around Seoul on our recent trip in May, I was struck by the way in which one bumps up against traditional images all around this very, very modern city. You don’t have to go into a museum or a handicraft shop to be reminded of the long cultural history of Korea. And the biggest…