Korean Women Today

The women's attire includes a chogori (short jacket with long sleeves) with 2 long ribbons which are tied to form the otkorum. A chima, a full length, high waisted wrap around skirt is worn. Boat shaped shoes make of silk, are worn with white cotton socks

The bride's attire might include a white sash with significant symbols or flowers. A headpiece or crown may also be worn.

The norigae is a hanbok decoration which has been worn by all classes of Korean women for centuries. It is tied to the skirt or the ribbon on the jacket. The knot on the top is called the Maedup.

The Groom's Attire

A jacket (chigori) and trousers (paji) and an overcoat (turumagi) are worn. The jacket has loose sleeves, the trousers are roomy and tied with straps at the ankles. A vest may be worn over the shirt. A black hat (moja) could be worn.

Wedding Feast and Reception

The wedding feast or reception, (kyorhon p'iroyon)can be a mix of traditional and western cultures.
At a traditional wedding feast, you would expect to find bulgolgi (marinated barbeque beef strips), kalbi (marinated short ribs), a variety of kimchee (pickled cabbage with a variety of spices, with other ingredients such as radishes, seafood). There will be many accompanying bowls of sauces for dipping.

The meal is always accompanied with a vast quantity of white, sticky rice (pap) as well as kimpap which is rice, egg, spinach and other ingredients rolled in seaweed and sliced into 1-inch rounds. Mandu, a dumpling filled with an egg roll filling - cabbage, carrots, meat, spinach, peanut butter, garlic, onions, deep fried might also be served. Soup will be offered, very frequently a kimchee type, or a rice cake soup (rice dumplings with chicken broth), or Twoenjang guk, a fermented soybean paste soup with clams.

Also popular are a light broth boiled from dried anchovies and vegetable soups rendered from dried spinach, sliced radish or dried seaweed. Steamed rice cakes (ttok) sometimes embellished with aromatic mugwort leaves or dusted with toasted soy, barley, or millet flour are presented as tasty ritual food.

A large variety of fruits and pastries will be offered for dessert. A spoon and chopsticks are used for eating.

Wedding Traditions

In ancient times, the wedding day the weddings were held in the bride's yard or house. The groom traveled by horse to the bride's house and after the wedding ceremony took his wife in a palanquin (cart) to his parents' house to live. The bride and groom wore formal court costumes for the wedding ceremony. Ordinary people were permitted to wear the luxurious clothes only on their wedding day.  Hand lanterns are used for lighting the way from the groom's home to the bride's home on the night before the wedding. Traditionally, the groom's family would carry a wedding chest filled with gifts for the bride's family.

Wedding ducks are a symbol for a long and happy marriage. Cranes are a symbol of long life and may be represented on the woman's sash.

In larger cities, luxury hotels will have 'wedding rooms' used specifically for wedding ceremonies. These rooms are decorated with a wedding motif and rented to couples.

Today, many couples will initially have a small, intimate, traditional ceremony wearing traditional Korean attire. Later they will have a more 'Westernized' ceremony with tuxedo attire and white wedding gown.

Wedding Gifts

If you are bringing a gift to the wedding, do not expect that the gift will be opened in front of you. The Korean custom is to open gifts in private.

Among Koreans there is a strong bond between relatives and clan members. Adhering to traditional family-centered principles, the extended family in Korea is the first place to which people turn when they find themselves in trouble. In the past, brothers often lived in the same household after marriage and, in some cases, even cousins occupied the same house. Although such large families living under one roof together are rare these days, family members often reside in the same neighborhood and maintain frequent contact. Those who live far away tend to get together on special occasions such as a relative's marriage, the 60th or 70th birthday, the birthday of a child, and on traditional holidays. At such times everyone pitches in to assist with preparations for the ceremony.

Respect for one's ancestors is central to the family clan system. Special memorial services for great-great-grandparents are conducted in the home on the anniversary of their deaths, between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. For the fifth generation or beyond, services are held once a year, on Chuseok (the Harvest Moon Festival), the 15th day of the Eighth Moon, or on a selected auspicious day. On this day, descendants gather at the ancestral tomb to perform ceremonial rites. This memorial service is such an important event that even distant family members travel long distances to participate.

Clan members often take advantage of these gatherings to hold an annual conference. A clan that has many branches and members may divide into smaller units, each establishing a common coffer and property. The conference is organized to decide and implement policies of common interest such as the maintenance of ancestral tombs and the management of clan properties.

Koreans maintain a great reverence for their family history and meticulously record and update these genealogical records, which in many cases, go back several dozens of generations. They also minutely record official ranks, achievements, royal citations, the localities of tombs and other information.

When meeting for the first time, Koreans of the same family name must first decide whether they are members of the same clan. If so, they must consult the genealogy to find how closely they are related. Should one of them belongs to an older generation, respect must be shown through the use of honorifics as well as certain usages of words that imply that the two persons are members of the same clan.