Jongmyo Shrine Festivities

Hey! Well, last weekend we had planned to visit Changdeukgung Palace, the place we had aimed to see on a previous weekend, but were there at the wrong time for the tour. As it turned out, we once again failed in our mission as we were tempted away by the news that there was to be a large festival in a different area of Seoul, the Lotus Lantern Festival. We only found this out halfway into town on the subway, thaks to the only English newspaper The Korea Times, possibly the dullest paper ever to be printed, but occassionally useful. It would appear that this was to celebrate Buddha's birthday, which we thought we had done already about 3 weeks back! Either the big lad has multiple birthdays, or we are in fact stupid. Probably the latter, although it looks like Buddha has consumed his fair share of cake so you never know. I have started this post off with a picture of my new friend, who we will see more of further down. This woman scared me quite a lot, like a Korean version of the killer dwarf in the Donald Sutherland classic "Don't Look Now". She may look all old and sweet here but there was a tangible air of menace about her, and I hope to God she hasn't put a curse on me for not dancing with her. After my polite refusal, she sort of shoved my cheek quite harshly, muttered something in Korean, and carried on with her strange dance, possibly invoking some ancient folk spirits to come and kill me later. Maybe if I'd consumed vast amounts of Soju like the rest of the onlookers and participants I would have been more inclined to tango with her. I look at this picture and am quite ashamed at how obvious my expression can be read. Its mixture of outright glee and mischief simply screams "Lynne quick take a picture of me with this freakishly small and curious looking woman before she twirls away!" Given that I'm alive and well typing this now, either her folk witchcraft has a time-delay, or she was actually a sweet old woman and my fears were unfounded!


Using the information from the paper, we headed towards Jongmyo Shrine in downtown Seoul. On the way there, we noticed a definite fesival atmosphere, and a palpable sense of excitement all around. Thousands of people had converged on the plaza adjacent to the Shrine entrance, and all manner of activities were happening, from singing and dancing, to a man in a taekwondo suit apparently healing people, while a massive snake writhed about in a box. We still can't work out what the snake was for. It was an exciting moment to see numerous stalls skinning and frying dead sparrows, as this was the one delicacy we had heard about but not yet witnessed.



Jongmyo Shrine is dedicated to the spirits of Korea's royal ancestors. The royal family of the Joseon Dynasty paid homage to their forefathers in the time-honored Confucian tradition. This sedate shrine of beautiful architectural simplicity is appreciated as an invaluable cultural inheritance and was registered on UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage List in 1995.

The compound is made up of Jeongjeon (the main hall), Yeongnyeongjeon (the Hall of Eternal Peace), and auxiliary facilities. Jeongjeon, with its attached cloister, is said to have been the longest building in Asia. It enshrines the memorial tablets of greatly honoured kings and their queens, today containing 19 memorial tablets of kings and 30 tablets of their queens in 19 spirit chambers. Jongmyo was built in 1394, when the Joseon Dynasty moved their capital from Gaeseong to Hanyang (the present Seoul), but was burnt to the ground during the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592.

Jongmyo Jerye, the royal ancestral rite, is performed annually, and this year will take place on the 7th of May, so hopefully we can check it out. It keeps intact the original procedures for the offering of sacrificial gifts of food and drink in authentic ritual utensils, with royal descendents and participants costumed by rank, as well as ritual dance and music ensembles.

Unfortunately, for every photo from this day I am holding my coat because it is getting to be so humid! Also, because I had that army coat on, and old Korean men can't help but come up and try and talk about the war.
I like this next photo, this old guy searching for mushrooms was unaware of our presence, and it just seems very natural.

This next picture shows the Taesil and Stele. The taesil (a stone container that holds the placenta and umbilical cord of the prince) and steele of King Seongjong were originally in Gyeonggi Province but were moved here in 1930, along with the other taesils of Joseon kings that were buried across the country.

After a walk through the picturesque surroundings we discovered that Jongmyo was attached by an overpass to Changgyeonggung (thats pronounced Chang-KeeYong-Koong if yer interested) Palace, and the 30 pence we had paid for Jongmyo also included this huge palace. Overall, Jongmyo and Changgyeonggung were an amazing experience, and perfectly captured that Eastern serenity and mysticism we had been searching for. In hindsight, we were left slightly underwhelmed by Gyeongbokgung, as, even though it is the largest and most well-known, the majority of it was simply rows and rows of fairly similar buildings. Jongmyo and Changgyeonggung, on the other hand, are set in marvellously lush green surroundings, and infinitely more charming in my opinion.





As we approached the inner areas of the Palace, we could hear distant drumming and general activity. It soon became obvious that we had been extremely fortunate, and stumbled across a very colourful and interesting re-enactment of a Royal ceremony in the main courtyard.



Wasn't this a character in Mortal Kombat? I'm sure it was. I love contrast between past and present, and the juxtaposition of archaic and modern architecture in the background. Haha, I'm only joking. What a load of bollocks!
These guards heard that it called for rain.

The performance consisted of lots of traditional Korean music, often accompanied by stately dance performances. We also have videos of that, and wish we knew how to post them. The music was genuinely pretty captivating, very percussive and trance-like. At the conclusion of the performance, everyone followed a procession out of the main gate. Look at the King.....lazy git!
It was around this time that I heard a load snap from behind me, and turned around to find Lynne's shoe burst right open. As if we didn't get stared at enough already, this prompted a large group of businessmen to form a huddle around us to brainstorm such a major problem! Eventually someone located some rubber bands and fluorescent green twine, and we fashioned a sorry attempt at a workable shoe. Hats off to Lynne, as she coped quite admirably with the relentless staring endured between here and the shoe shop.

Once outside the Shrine, it was obvious that the festivities were really getting into full swing, and the amount of empty Soju bottles lying around was staggering. It was like T In The Park on LSD. One particular group that caught our attention, were these colourful farmers performing traditional folk music, dancing like lunatics, and boozing themselves stupid. As you can see, members of the drunken throng of onlookers get themselves involved as well, and dance embarrassingly but comically like Dads do at weddings. Look at the guy on the right of this picture. That's a shiny black silk shirt covered in gold writing saying "Country Club". Fantastic. A "Del-Boy" shirt for sure.





All in all, it was a very fun day, and interesting to get a real feel for some Korean culture and frivolity. Unfortunately, due to the shoe situation we had to go hunting for replacements, and being unable to find anything but jewellery (it later turns out we were looking in Jongno Jewellery Street), we hopped the tube to Dongdaemun. After that little adventure, and the heat, we were knackered and headed home, which was a poor choice as it turns out the Lantern Festival was later at night and was absolutely stunning. However, as disappointing as that is, it's becoming increasingly obvious that these kind of events happen all the time in Seoul, it's character and exuberance simply unstoppable, so I'm sure we have lots to look forward to.

I'll leave you with an amusing exchange between us and some Korean kids on the subway. They were around 16 or 17, and as usual you can see them giggling and goading each other to speak to us for a good few minutes before one of them finally plucks up the courage. They informed Lynne she is very "cute and pretty" and myself that I am a "handsome man". But the real classic came when, after some discussion in Korean between two of them, one of them announced I look like Tom Cruise hahaha! Look at the resemblance, it's uncanny!








(Me)



















(The "Cruiser")