THE YOUTH OF TODAY / number 3

The following is a photo record by Seoulite of his grandfather's funeral in 2006 entitled 'What funeral is like in Korea. 2006'. I've included his comments as an attempt to display his own response to the events and rituals that take place. Like Anna Alcon he seems to feel dismay at the commercialisation of Korean rituals. I am indebted to both of them for making available their experiences and thoughts online.

Setting up - A man comes and starts to set up things required for the funeral and ritual equipment. Kids are simply joyful, not knowing what is going on.

Incense and Candles - Light candles and incense and pour wine into the glass (I guess, to invite tthe wandering ghost of my past grandfather).

Setting Up - These are basic stuffs to be served for those coming to funeral during a half of first day. Was surprised to see how systematic and well organised funeral service industry is. They are experts and take care of everything. All items are paid at once at the the end of funeral (don't forget to keep all the bills). Actually, I never 'placed' an order'. They just deliver and I pay.

Entertainer - They even deliver cards and mat for people sitting up all through the night. How considerate.

Flowers And A Picture - Then came flowers and Yeoung-Jeoung which is a picture of the past one. Room starts to be filled with all white flowers. Of course, these cost too.

Prayers - A buddhist monk came (he used to be a friend of my sister when he was young) and prayed to soothe the ghost of my grandfather who might not be sure if he's dead or not since his body was not in a coffin yet.

Instant Shelves Setup - A lady came who would manage food preparation and take care of dining room. She was also an expert. Before she starts to work, she built up these shelves using tables. She's paid on an hourly basis.

Charm - The red painting on the wall is a charm called Da-Ra-Ni-Gyeong which is needed when praying and putting the body into a coffin. It shows steps of sort of status and all the graphics are made of letters like mosaic.

Going To A Crematory - After 2 days' mourning, we were headed to a crematory. Before left hospital, all mourners were grieving day and night, had a couple of more rituals and saw the body being cleaned and putting into a coffin.

This man is a bus driver and he knows very well about the procedure of cremation and what options we should choose. Before we left bus, he was giving instructions.

Waiting Room - Waiting room for mourners and the dead person. We were there - cremators - 10:00 AM and had to wait for our time (it takes about 2.5 hours but varies depending on size of the body). Bring your audio to play invocation while waiting or you may do it yourself.

Understood that cremation business is running based on the dead person's inhabiting region. For example, if the dead person used to live in somewhere else until he died, not in an area where is located, then they'll charge (approximately) 3 times more of fee.

Mortuary Urn - Urn made of Hwang-Toh which means 'yellow soil' having diverse benificial powers. This type of urn is (approximately) 10 times more expensive than usual ones made of stones.

One More Bitter Moment - It seems that funeral consists of many dramatically bitter moments like when the body is put into a coffin. This is when the body is about to be cremated. Heard many screams.

Cinerarium - This is a cinerarium of my family and grandfather is the first one who resides there. This may hold about eleven urns depending on its size.

Located right in front of huge Buddha statue, in a garden of a temple near Seoul. In perspective of real estate, this tiny cinerarium is unbelievably expensive.

Rear Gate - To prevent the ash from being rotten, this must be kept always dry so it was extremely difficult to open this heavy gate. Understood why all the tombs in the ancient mysterious movie had stoney heavy doors.

Reunion - My grandmothers, wives of grandfather , used to be buried separately and now they all came together  in one house. Hope they may sleep in peace.

Temple - This is the front gate of the temple where the cinerarium is located. I am ignorant of buddhist theory and symbol system, but it seems that this view has some meaning; dark gate is decorated of statues/ pictures of guards and then the steps will guide you to a place where huge buddha statue greets you and where beautiful trees shine brightly.

All my family will get acquainted with this view for many years from now on. 

So now, 3 days funeral is over. And we have one more ritual called 'Sahm-Woo-Je' which will be held at this temple on the 5th day after death. And we will have 7 more rituals every week until 49th day after death.

Didn't have any idea of how complicated traditional funeral procedure is, of how much money money it'd cost and of how intensely death of a beloved one affects our mental status. Sleep in peace.