Korea
The current political separation of North and South Korea has resulted in divergence in modern Korean cultures; nevertheless, the traditional culture of Korea is historically shared by both states, and is more than 5000 years old and is considered one of the world’s oldest.
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Home: Sites of residence are traditionally selected using wood. It is believed that any topographical configuration generates invisible forces of good or ill. The negative and positive energies must be brought into balance.
A house should be built against a hill and face south to receive as much sunlight as possible. This orientation is still preferred in modern Korea. Geomancy also influences the style of the building, the direction it faces and the material it is built of.
Traditional Korean houses can be structured into an inner wing and an outer wing. The individual layout largely depends on the region and the wealth of the family. Where as aristocrats used the outer wing for receptions, poorer people kept cattle. The wealthier a family, the larger the house. However, it was forbidden to any family except for the king to have a residence of more than 99 kan. A kan is the distance between two pillars used in traditional houses.
Music: Apart from the instruments used, traditional Korean music is characterized by improvisation and the lack of breaks between movements. A pansori performance can last for over eight hours during which a single singer performs continuously.
Rather than contrasting different speeds as it is common in Western music, most traditional Korean music begins with the slowest movement and then accelerates as the performance continuesly.
Korean music, called jeongak, is closely related to the literate upper-class, and has a strong intellectual emphasis. Jeongak is played at a very slow speed, with single beats taking as long as three seconds. The beat matches the speed of breathing rather than the heartbeat as in most Western music, and feels static and meditative.
Dress: According to social status, Koreans used to dress differently, making clothing an important mark of social rank. Impressive, but sometimes, costumes were worn by the ruling class and the royal family. These upper classes also used jewelry to distance themselves from the ordinary people. A traditional item of jewelry for women was a pendant in the shape of certain elements of nature which was made of gemstones, to which a tassel of silk was connected.
Common people were often restricted to un-dyed plain clothes. This everyday dress underwent relatively few changes during the Joseon period. The basic everyday dress was shared by everyone, but distinctions were drawn in official and ceremonial clothes.
During the winter people wore cotton-wadded dresses. Fur was also common. Because ordinary people normally wore pure white untied materials, the people were sometimes referred to as the white-clad people.
Cuisine: Rice is the most popular food of Korea. Having been an almost exclusively agricultural country until recently, the essential recipes in Korea are shaped by this experience. The main crops in Korea are rice, barley, and beans, but many supplementary crops are used. Fish and other seafood are also important because Korea is a peninsula. A number of menus have been developed. These can be divided into ceremonial foods and ritual foods. Ceremonial foods are used when a child reaches 100 days, at the first birthday, at a wedding ceremony, and the sixtieth birthday. Ritual foods are used at funerals, at ancestral rites, shaman's offerings and as temple food.
Tea: Tea in Korea dates back over 2000 year. It was part of a number of worship recipes, hoping that the good scents would reach the heavenly gods. Tea was introduced in Korea, when Buddhism was introduced from China, and later gave rise to the Korean tea ceremony, of which Korea has over 3000.
Originally tea was used for ceremonial purposes or as part of traditional art. Green tea, as it is used in China and Japan, is not the only kind of tea drunk in Korea. A great number of teas made of fruits, leaves, seeds or roots are enjoyed. Five tastes of tea are distinguished in Korea: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and pungent.
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