Cultures and Traditions of the South Korea

South Korea is a country that is rich in cultures and traditions.

Painting
Painting is one of the cultures in South Korea and it is a famous form South Korean Art. The painting has a long history and it fit in to distinct eras and showing different aspects of Korean lifestyle. An in depth insight into the culture can be given through either colourful forms or sketches. The very first paintings are believed by many to be wall paintings because some of the craving found on the walls in the Three Kingdom Period shows that. Different era will definitely came up with different type of painting and Buddhism has greatly affected the painting in South Korea. However, painting in South Korea has undergone lots of changes during this long period of time.

A traditional form of sketches painting

A traditional Korean painting that uses the colourful forms

Pottery
Another cultural art will be pottery in South Korea. It first started out as a necessity to have it but soon, people see the art in pottery. Pottery is noticeable and better because of its originality and uniqueness. This is because the Koreans have done every part of pottery, from clay ware, use of jade, white ware, stoneware and many other forms.

Basically there are four types of pottery in South Korea; they are Earthenware, Celadon, Stoneware and Whiteware.

• Earthenware
It was discovered and created in the prehistoric period and was wanted by many during the “Silla” and “Kaya” age of Korea. It was commonly used as vessels but later become part of decoration and part of South Korean Pottery because the patterns on it were formal. The patterns in the pots were marked by the use of comical expressions and abstract art.

One of the Earthenware found and used in the daily lifes on the people in the early days of South Korea.

Also a Earthenware, but it is changed along with time whereby colours are added into it.

• Celadon
This pottery involved the use of Jade when making the pots. This method was modified from China and plus the Zen Buddhism being brought into South Korea, it also introduced the idea of using jade to make pottery. Different types of designs are decorated on the Jade pottery. Patterns like clouds, cranes, lotus flowers and chrysanthemums are the common patterns used.

Picture showing one of the Celadon pottery. Patterns like clouds, cranes, trees and many more can be found on it.

• Stoneware
Stoneware is also known as “Punch’ong” in Korea. The way it was made was interesting. A grayish-green varnish is applied on the stoneware before applying another white layer over it. Stoneware is the type of pottery which South Korea concentrates on and is expert in doing it. It is also a main form of art.

Below shows one of the stoneware pottery of South Korea.

• Whiteware
White porcelain is used in this case to create the pottery. Immediately after it was brought into South Korea, it became the replacement for silver utensils. And by adding in the design of dragons, peonies, pine trees, plum trees, flying cranes and many others.

Above show a plain whiteware....

after adding in colours to a plain whiteware pottery, it will look like......

Hwatu
Hwatu, which means “flower cards” in English, is originated from Japan and brought into South Korea in the early 1900. Even though it was brought into South Korea from Japan, both deck and the game have now turned out to be part of the Korean tradition. One of the games that use the Hwatu to play is called “Go-Stop” and it is frequently played during the family gatherings while the other is called Sotda. Actually gambling can take place when playing Go-stop and Sotda.

A deck of hwatu, with a total of 48 cards and it comes each groups of four cards represent the different month of the year.

Religion
Religion in South Korea is free, which means everyone can choose which religion they want to follow. Majority of the South Koreans see themselves as Buddhism or Christianity. Buddhism is brought into South Korea by the travellers during the early days from India when they visit South Korea. In the present day, there are about 10,000 temples in South Korea and over 900 of them has been there for more than 50 years. Due the great influence by Buddhism in South Korea and Korean monks promoting Buddhism in the country, thus many of the Koreans have Buddhism as their religion. However, the Koreans, especially the monks, have used Buddhism as a factor to lure tourists to visit the place. The reason why Buddhism is so wanted by the locals by be because of the Confucius.

Besides Buddhism, Christianity is another religion which majority of the Koreans are. Christianity is not brought into the country by foreigners but by the local people themselves when they came in contact Roman Catholicism in Japan and Manchuria. A reason as to why it is popular in South Korea right now is because many have being practicing Christianity since ages ago. Even though they have their own religion, Shamanism, but not many use it as their religion. It could be that Buddhism and Christianity really have a great influence and impact on the locals.
Other than that in the present day, the people created another new religious belief in South Korea called the “Cheondogyo”. Basically it is a combination a little of Buddhism, Taoism, Chiristianity and Confucianism. However, only a minority of people is using this as their religion.

South Korean Dance
One of the cultures and traditions of South Korea is their dance. Although many things have changed along with time due to globalisation, the South Korean dance is said to have sustained its style and originality. It was not influenced by the modern and hip hop style of dance and music, which is the current dance trend around the world. In addition, in the earlier days, people can only dance during religious ceremonies but today, it can be performed anywhere.

The South Korean dance is basically made up of short and swift movements and minor repetitions of dance steps. What makes South Korean dance so special is the dance steps and movement which creates the two essential emotions of life, joy and sorrow.

The South Korean dance is grouped into three types and they are the court dance, folk dance and the religious dance.

• Court Dance
Court dance is seen as an art form of higher classes. The music that is played along during the dance is instrumental. It is more graceful and leisurely as compared to the other two types.

• Folk Dance
The folk dance symbolizes the rituals and beliefs of South Korea and the music that goes along with the dance make it more enjoyable. It is peppy and always performed in groups. It is the dance that preserved the tradition of South Korea and it is performed in the villages of South Korea.

• Religious Dance
The religious dance stands for the pagan culture and rituals of South Korea and it is often led by monks and secular dances, which can be individual or group dance, which are danced by the normal people. Religious dances are for shamanistic rites (gut) purpose.


Sculpture
Sculpture has changed lots of time from the early days till now. Sculpture of South Korea were first spotted on Ban-gudae Cliff in Ulsan where some rock cuttings were spotted. However people started realising the significance of sculpture and excerised as a major art form during the period when Buddhism was first brought into South Korea and had a very big impact there. Slower, sculpture become a major art form in South Korea.

Bronze, earthenware and clay figurines are the basic elements that sculpture consists of. Sculpture was further changed during the different eras in South Korea and many finds have show that almost all the sculptures are related Lord Buddha.

In the present day, sculpture is no longer restricted to Lord Buddha. Many modern Korean sculptors started using innovative carvings after being influenced by the European. It was then Korean Sculpture moved into the new form whereby more people could connect to it.

Lord Buddha is used in every sculpture in the olden days....

But sculpture changes along with time. As times goes by, sculpture is not only Lord Buddha but also some animals or human which we can be spotted in our daily lifes.