Last Saturday my grandpa, uncle, aunt, and I went to the family burial ground in the countryside, about 3 hours away from Seoul by car. My grandparents usually go about seven times a year here to take care of the graves -- specifically, the one of my great-grandfather. We go and pay our respects by doing a "deep bow" -- getting all the way down on our knees -- and then we tidy up the grave site by pulling weeds to prevent it from getting overgrown. We spent a good two hours pulling up weeds under the hot sun.
A little lesson on Korean culture: All Korean names are derived from Chinese characters (although if you translate them into Chinese they might not make much sense). You probably know the more common last names such as Kim, Lee, and Park, but just because they sound the same does not mean they are equal. The combination of the underlying Chinese characters as well as the the family's origination denotes which "clan" you were from. Traditionally, two people in the same clan could not marry, which tells you how serious Koreans are about this stuff. I am part of the Papyeong Yoon clan (파평 윤씨).
I had come to the countryside two years ago, the last time I was in Korea, learned a little about my family's history (I also had to pull weeds that day). I guess my grandpa must have either forgotten I had come here last time or he wanted to show me again, so I got the full tour. This time though, I had my camera with me so I took lots of pictures.
Traditional School for the Yoon family
Memorial Service House
The tables where food offerings to ancestors are placed
Burial grounds
Lunchtime
Traditional Korean House
(Also where my grandpa was born)
-Emoinacloset
6 COMMENTS:
So who owns this massive piece of land?
-muffinman
Not exactly sure... maybe it is under some kind of trust? At one point a a lot of the farmland in the surrounding area was owned by the family, but in the 1920s there was a peasant revolt so they were forced to give most of the land away. I think the house is still owned by some distant relative.
-Emoinacloset
Do you have to apply to get buried there then? Or how does it work?
- muffinman
No idea really, but there are graves all around the area so there's plenty of space. My great-grandfather's grave is actually a little ways away from the memorial service house.
-Emoinacloset
How did your clan start? In most Korean clans there's an origination story? How did the papyeong yoons become to be?
I am from the same bongwon too! My Great-Grandfather was Youn (Yoon) Hak Yong, who immigrated to the States in 1903-5, and a few generations later here I am. Now, I am trying to contact the main clan on their site and reconnect from where he left off so long ago. Much has happened and changed since he left the Emperor's Court at Seoul. What hasn't changed is my genetic lineage from him and the Clan.
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