During the Joseon era, marriages and relationships were complicated and often tragic. Unlike most weddings of today, weddings in the past were often sad affairs – at least on the part of the bride – and rarely were they done out of love.
This piece in Jeju Weekly (with some nice pictures) examines what it was like to get married during the Joseon era:
Silk for the bride’s dress was provided by the groom’s father and was conveyed to her at night by a small procession of the groom’s friends. It was customary for this procession to be set upon by a group of men from the bride’s home and a mock battle would ensue. Although it was suppose to be a sham battle, real blows were often dealt and there were occasional deaths. The reasoning for this battle is unclear because if the groom’s side lost he would suffer bad luck and if the bride’s side lost she would suffer misfortune and unhappiness. Not a great way to begin a marriage.
And, for all you lovers – did you know that in the past “yobo” was only used by the husband to his wife but not as a term of endearment? According to Isabella Bird Bishop it meant – “hey, look here.”
Then, in the Korea Times, you can read about two tragedies during the reign of King Myeongjong (1534-1567) that involved domineering mothers, unreturned love, ghosts, murder and even eunuchs – can’t go wrong with a line up like that.
A beautiful young palace girl attracted his attention but she would not willingly reciprocate his affections. An investigation revealed that the young girl had once been in love with a local boy but her father disapproved and sent her to work as a palace girl and had the boy seized and made into a eunuch.
The king, who apparently had a mean streak, had the young eunuch assigned as the guard at his door. The young man was forced to listen to the king ravish the love of his life. Eventually the girl became pregnant.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
“여보” = “여기에 보세요”
^That’s what I get out of it too. Makes sense if you ask me.
야부붕 sounds cuter anyways.
According to a recent survey, Britons spend more than ninety minutes a day gossiping, e-mailing friends, and flirting in the office.
———————–
On December 25, 1790, twenty-five girls from an asylum in Paris, France, called the Saltpetriere were sent to the Lousiana colony in America because there were so few women. By their action, the French government also hoped to lure Canadian settlers away from Indian mistresses.
———————–
There are two women who ran for president who shared a very unusual situation in history. Even though they ran for the office, they couldn’t vote for themselves or anyone else, for that matter. Victoria Claflin Woodhull ran on the National Radical Reform ticket in 1872, and Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood ran on the National Equal Rights ticket in 1884 and 1888. Why could they run for the presidency but not vote in the election? Because both women ran before the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1920 — giving women the right to vote.
———————–
Connecticut laws in the late 1600s were, to say the least, strict. Here is one example:
The Deut. 21:20.21 reference denotes that the city elders got this law from that particular passage from Deutronomy in the Bible.
Good god, that is a very bad story about 명종 and depressing. This piece of shit died without male children too.
여보세요!
C’mon this was similar through out every cultures, in old times it was family that choose your marriage partner not you.
#5 Still true today in some cultures.
“C’mon this was similar through out every cultures, in old times it was family that choose your marriage partner not you.”
Actually in early modern England it was usually couples who chose each other, and marrying ages tended to be in the 20s. This explains in part England’s low population relative to France and other European countries. Arranged marriages were more the stuff of the monarchy and to some extent nobility. In fact, amongst commoners there were frequent disputes about whether certain couples actually were married, and what constituted a marriage (an exchange of gifts being the most common evidence).
Still common here today isn’t it!
Marriage Brokers(1,253 registered marriage agencies as of 2008) is how it’s done nowadays. Korean men go elsewhere to find women lining up for them, they chose who they want, requiring them to strip naked is how it’s sometimes done now. In 2009, 25,142 women went to South Korea as foreign wives.
While Taiwan and the Philippines have cracked down on marriage brokers, S. Korea hasn’t done much?
In Vietnam marriage agencies are technically illegal but more than 70% of marriages between Vietnamese women and South Korean men were arranged through brokers.
I think marriage brokers are welcomed by the S. Korean government while 3rd world countries have taken steps to stop them(illegal in the Philippines – so the Korean brokers have moved on to Vietnam and Cambodia). One official even declared that “the government should encourage the matchmaking industry. Perhaps Korea should start its own matchmaking service.”
Maybe because of CNN’s coverage “In June, South Korean authorities broke up a gang that used foreign marriages to smuggle in an estimated 240 women over the past two years. In March, Cambodia even went as far as temporarily banning marriages between South Korean and Cambodian citizens to protect its women from trafficking.”
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2011354,00.html#ixzz1mDe0MF1P
WARNING:VISISTING THIS WEBSITE MAY HARM YOUR COMPUTER
Hey R. Neff, what’s wrong with the Korea Times and why do you work for people who can’t fix whatever the problem is but still direct us there?
Just to add another downer regarding pet names between spouses: The word for wife 안내 literally means “inside” because during the Joseon period women were not allowed outside. They had their own quarters in the inner courtyard of the house and were not even supposed to directly speak to men. They were supposed to send a servant and if none was available they had to hide their face or hide behind the wall to speak. Of course, rules were much more lax for the lower classes.
-Source: Women in Korean History, published by Ewha University Press
So, if your Korean hubby calls you 안내 he’s literally calling you “inside person”. I suppose it’s better than “Hey you!” but still not my cup of tea.
i agree with Koreansentry
btw, yu bum suk = f_cktard who should remove himself from the gene pool.
You must log in to post a comment.
{ 1 trackback }