THE PRACTICE OF TRADITIONAL FAMILY RITUALS IN CONTEMPORARY URBAN KOREA

This paper discusses how family rituals—weddings ancestor worship, and funerals—were traditionally done, how they are done today, and why modified traditional family ceremonies have continued to be done at all. Up until the 1960's traditional family ceremonies which emphasized authority of elde...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of ritual studies 1989-07, Vol.3 (2), p.167-183
Main Author: Lee, Kwang-Kyu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ancestor worship
Ceremonies
Cities
Coffins
Funerals
Parents
Rituals
Rooms
Sons
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Summary:This paper discusses how family rituals—weddings ancestor worship, and funerals—were traditionally done, how they are done today, and why modified traditional family ceremonies have continued to be done at all. Up until the 1960's traditional family ceremonies which emphasized authority of elders over juniors, and men over women, continued to be practiced in rural areas. As Korea has become an urban country, new style, couple-oriented weddings that are seen as more fit expressions of modern relations between husbands and wives have flourished. Contemporary household ancestor worship ceremonies that are structured more democratically than the traditional ones have been revived by urban parents for the educational benefit of their children. Bodies of the deceased are still prepared at home for burial, though this service has become commercialized in big cities. With the growth of urban-based clan associations, elaborate decoration of ancestral graves and continuation of annual graveside services has been a recent new phenomenon. Although family ceremonies have been modified and simplified to conform with new social realities, both the government and general public have seen to it that marriage ceremonies, ancestor worship, and traditional funerals continue to be observed in Korea's new urban-industrial age. In Korea, urbanization has not led to an over-all decline in the practice of family ritual.
ISSN:0890-1112