In welcoming the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, National Folk Museum of Korea has prepared a special exhibition, Wintering, which is filled with the lyricism of winter and the sagacity of spending the winter season.
Winter in Korea is a season when all living things pause what they do and take a break. Traditionally, our ancestors led a busy life ‘sowing, cultivating, harvesting and finish gathering’ with the seasons. However, in winter, they put a stop to their busy lives that they had had from spring to autumn and spent the winter season recharging themselves by getting ready for the new year to come and enjoying outdoor activities. Winter normally reminds people of the biting wind that pierces through the skin, snow and frost, but there’s also the warmth of an ondolbang—traditionally heated room—cotton filled clothes, and grandma’s storytelling. As such, winters in Korea had a touch of life’s wisdom and endearment, which can still be found in all aspects of lives of the Korean people today.
Wintering, the special exhibition, is comprised of the routine of welcoming, spending and letting go of the long winter season.
We hope that you can reminisce the good memories of winter and the season’s meaningfulness by looking through the wintering of the Korean people, who have spent the season sensibly and fully resting by following the laws of nature.
Greeting Winter
Winter is the season to get ready for tomorrow.
The prediction of what to prepare for winter and the planning for wintering show the sagacious lifestyle of the Korean people, and how they have adopted themselves to the laws of nature as they fight the cold weather. In addition to having enough food to last the season, they saved plentiful to last until the next harvest, and kept the seeds safe in a barrel to get ready for farming in spring. Beans were fermented to be made into soy sauce, and Kimchi cellars were put together to store Kimchi—the core food for winter—for the rest of the season; and when kept busy since the morning by preparing for the following year’s farming, such as twisting the straws to make sandals, without much realization, the entire day passes, and the night deepens. Winter is a training time where learning to save and getting ready for tomorrow takes place.
Resting in Winter
Winter is the season for all living things to pause and take a rest.
Winter is where farmers to find comfort and allowed to escape from the arduous agricultural work they have done for the year. It is the time to wait for the first snow and have the freedom to do nothing while looking at the large flakes of snow piling up on the ground. Inside the ondolbang, the ash fire fills up the brazier with a small fire shovel stuck in it, just like the embers hidden in the ashes, the stories that have been hidden inside one’s mind naturally come out to fill up the warmth in the room, in which the room that has warmed up with the burning of pine twigs. The roasted chestnuts and sweet potatoes buried in the brazier -also used as the light for a cigarette- are the delicacies of winter nights; and affections form as one spends a day with another, resting inside a house to escape from the cold.
Enjoying Winter
Winter is the season to enjoy outdoor activities while piercing through the wind.
People were able to relieve boredom and endure the season through having outdoor activities facing the wind and the coldness: enjoying ice fishing and waiting for the fish to be caught; once it stops snowing, one would gear up in snow shoes and sled to follow the footsteps of wild animals to hunt, and such sceneries show of a balance between one’s livelihood and playful activities. The children warm up their stiff bodies by playing tops on ice and going on sleigh rides. Flying kites is another fun winter activity, which not only consists of feeling the movement of the wind with the entire body, but also holds the meaning of wishing for good luck and avoiding the negative and bad energy. Winter is about following the laws of nature, waiting for spring while enjoying the outdoor activities.
Epilogue
As you endure the long long winter,
In the end,
Just like the wet fog,
Which reappears from the snow ground
That hasn't completely melted,
It will rekindle as the wind that blows shine
The dazzling days of winter
Disappears as they touch upon
The hearts of many,
Oh when,
Asking for the well-being,
Will spring arrive
