Hanbok Hangout 1

So a week after Chuseok, I asked two friends if they wanted to hang out downtown wearing Hanbok and just chill around. You know, because Hanbok are amazing. 

And because we don't need more reason to actually wear a Hanbok do we? In any case, I don't think we should be restricted to the idea that it's awkward to walk around wearing one. When wearing a Hanbok, we technically wear more clothes that people wear in their everyday life, so it should not cause any sort of indecency problem. Also, old people love it. And who doesn't like to make old peopl happy just by walking around town?

I like to make old people happy.

I also actually happen to love wearing Hanbok.

And yah. That's it.

I also enjoy people wondering what kind of weird person I am. That's me. Was always me.

So we arranged to meet up downtown Seoul and later found out that during that day there were actually already events going on, traditional stuff all around the upper area of Seoul (Jongmyo, GyeongbokGoong etc) so we joined one. 

And saved $1US, because costumes save us the expensive entry fees. 

I felt so rich that day.

After the ceremony, we had planned on hanging out in Insadong to look at trinkets, and drink tea eating sweets in a nice tea shop. I wanted to buy an amber ring to match my norigae (Korean trinket worn at the waist) that had amber on it. Usually Korean dresses have jade accessories, and sometimes coral (crazy expensive) so I had bought a green jade ring last year to wear with my old hanbok, but the lady who made my new one gave me amber stuff with my new one, and I wanted some sort of accessory to bring up the color.

When we met up we first headed out to Jongmyo (shrine) for a re-enacting of a royal procession. The only procession that bad all the royal family members all at once. Originally, important processions never had all the member, and most of the time, they were reserved to male.

This one was of the last prince (think he was 12) after his wedding to his 13 years-old wife, when they went to pray to their ancestors if I remember correctly. The procession both had the royal ministers and the queen's ladies of the inner court. The procession started with the male ministers and the king and prince following the indication of one of the minister sometimes speaking out to them, sometimes speaking in a singing voice to call on each of the steps of the event. After the emperor and prince left to their assigned seats on one side of the stage, the ministers all left and waited on the right side while the queen and princess got on with their ladies in waiting. 

This was the unusual part of the ceremony, as originally only men went there, and as soon as the women got on the platform, it became "lady territory" and all the following parts of the event and the queen, emperor, prince and princess were escorted to their spots by the ladies in waiting, instead of the ministers, who stayed on the side until the end, standing in neat rows. 

It was an impressive ceremony, and I felt sorry for the actors standing in the bright sun. The actors playing prince and princess were 12 and 13 years old, as the real historical figures had been at the time the real ceremony took place.

The ceremony was explained in Korean, Japanese, and English and it was interesting for me to get the information in all those languages, noting that they did not say the exact same things for both. Still, I suppose a person speaking only one of those languages got a decent amount of information on the overall procedures. 

What was interesting was that when we got there, we didn't expect anyone to be dressed up as we were, our dressing up being more of a spontaneous whim, rather than the following of as specific event. However, when we got to the seats where we could watch the procession, there were some 30 people, all dressed up in hanbok of all kinds, come handmade, some bought, but all with either an impeccable hairstyle and dress or an interesting modernized version of the traditional outfit. I found myself at loss of words: what in the hell was going on?

We found out later that they had more or less all come as a group. They were all people who loved Hanbok and wore it on any kind of occasion they felt like. For lack of better comparison I would compare them to the Korean equivalent of Lolitas, who wear modernized 1700s dresses at all times. The costumes that impressed me most were the men's. While women usually wear long hair, and a hanbok is basically just a bigger silkier type of dress, it happens often that you'd see a lady wearing a hanbok to sell traditional sweets and the like. Men, however, have to really want to, to wear a hanbok. They are complicated to wear, imply wearing lots of layers and they gentlemen's outfit has an (apparently) uncomfortable hat. I think that outfit looks absolutely dashing.  

To be honest, it took me little time to get used to the look of the male Korean traditional costume, but now, it has the same effect on me as a suit worn by a good looking man. They have the power to bring out the hotness out of men. I have yet to see one look good on a foreigner but that's another story... (the outfit I liked best was the lilac one. However, the guy wearing it was not that hot :P I love the silky look of it)

After the ceremony we had a 10 minutes where all the actors stood in the bright sun to take pictures. We were asked to take many pictures along with them, being the weird foreigners wearing Hanbok :)

Then, something happened that totally blew my mind. So far I had been very touched with the attention I had gotten from people around there, some asked me for pictures, some asked me where I got my hanbok done (wish I had brought the card of the lady who made it because it would have been great opportunity for business), I also got the name card for that group of people wearing hanbok all the time...

....then this lady comes to me, takes an amber ring off her finger, puts it on mine and says, "suhnmool". 

Gift.

And there it was, an amber stone, the exact shade I had wanted to buy in Insadong, put on a nicely engraved silver ring. Had I sent a message to the universe, and had the universe answered me back? I will never know. 

What I know is that made my day. 

What this lady did was nothing big, but it made a big difference in my day.

I was mind blown.

She gave me her business card and told me I could look up her work if I wanted. She was a hair accessory maker, for traditional clothing. Usually for weddings, as Koreans rarely wear Hanbok in other occasion. I told myself this was perfect marketing. But was not sure she really expected me to buy some, being a foreigner and all. I still told myself that I had also found the place I wanted to get my new hair accessory from to match my new hanbok.

[EDITED] Later on I did order from her and after a few back and forth I finally received my Baesshi and Yeop GGeot (top ornament and side pins) from her and they were lovely. I browsed her website to show someone her work one day and what did I not see? She mentioned the story of our meeting at Jeongmyo, her side of the story. If you can read Korean please take a look. Otherwise, well there are pictures)

Later on that day we went to a really nice tea shop in Insadong and had tea and sweets. I looked around for hair accessories and almost bought a 700$ hairpin, having understood it was 70$. Oh money.

We also got small snack gifts from people doing a survey in the streets with foreigners in Korea, were asked to take some more pictures by a Japanese tourist who had just gotten to Korea. Was fun to speak Japanese a little.