▲ This photo, provided by the Cultural Heritage Administration, shows a person making Hanbok. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

▲ This photo, provided by Korean Craft & Design Foundation, shows girls wearing Hanbok. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

SEOUL, March 24 (Yonhap) -- ‘Hanbok-wearing,’ the custom and knowledge which represents the Korean people’s identity and values, will become a cultural heritage.

The Cultural Heritage Administration announced on Thursday that it plans to designate hanbok-wearing, the experience of wearing ‘Hanbok' - a traditional attire for ceremonies and games that require etiquette and formality - as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage item.

Hanbok-wearing is a historical culture passed down the longest in the Korean peninsula and its cultural value has been acknowledged in that it is a medium to show respect and express wishes for good health within the family community.

Moreover, it was also evaluated as an important factor that Hanbok was being studied in various areas like history, aesthetics, design, and fashion and that related education was continuing to convey through various communities.

Many Koreans usually wear Western-style clothing regularly but people still wear Hanbok on traditional holidays such as Seollal (Korean New Year's Day) and Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving Day) and social rituals like first birthdays, weddings, funerals, and ancestral ceremonies.

However, since Hanbok-wearing is a cultural tradition that is passed on and enjoyed throughout the Korean peninsula, the Cultural Heritage Administration decided to not recognize a specific group or person in the designation, such as Kimchi Damgeugi (Kimchi making), Tteok Mandeulgi (Tteok making and sharing), Makgeolli Bitki (Makgeolli making and sharing).

The Cultural Heritage Administration explained how the Hanbok-wearing had nothing to do with the controversy of when a woman dressed in Hanbok, appeared in an opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
 

An official from the Cultural Heritage Administration said, “Since April last year, we have conducted a service to confirm the cultural value of wearing hanbok,” adding, “Chimseonjang (Needlework) and Nubijang (Quilting), skills related to Hanbok, are already selected as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage.”

Hanbok consists of the Jeogori (hanbok top) and the bottom which can be either a skirt or pants and Otgoreum, the ribbons knotted to close the top, completes the look. People usually wear the bottom first and then the top.

▲ This photo, provided by the Cultural Heritage Administration, shows Kim Hong-do's genre painting. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

Tomb murals from the Goguryeo dynasty (37 B.C.- A.D. 668), clay figures dating to the Silla dynasty (57 B.C.–A.D. 935), and historical documents from China explains how the basic form of Hanbok had been completed during Korea's three kingdoms period (57 B.C.-A.D. 668).

The word ‘Hanbok’ is believed to be used to distinguish the Korean wardrobe from the Western clothing, which arrived with Western goods after the opening of Korean ports to foreign vessels in 1876. However, the exact origin of the word ‘Hanbok’ is unclear.

In the 1881 record of “Seungjeongwon Ilgi” (the diaries of the royal secretariat), the word ‘Joseon-ui’ or ‘Joseon’s attire’ is used and in 1894 article of a Japanese newspaper, the word ‘hanbok’ can be found.

In 1900, a new regulation on civil servants’ dress code was proclaimed, and the official attire of civil servants changed from hanbok to Western-style clothes. Since then, an attire culture of wearing both hanbok and Western-style suits began to settle.

Before industrialization, housewives sewed Hanbok and mended it when necessary. During the traditional holidays, they would make ‘Seolbim’ (the attire for Lunar New Year's Day) and ‘Chuseokbim’ (the attire for Chusok) with hopes for the family’s good health.

‘Baenaet jeogori,’ a hanbok for newborn babies, was created to not irritate the baby’s skin. Colored cuffs were added to ‘Kachi durumagi,’ worn by boys, to fight off the evil spirits and bring in good fortune.

▲ This photo, provided by the National Folk Museum of Korea, shows a girl's colored Jeogori (hanbok top). (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

In a wedding ceremony, a bride wore a green Jeogori (hanbok top) with a crimson skirt and in a funeral, it was recognized that a person would live a long life if the shroud of the dead was made in advance on a leap month. The shroud was made without a knot as it was thought that knots bring bad luck for the descendants.

The Cultural Heritage Administration said, “Hanbok became simpler in its form and became something that Koreans reserved for special occasions, but what hasn’t changed is that wearing hanbok is a way of showing respect,” adding, “Hanbok is a very important asset to our people.”

Cultural Heritage Administration will receive opinions for 30 days on the planned designation of hanbok-wearing as national intangible cultural heritage, before making a final decision.

(This article is translated from Korean to English by An Hayeon.)

 

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