Traditional Marriage in Korea
At the period when girls in Christian lands are in school, the Korean girl is a married woman, for they usually marry between the ages of fourteen and eighteen years.…
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
Marriage
From Korea: The Land People and Customs by George Heber Jones, 1907.
At the period when girls in Christian lands are in school, the Korean girl is a married woman, for they usually marry between the ages of fourteen and eighteen years. There is no fixed age for the marriage of either boys or girls, except that they should marry as early as possible.
The haste shown by parents in this is due to two factors—the requirement that a father's supreme obligations to his son is to see him properly married, and the fear that death may overtake the parent before the matter is arranged. Boys will marry as early as nine years of age, though the rule is for a later age, from twelve to twenty years. It is usual for the bride to be older than her husband.
All Korean girls get married, for to them wedding is destiny. There are no old maids in the land. The wedding is one of the tai-sa, or great events in the life of the Korean. It is always arranged by a third party, known as a "go-between," whose profession as an institution takes the place of a Western courtship. The trade of a "go-between" is one of the fine arts of Korea, and to perform it properly a large knowledge of custom and superstition and etiquette is necessary. For the auspicious event of marriage the bride is dressed as she never was before, and never will be again.
Her hair and eyebrows that grew unmolested until this day, are dressed and put up in a new fashion. The face is covered with rice powder until it is quite white, relieved by a circular red spot on each cheek and on the forehead. Her skirt is flaming red in color, and her jacket green or yellow. Her hands are wrapped in a red napkin, and on her head is placed the coronet of the nobility. It is not unusual that her eyelids are glued together for the ceremony, so that she does not behold her husband until after she becomes his wife.
The bridegroom appears in court costume, consisting of a spacious robe of dark green silk, worn by officials, palace boots and a court hat with wings of horsehair net, a hoop belt of tortoise shell about his waist, and the stork-embroidered squares of silk, worn by officials, on his back and chest. He rides on a white horse, among his attendants being one who carries a wild goose, the symbol of conjugal fidelity, which he is supposed to worship. On arrival at the bride's house, the bride and groom are brought into each other's presence, and the bridegroom beholds the bride for the first time. The bride will see him later. Ceremonial bows are exchanged, cups of rice wine drunk, the wedding feast eaten, various salutations and greetings exchanged, and after three days they go to the bridegroom's home, where after announcing the marriage before the ancestral tablets the bride ceases to be a member of her own family, and becomes a member of the family of her husband.
The wedding garb of both the bride and the groom is thus the most dignified and exalted costume known to the Koreans, and is a testimony of their recognition of marriage as a divine institution. Members of the lowest classes—barring the pariah class, of slaves, butchers, and actors—may on this one day of their lives appear in the sacred apparel of the court. This is due to the fact that the bridegroom is supposed to worship heaven on that day, and thus he becomes a representative before the Sovereign powers of the land, for the worship of heaven is reserved for the Emperor. The bridegroom's character is sacred, and he enjoys the right of way.
The Korean wedding costume, therefore, symbolizes the solemnity and sacredness of the occasion, rather than its joy.
Jones, George Heber. Korea; The Land, People, and Customs. Jennings and Graham, 1907.
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