Funeral Custom
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Funeral Custom
The start of burial the dead body was approximately before 60 thousands
years according to the anthropological study. It's a very known fact that without
any knowledge or religious reasons, the Neanderthal man instintively could bury
the corpse under the ground. Still now, a funeral has been performed all around the
countries in the world by a little different ways. Korea has traditional way of
performing a funeral ceremony. Unlike western society, in Korea former days,
people have to wear white traditional costume called Hanbok; women should wear
white Hanbok skirt and upper garment made of hemp cloth and men should also
wear white Hanbok pants and upper garment with a hat, which looks like triangle.
As time is changing, it is usual that people who attend a funeral wear black suit,
but still people who are lineal descendents have to wear Hanbok. Comparing with
one-day funeral in Western society, Korean funeral takes 3 days, so that three
rituals are performed for each 3 days. During that time, relatives of the dead
provide foods and drinks to the guests, so they usually sit there for a while
drinking beer or soju with side dishes. I can still remember the day when my
grandfather passed away. When I entered the room, which his body was placed, I
saw fuming incense and his picture frame on the table in front of the folding
screen...