Identifier: korea00coul (find matches)
Title: Korea
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Coulson, Constance J. D
Subjects: Korea -- Social life and customs
Publisher: London : A. and C. Black
Contributing Library: New York Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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lk about for four months in the yearwith their arms folded inside their loose coats. 39 CHAPTER VIII THE PEOPLE AND THEIR BELIEFS KOREANS are Buddhists by religion. Many templesare to be found in the country, chiefly on thetops of hills and mountains. In these templesthere is always an altar of red lacquer, and onit figures of Buddha and his disciples, severalbronze or lacquered candlesticks, and vasesfilled with flowers. On a table in front of ityou will usually see plates containing offeringsof cakes and fruit. Generally you will find apriest singing in a droning voice, and perhapsanother priest may be beating the sacred drum.These drums are often things of beauty, orna-mented with paintings and fine carving. I tooka great fancy to one which was in a temple nearSeoul, and much wanted the priests to let mehave it, in exchange for a new one, but aftersome consideration my offer was rejected. The priests and monks who lived in the monas-tery belonging to this temple were always very 40
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KOREAN GIRL IN WINTER DRESS. Ptlge ,!(>. The People and their Beliefs pleased to see us. They would invite us intotheir refectory, and regale us with persimmonsand chestnuts. All these monks wore ratherdirty yellow robes, and their heads were shavenas smooth as billiard-balls. The monasteries arcchiefly supported by the younger monks, who goround the country with their begging-bowls, andeven the very poorest will not refuse to give themat least a handful of rice. Koreans, like the Chinese, worship their ances-tors. In every house, no matter how humble,there is a shelf on which are oblong black tablets,inscribed in gold letters with the names of deadmembers of the family. Rich people devote aroom or a separate building to the keeping of theseprecious memorials, which are supposed also toprovide a resting-place for the spirits, should theywish to revisit their old home. Happily, it is notonly the dead ancestors who are venerated, but theliving ones also. Parents and grandparents aret

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