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   Gimchi is an indigenous Korean food. To make gimchi, many condiments-red pepper powder, salted fish, spring onions, garlic ginger, and salt- are put with vegetables such as Chinese cabbage and oriental turnips and fermented. Gimchi is an important side dish, indispensable for any Korean meal and therefore it has always been the most representative Korean food. Gimchi can be made with almost any vegetable such as Chinese cabbage, oriental turnips, cucumbers, eggplants, sesame leaves, young turnips, mustard leaves, etc. As Chinese cabbage is most widely used for making gimchi the word gimchi with no special comment generally refers to baechugimchi, pickled Chinese cabbage.To make baechugimchi, women put a mixed stuffing of various vegetables and condiments into the pickled cabbage which was soaked in salt water overnight. Thin strips of turnip, salted fish, red pepper powder, salt, spring onions, garlic ginger, and oysters are normally used. After mixing these ingredients together, they fill the spaces between the leaves of a Chinese cabbage evenly with them and then wrap the whole cabbage. These heads of cabbage gimchi are piled in a large earthenware jar for a month. They ferment and become delicious gimchi. The Korean word gimchi has an etymological connection with this process; in fact, it stems from the Korean word dimchae, meaning vegetables preserved in salt water. Koreans have enjoyed vegetables from very early times; there is a record that people made and ate gimchi in the oldest Korean states. A document published in the Gorye Dynasty notes that they preserved turnips in salt, making gimchim and soaked it in soy fish. In the 18th century red pepper powder was first brought to Korea and put into gimchi.Gimchi along with rice, plays a very important part in the Korean diet. Most Koreans cannot enjoy a meal without gimchi and many think that cooked rice and gimchi, even without any other side dish at all, make a good meal, Therefore, whether housewives can make delicious gimchi or not has become a criterion for determining their cooking skill. At the same time gimjang, making the gimchi which they need throughout the winter has become an important event in each family. Koreans’ love of gimchi has to do with the fact that gimchi has turned out to be a very nutritious food scientifically, too. As mentioned above, in the past with no special storage such as a refrigerator, Koreans had difficulty getting vegetables out of season, and they contrived to make gimchi to have vegetables all year. Moreover, protein is also found in gimchi because such ingredients as salted fish and other marine products are added to it, and the vegetable ingredients are well harmonized with the animal ingredients in gimchi.Even though nowadays many families buy gimchi produced in factories instead of making it at home, Koreans’ love of gimchi remains unchanged and gimchi itself is still an essential food for Koreans. Its delicious taste and excellent nutrition has become widely known in foreign countries, so that foreigners too enjoy the unique hot taste of gimchi. Gimchi now goes beyond being a simple food and has become a valuable intangible cultural asset saturated with Korean.   Bulgogi is marinated, grilled meat, usually beef. Thin slices of beef are mixed with soy sauce, chopped green onions, garlic, sesame, salt, pepper, sugar, etc. and marinated in a bowl. The beef becomes very tender, so everyone enjoy it. Bulgogi tastes a little sweet with its mixed seasonings. The recipe for bulgogi is an example of the wonderful taste and quality of Korean food. Bulgogi is itself a good dish. But when garlic, bean paste, or hot pepper paste are put on top of bulgogi with a fresh lettuce leaf, its taste is enhanced and good nutrition such as vitamins, minerals, and anti-cancer ingredients are provided. Bulgogi goes back a very long way in history. From the ancient times, Koreans knew various methods of cooking meat. At first they roasted meat on skewers. Much later they found out how to cook it on grills, after which marinated bulgogi could appear. This flat sliced bulgogi was called neobiani or grilled beef seasoned with soy sauce. Koreans lived mainly on vegetables, so meat was very difficult to have in their everyday loves. It was usually prepared as an elegant dish only for the visit of special guests, for family gathering of family outings. Similarly, Koreans often serve it to foreigners.Bulgogi has become one of Korea’s most famous dishes world wide. People who visit Korea never forget it. Its mild taste, neither spicy nor hot, is enjoyed even by people new to it. And it makes a good starting point on the journey of learning to enjoy Korean food.   Bibimbap is a traditional Korean dish made of rice with beef and mixed vegetables. Bits of fried beef, Bean Sprouts, Bellflower root, mushrooms, green bean jelly and egg are placed carefully on rice to make Bibimbap. In most cases, hot pepper paste is added for a spicy taste.Side dishes are usually served at a Korean meal, but Bibimbap is mutritious and tasty without any side dishes, as many ingredients are already included. No special recipe is necessary ; anybody can make it with these materials to suit one’s own taste.It was not until the end of the 19th century that bibimbap was mentioned in writing. It may have originated from the custom of the custom of holding jesa, the sacred rite or memorial service for the ancestors. When a jesa was prepared in the past, it was very difficult to carry all the dishes because the ceremony was held far from home. Furthermore Koreans believed that foods offered to the spirits should be shared. For these reasons, in order not to throw away the offerings they might have mixed all the offerings in a single bowl after the jesa. Bibimbap can be eaten anytime now, but it used to be a special dish for festive days only. There was a custom of making Bibimbap from all the left-over food on the last day of the year and eating it together in the evening. Even the royal court commonly enjoyed such a custom. Additionally, there was another custom of eating Bibimbap with five kinds of vegetables at the beginning of spring. In these contexts Bibimbap was a special dish. Bibimbap has changed year by year, and now differs according to region. Of all Bibimbap, the Bibimbap of Jeonju City, located in Jeonbuk province, is the most famous. More than twenty seasonal ingredients are used in Jeonju Bibimbap, so many gourmets are eager to go there. Bibimbap distinguishes itself in that regardless of regional differences anybody can enjoy the great taste of mixed ingredients in a bowl on rice.  Ondol, found only in Korea, is a heating system to warm the floor itself. An ondol system is composed of an agungi, a furnace, a gorae, a floor heater, a gudeulijang, a stone slab, and a gulttuk, a chimney. The agungi is a place to make the fire in and is located outside the room; the gorae is the flue through which move the heart and smoke generated by a fire in the agungi. The gudeulijang is a thin flat stone covering the gorae and at the same time forming the floor of the room. This lets the heat moving through the gorae make the gudeulijang hot, thus warming the floor. Finally, the gulttuk, the chimney, is the passage through which the smoke, having moved through the gorae, is eliminated outside the house. Consequently, a fire make in the agungi outside the room sends heat and smoke flowing through the gorae to make the room hot; the smoke is discharged through the gulttuk outside the room. Ondol is a scientific system which puts conduction and radiation and convection all to good use. The floor is made by plastering earth on the gudeuljang and completed by spreading an oiled paper floor of tough thick paper. In addition, its surface is built up by various methods to be durable and resistant to water. For example, it can be covered with oiled cotton cloth or daubed with a thin layer of pulverized pine cones or ginko leaves. Ondol, developed to pass the winter comfortably in the cold provinces in the northern part of Korea, was accepted in almost all areas of the country. Ondol had a great effect on the lifestyle of Koreas, Because it makes the floor of the room hot, ondol has been an important factor in forming a seated lifestyle. Thanks to ondol, Koreans are good at sitting directly on the floor and doing all their work, whatever it is, this has also affected all interior furniture, whose size of the location of a door or a door knob is determined by the seated lifestyle. With changed in time, considerable changes have also occurred to ondol, successive changes of fuel, kitchen structure, and lifestyle have accelerated the disappearance of the traditional kitchen and the agungi. Common people at one time began to use briquets were used as fuel. With gradual changes of lifestyle and the development of new heating systems, traditional ondol is no longer found in even in rural areas, much less in cities. With the introduction of a new concept, the boiler, the ondol rapidly changed into a system using a boiler. In this system, boiled water generates steam or not water of high temperature ad high pressure which circulates to warm the room. In the Western world where this heating system originated, it was originally set up with the hot water circulating through radiators on the wall. Somewhat differently , the boiler has been used as a new type of ondol in Korea. In other words, pipes are laid under the floor and hot water circulates through the pipes to produce the same effect as in the traditional ondol, making the floor warm all over the room. While the method of generating and transferring heat has changed in this way, the Korean lifestyle of getting heat by warming the floor and then sitting on the warm floor has still been maintained.   Hanbok is Korea’s national costume, which has been and is worn by Koreans of all ages. Hanbok has undergone many changes little by little for a long time, but it hasn’t lost its original features. They are still evident in modern-style of clothing worn in the Joseon Dynasty.This traditional costume was characterized by its loose fit and roominess. Men’s hanbok usually consisted of a broad hip-length jacket called a jeogori and baggy pants called baji. As baji were very roomy, they were bound with a belt of the same cloth at the waist, and the legs were tied at the ankles for convenience with straps called daenim.Women’s clothes were composed of a shorter jeogori and a chima, a wrap-around skirt. The skirt extended from the chest down to the ankles. In particular , as the skirt was wide at the hips, it looked like a bell. The Jeogori opened in front and tied gracefully with a goreum, a butterfly-like ribbon attached to the jeogori. Men wore a jacket and a vest and covered them with an overcoat called a magoja. Women wore a skirt over man layers of underwear worn one on top of another for decency. Men and women both used to wear a durumagi, a long overcoat, for courtesy when going out and on special days. Also, they always wore socks called beoseon. Hanbok features the harmony of simple lines and soft curves. A women’s jeogori was short and tight, while the chima was long and wide. Their elegance and tranquility in attire suited well the image of “ the Land of Morning Calm” The traditional Korean costume developed in a variety of ways. The baeja, a women’s waist coat, the dangui, a ceremonial rove for the royal court, and the dopo, full-dress attire, were not well-known to the general public. In spite of depending on the season, the cloth, and the sewing. Today, Koreans usually wear the jeogori, baji, chima and durumagi only on festive days and the wedding ceremonies. Still, hanbok remains attractive, so it is making a comeback in everyday life in a modified and simplified style for practicality in the modern world.  Beoseon are traditional Korean socks made of white cotton cloth. They are quilted to keep the feet warm. They vary from area to area; in the north a great deal of cotton is stuffed between the layers, but less in the south. In some areas, cotton is not used. As a whole, they are shaped like a foot. The ankle is narrower than the entrance, and the sock comes up high just below the calf. At first beoseon were sized to fit the feet properly. But in the middle of the Joseon Dynasty, they become slightly smaller than the size of the actual foot and were stuffed with more cotton for a smoother appearance, as seen in the genre paintings. In the end as much importance was attached to the aesthetic value as to the size. Thus socks become somewhat curved in shape with a lifted toe, a concave sole, and a slightly rounded heel. By and large, the beauty of flowing lines, characteristic of Korean culture, is well reflected in beoseon.Beoseon had a meaning in Korean culture where courtesy was regarded as very important. As it was a Korean custom not to show bare feet to others, Koreans had to wear socks even during the summer. They are believed to have worn socks stuffed with cotton for a better appearance. The Korean Aesthetic sense and spirit of etiquette are reflected in the socks. Beoseon were one item of dress and ornament characteristic of Korean traditional culture favored by both men and women. As western style clothes and socks became popular. Beoseon fell out of use. As a result, they are worn now only with Korean traditional clothes. White beoseon match hanbok beautifully. They create a wonderful harmonization between the gracefully subtle curve of the hanbok and the pleasantly oval shape of the beoseon showing under a long chima.  Jeol is a deep bow of courtesy to show reverence and gratitude to others. from ancient times, Koreans have thought highly of the courtesy which should be observed among people, their efforts to follow the old customs are well expressed in this way of greeting. Historically, nothing precise is known about when the current type of jeol first appeared. However, paintings in ancient tombs may be testimony the fact that similar greetings have existed for a long time. The way of greeting others may have first been affected by the introduction of Buddhism. Later, it was probably formalized and refined under the influence of Confucianism I n the Joseon Dynasty. As a result, Jeol became settled as a formal way of greeting. Jeol is closely related to the culture of Korea. Presumably, it was natural for Koreans to kneel and make a deep polite bow as a greeting as long as they lived sedentary lives. The way of performing the jeol differs a little case by case, largely divided into two kinds; Keunjeol, the big bow is different form the women’s only in that men kneel, while women sit down with their legs crossed. After they half-fold both hands and put them upward, they lay both hands forward on the floor and bend themselves until their heads touches the floor. They sit back up and do the bow all over again. This kind of bow is observed even now for traditional rituals and wedding ceremonies. As a special case, the bride should have the courtesy to do the big bow four times to her parents-in-law at her wedding ceremony. On the contrary, the plain bow is done only once, in the same way as the big bow, However, it is not necessary to sit up again after it is finished. Still, the plain bow is often seen on New Year’s Day or in situations requiring some formality. It is a custom characterizing the Korean culture in which the hierarchy between older and younger is strictly differentiated. In the western way, greetings are exchanged based on the equality of two persons, while in Korea a bow is made to the older person by the younger. When the hierarchy is not clear in a particular case, a matjeol is made, which literally means mutual bowing, that is , bowing to each other at the same time. Jeol looks distinctively attractive in hanbok, traditional Korean dress, as it is a traditional Korean custom. The deep bow by men and women is beautiful traditional costume is like a message delivering respect and thanks to others. With the change of cultural life in the passage of them, it is often difficult to perform a jeol now. Hence, greetings are, more often than not, exchanged by shaking hands or bowing by slightly bending the body in the western style. Yet jeol are still make, irrespective of the place, when sincere courtesy should demonstrate real appreciation and esteem.  Hangeul is the alphabet which Koreans developed for themselves. Unlike other alphabets, its creation is clearly known. The first Korean alphabet was developed at the beginning of the Joseon Dynasty and proclaimed by King Sejong in 1443 a document called Hunminjeongeum, literally meaning “Correct Sounds for people’s instruction”. Educated Koreans had used Chinese characters to express their feelings and thoughts in writings until Hangeul was created. Most ordinary people could not read the Chinese characters because of their complexity and difficulty in learning. King Sejong felt regret for their illiteracy and searched a long time for a way to create a new alphabet everybody could read and write easily. At last, with the help of many scholars in the Jiphyeonjeon, the hall of Worthies, he promulgated the Hunminjeongeum. Hangeul is phonetic and phonemic at once comprised of basic 24 letters with 14 consonants and 10 vowels. In all, 40 letters can be made with their combinations adding 5 double consonants and 11 vowels. The basic letters are as follows:Consonants : ㄱ,ㄴ,ㄷ,ㄹ,ㅁ,ㅂ,ㅅ,ㅇ,ㅈ,ㅊ,ㅋ,ㅌ,ㅍ,ㅎ Vowels : ㅏ,ㅑ,ㅓ,ㅕ,ㅗ,ㅛ,ㅜ,ㅠ,ㅡ,ㅣ  Chuseok, the 15th day of the 8th lunar month is one of the most important festive days in Korea. On this day when the farming year is almost over and the harvest is ready, Korean people pay homage to their ancestors.Chuseok, observed since the period of the Tribal States, is also called Gawi or Hangawi. According to old documents, there was a custom called Gabae in the Silla Dynasty ; women worked on opposite sides in a contest to weave hemp cloth from the 16th of day of the 7th month to the 16th day of the 8th month. After the match, the defeated side entertained the winning side with food and wine. It has been assumed that the pronunciation of the word, “Gabae” referring to this custom became Gawi.Chuseok begins with making songpyeon, half-moon shaped rice cakes, on the 14th night, the day before chuseok. All the family members sit watching the bright shining moon and making songpyeon like a half moon and talking about this or that to one another; they experience the abundance and comfort of chuseok in advance. In addition, as there is an old saying that one who can make pretty songpyeon will have a pretty spouse or child, the whole family do their best to make beautiful songpyeon. Most importantly, when morning dawns on Chuseok, all the family perform Charye, ancestor memorial rites. With deep sincerity they prepare new rice, wine from new rice, and songpyeon from new rice and new fruits such as apples, chestnuts, and pears to set the table. By offering the first snag, dining table, on Chuseok, Korean people practice filial piety toward their parents even after their death. The filial duty of Koreans extends even to dead parents; Koreans put their first and most important value on their elders everything. After performing Charye, all the family members have breakfast, for which they mostly eat new white rice with taro soup, and after the meal they have songpyeon or new fruit. They pass a comfortable Chuseok morning this way. After breakfast they usually visit their ancestors’ graces for seongmyo. After cutting the full grown summer weeds and repairing the spots destroyed by floods, they set various foods on the table to make a keunjeol, a deep bow to their ancestors. Even though they have already paid homage to their ancestors by performing Charye at home, seongmyo has meaning different from charye in that they actually repair their ancestors’ graves and directly visit the place where their ancestors are buried. Occasionally, they visit their ancestors’ graves to weed the graves in advance before doing seongmyo on Chuseok. When seongmyo is finished, they enjoy various games. As this day usually has the finest weather of the year, the various games are generally played outdoors. A frequently witnessed scene on Chuseok is villagers coming together and playing on opposite sides in a tug of war, and two strong men having an ssireum match under the clear sky of autumn. Among the numerous entertainments of Chuseok, ganggangsullae, a dance under the big full moon rising in the sky, is the most representative, The sight of women beautifully dressed in hanbok, Korean traditional dress, cheerfully dancing and running in circules hand in hand in the bright moonlight makes the rich night of autumn more vital by far. Chuseok comes when busy farm work is almost completed and the farmers’ year-long perspiration bears fruit. Thus, with abundant foods and with sufficient tome to spare, people’s humor also becomes infinitely generous on this occasion. Likewise, the weather leaves nothing to be desired, for the hot and hard summer has gone and been replaced by fresh breezes blowing under the high blue sky of autumn. As chuseok comes in a time when all is rich and leisurely. Koreans have observed it even more luxuriously, in a sense, than seollal, New Year’s Day. An old saying, “ Be just like Chuseok, no more, no less,” best expresses the feelings of Koreans who look forward to celebrating Chuseok.  Seollal is New Year’s Day in the lunar calendar. It has been widely celebrated as one of the traditional festive days of Korea for a long time. Even though nowadays the solar calendar is the standard, as long as customs such as the tti, Zodiac signs, and others depend on the lunar calendar, seollal, which begins a new lunar year, will continue to have meaning for Koreans.As the day approaches, housewives make seolbim, the new clothes worn on New Year’s Day, and prepare many kinds of food. Children are excited and pleased as they watch their mother getting ready, and the whole family is walking on air in the homey atmosphere of anticipation. The preparations are finished by the last day of the year. The first day of the New Year is welcomed with celebrations and with special dishes. When New Year’s Day morning breaks, Charye is offered to the ancestors as a way of giving thanks, Koreans pay respect to the ancestors by kneeling and bowling , wearing beautiful Korean clothes, in front of a low table set with many dishes, and pray to them for safety during the new year. After charye is finished they perform sebae, a New Year’s bow, to the elders one after another, and feast on a New Year’s breakfast, at which ttekgukm rice cake soup, is served. People think the tteokguk makes them one year older. Especially, children, who think the number of bowls they eat determines their age, try to have a many bowls as they can. On the table, numerous dishes are found such as strutteok, steamed rice cakes, injeolmi, cakes made from glutinous rice, bindaetteok, mung-bean pancakes, yaksik, steamed glutinous rice flavored with honey, dates and chestnutsm yakgwa, round fried cakes made from wheat flour, oil and honey, gangjeong, Korean crackers made of glutinous rice, jeon, fried foods, sujeonggwa, sweet cinnamon punch, and sikhye, rice nectar. They spend a happy time together enjoying those foods and talking together.After breakfast, the family members visit their relatives neighboring elders, or teachers, and bow deeply to them. Later, the entire family gathers to play folk games, such as yunnori, a game using four sticks, yeonmalligi, kite flying, neolttwigi, seesawing, etc. Of these, yunnri, is most common. A yut match is played by family members indoors or by neighbors outdoors ina field or a hall. The sound of the yut sticks and the cheers of the participants can still brighten and invigorate the cold New Year’s morning. Children fly kites in the hills, hoping that all will be well during the new year. Women pair off and do neolttwigi, jumping on a seesaw. Young women enjoyed neolttwagi very much in the past when they were confined to the house, because they could have the freedom of enjoying the cold air outdoors and looking over the walls while jumping on the seesaw. On Seollal, not only separated family members but also more distant relatives gather at one house. People usually gather and celebrate the festive day at the house of the eldest brother in the family ; even those who live so far away that they can’t usually visit want to celebrate Seoollal together enough to leave their houses and get on the road. Nowadays when many people have moved away from their native villages, so many people are traveling home for Seollal that the roads are blocked with traffic and the trip is very inconvenient. But Koreans cheerfully endure the inconvenience and go to their native village or relative’s houses. Seollal is a holiday which shows the feelings of Koreans who have strong bonds of affection among family members.  Jesa means ancestral rites, In fact, it used to refer to all the rituals for the objects such as sun, moon, stars, plants and animals in which spirits were thought to exist. Now, however, it means only ancestral rites. There were many varieties of ancestral rites in the past. Now only charye, gije and sije are generally performed. Charye is the ancestral rites performed on Lunar New Year’s Day and the Harvest Moon Festival Day falling on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. Gije is an anniversary commemoration of a death performed at midnight on the eve of the anniversary of the death of an ancestor. It is performed for both the husband and the wife of the previous four generations. Sije refers to the ancestral rites for all the ancestors back five generations and is performed once a year. It is performed mainly by male descendants at the family burial site in the third of tenth lunar month. Generally speaking, a jesa means a gije. Nowadays, it is commonly performed for only the ancestors back two or three generations. Jesa is performed, as a rule, at midnight on the eve of the anniversary of an ancestor’s death day Ritual foods are prepared with great sincerity, including rice, wine, seasoned greens, jeon, jeok, po(dried slices of meat of fish). Sikhye, gangjeong, yakgwa, and fruit. They are put in fixed places on a table with candles on both sides. A smaller table for burning incense is put before it. As the ritual is to make food offerings to the spirits of the dead, the procedure is like having a meal. First, rice and soup are offered and then wine is served three times. Whenever wine is presented to the ancestor, the participants perform deep bows together. After some minutes pass for the spirit to enjoy the food, sungnyung is served while spoons and chopsticks are removed. After the ritual is finished, the food is shared by all the participants and neighbors. It is a way to share good fortune, as food once offered in the ritual is believed to have been supremely favored by the spirit of the ancestor. The sharing is called eumbok.Jesa, paying homage to ancestors, means that filial duties are fulfilled in the same way as when the were living, even after they have passed way. Koreans believe that the relationship between the dead and the living is not be cut off even if the soul of the dead has departed from the body; the ancestor will continue to take care of the living descendants. Thus, the dead are respected as when they were living. The descendants are thought to have a chance to perform any filial duties that they did not fulfill well enough during the life of the dead person and to be blessed with prosperity for their sincere treatment. Actually, the performance is to provide time to remember the ancestors, their love and their favor, Also, it is a gathering of distant family members in one place, therefore, it still remains as an important Korean custom in a rapidly changing society.   Hanok is the traditional Korean housing. Usually the gate of a hanok was found at the end of a narrow winding lane. Behind the gate, there was a yard surrounded by a stable and a baengnang, servants’ room, or a yard with a room where the head of the household resided. Moving from the yard inside, there was another entrance called the jungmun, the inner gate. Deep within the inner gate, there were the anchae, the inner quarters of the house in which the women loved and worked. Between the sarangchae, the reception room for male guests and the anchae, there was a wall, so an entrance was made through the wall. The inner quarter consisted of the anbang. The inner room, the genneonbang, the opposite room, the kitchen, and the storeroom. The anbang was where the head woman of the household lived. The opposite room was the daughter-in-law’s residence in case there was a separate kitchen was attached to the inner room. It was not only the place for cooking but also the fire for heating the inner room. In the back yard of the inner quarters, there was a hill. In the southern areas of Korea, bamboo was planted on the back hill. In the back yard, there were the chimney for the kitchen and the jangdokdae, the terrace where jars of soy sauce and various kinds of pastes were kept. In the back of the inner quarters or the reception quarter, was a shrine for the ancestral tablets. Sometimes, the byeoldang, separate room, was located there for guests ; another name for it was ansarang.Korean traditional houses were built of wood. Most of the structures and frames, including the pillars, were made of wood. They were not even held together by iron nails but by fitting the wood in grooves.The walls were covered with earth. They were made by framing the inside with millet stalks or bush clover for solidity and finishing it with a soft mixture of white plaster and fine sand. Walls made in this way were good for absorbing damp and protecting against cold, so the rooms kept dry and warm in winter. The hanok had a warm-floor and covering the surface with clay, The floor paper was polished with a cotton bag of ground soybean and perilla oil mixture called kongdaem. Paper treated in this way would not absorb damp and mites would not survive on it. The doors of the main gate, the kitchen and the jungmun, the inner gate between buildings, were made of big panels of hard wood. They did not slide but opened and shut. The door of the main gate, the soseuldaemun was made higher than the surrounding walls and covered with a roof. This kind of gate was usually found in the housing of yangban; it was made higher so they would pass easily when they were on palanquins or horses. On the contrary, there was another gate reaching only as high as the top of the wall. It was called the pyeongdaemun. Except for these gates, most of the other doors and windows in the house were sliding frames pasted with traditional Korean paper. The hanok usually had another kind of room with a floor called the maru. The floor was paneled a little above the ground for protection against the earth’s heat and dampness. Especially, the daecheongmaru between the anbang and the geomenbang was well shadowed and the heat rose to the roof because its high ceiling was not pasted with paper. The floor was so high off the ground that an adult man could not step up onto it easily. Hence, it was normal to lay stone steps called seomdol in front of it. The roof was usually made with tiles called giwa, so the house was called a giwajip. The tiled roof was characterized by the beauty of its curves. Seen from the front, the eaves of the roof had natural curves on both ends. Looked at from below, the center part curved inward and both the ends were turned outward. This line of beauty was applied to the ridges of the roof in the same way. The hanok was separated from the outside by a wall of different colors and designs. The roof line of the wall was thatched with straw or roofed with tiles. Hanok varied according to the economic condition of the owner. The houses of the common people were simpler than those of the nobility, but they all used the same heating system. The structures and arrangement of rooms also varied by region. A hotjip was a house in which the rooms are arranged with each room the full width of the house. That kind of house was often seen in Korea, due to its good lighting and ventilation. It had various types of structures including the “-“ shape and the “ㄱ” shape. The gyeopjip was a house in which the rooms were arranged in two or three rows under one roofbeam with girders placed between them. Such housing was suitable for the cold northern areas as rooms adjoined each other and were less exposed to the cold. Many houses of this type had no walls between the rooms and the kitchen for better heating efficiency.   Koreans usually eat laver, a kind of seaweed, after spreading it to dry, and using it as a wrapper, On laver as thin as a sheet of a paper, cooked rice, along with other condiments, is placed and rolled up. It is called gimbap, Gimbap has its origins in a similar Japanese dish. In making gimbap the rice has to be cooked properly. It is important not to cook the rice too soft. Rice cooked correctly used as is or sometimes vinegar, sugar, and salt are added for taste. Various ingredients such as spinach, fried egg, grilled beef, carrots, cucumbers, and pickled radish are used as condiments on rice according to the individual’s taste. When everything has been put on the laver, the gimbap is rolled up. It can be rolled up directly by had, but people generally do it with a small reed mat. Finally, the roll is sliced into pieces and put neatly on a dish. The various colors, the red, green and yellow of the ingredients, form the elaborate and flowery inner shape and add to the enjoyment of gimbap. As Specific ingredients are not necessarily required to make gimbap, it is often made with whatever ingredients are available. Korean students seldom go on a picnic without taking gimbap for lunch. Koreans also habitually prepare gimbap when they go traveling or have a simple meal. Gimbap is a favorite dish, especially for young students or youngsters, and nowadays its unique taste is widely enjoyed all the more for its varied shapes and ingredients.  Juk is gruel or porridge ; it is made with grain, such as rice, soybeans, sesame, or mung beans, boiled in water. Other ingredients are often added, including vegetables and fish in season. Juk tastes best when hot right after working. It is easy and convenient to make a full meal of juk with just one or two side dishes. Though it is believed that juk may have a long history in Korea, actual records of it are found only in the documents of the Joseon Dynasty. In the cookbooks of the dynasty, it is written that juk is healthful for the body when enjoyed in the morning and also good for the stomach because it is soft. The custom was to serve old people juk in the morning in the royal court and in the houses of common people. Also, it was provided to mourning relatives or neighbors. For a special guest eight kinds of juk were prepared. Juk was used instead of rice, In addition, it was cooked with red beans on the winter solstice to keep off evil spirits because they were believed to dislike the color red. Sometimes plum blossom petals were floated on the juk which gave off a fragrance of lofty solitude, in which the romanticism and calmness of the ancestors were represented. Juk has a long history among traditional Korean dishes. Such juk made of grain is tasty and is easy to swallow and digest. It is loved by weak patients and remains a quick morning meal for businessmen.  A jeongja, a pavilion, is not an ordinary house but a structure where people drop by for a while to enjoy a poetic life and practice their wit. Four to six pillars are placed in a circle, a floor is laid slightly off the ground within the space made by the pillars and a roof is placed overhead. Because there are no walls between the pillars but rather a low railing is set around the floor, it can command extensive views on all sides as well as give a feeling of stability and comfort.A jeongja is both an actual spot in which old classical scholars learned how to harmonize their lives with nature and a symbolic place reflecting the philosophy that all humans, as members of nature together with heaven and earth, should observe rationality. Old landscapes often picture a scene in which this ephemeral land of human beings is associated with a mysterious fairyland of supernatural beings. A jeongja is painted between the two to play a linking role in a natural way. A mojeong, which is a kind of jeongja frequently seen in a village or by a field and shoes roof is covered with straw is a resting place of the common people. In contrast the original jeongja was for socializing based on academic activities and a place for individual self-training . Here the seonbi, classical scholars trod the path of learning and enjoyed a romantic life reciting sijo, Korean poetry, and plucking a geomungo a Korean lute. Jeongja have been built by themselves out in nature or as attached buildings by a house. The former have been situated mainly in scenic spots to make friends with nature as they enjoy the poetic life and have a rest. Many writers proclaimed the beauty of nature and made poems in jeongja. In contrast, those jeongja attached to a royal palace or by a house were mainly built centering around a pond with artificially decorated surroundings. But this contrived arrangement seems to have been made with full respect for nature. In Korea jeongja had already been built in the era of the Three Kingdoms, and from then on it was widely used irrespective of region and time so that it has become a structure easily seen a structure easily seen everywhere in Korea. Traveling around the countryside in Korea, there are many spots with mountains of every height and dear streams. There are jeongja in every such beautiful place. Therefore, the jeongja is a special kind place which expresses the philosophy of ancient Korean; they desired to imitate clean nature and to open their loves and ideals with minds transcending time and space.  Bap is steamed grain such as rice, barleym etc. It has different names according to the grain used. It is called ssalbap if it is only rice. It is called boribap if the rice is mixed with barley, while it is called jobap if it is mixed with millet, In general, bap by itself means steamed rice. There is also a different vocabulary depending on who is served. Jinji is meant for older people, sura for a king. A memorial service for one’s ancestors. This different vocabulary is a good example of how important bap is as one of essential components of any Korean meal. It seems that bap goes back as early in history as the New Stone Age when earthenware was first made. Rice seems to have been steamed in siru, an earthenware steamer, as seen in the wall paintings in the tombs of the Goguryeo Dynasty. Because vessels at this time were made of earth dried in the sun or baked at low temperatures, bap might have had an earthy smell. In fact, bap was not made with boiling water until the iron pot was invented in the Iron Age. Goguryeo documents speaking of rice cooked in an iron pot give witness to the fact that rice must have been cooked in the period of the Three Kingdoms in much the same way as now. The rice cooked in this way was so rich in flavor that is was praised in a book from the ching dynasty in China in this way: “Korean steamed rice is glossy, shiny and smooth.” To make better bap, rice is washed well. Stones and unhulled grains are removed and it is soaked in water for about two hours. The rice is put in an iron pot with 1.2 to 1.4 times as much water as rice. At first it is boiled over a strong fire; once it begins boiling, it is steamed over a low fire until it is cooked through. When the water is almost gone, it is boiled again for a short time on a high fire. Then, when it is boiled completely dry, it is kept about 15 minutes to steam further with the pot covered. In the past it was cooked in an iron pot commonly used for cooking rice, Bap cooked in this way is less tasty than that cooked in an iron pot over an open fire. No matter how basic dishes are differentiated from side dishes in typical Korean meals, in the end bap is the most important of all the dishes. Therefore, in the Korean language “ to eat bap” is used as an expression meaning “ to have a meal” Rice has an absolute position in the Korean menu because it can be eaten with only soy sauce of hot pepper paste even if there is no special side dish in the table. Rice is rich in nutrition, with carbohydrates, protein fat, vitamins, and minerals. Some Koreans prefer bread to rice. But it is can be said that most Koreans used to get half their calories and 15 percent of their daily protein from rice.  The Taegeukgi is the national flag of Korea. It consists of the taegeuk design of red and blue in the center, and four of the palgwae, the eight trigrams, one in each of the four corners.  It is a little over one century since the Taegeukgi was created, Around the time of the opening of the country to the new order of the West, a serious discussion arose about possible colors and designs for a flag for Korean ships. Hence, a flag was made after the design of the king’s clothes in 1882. It was in the next year that the Taegeuki was officially proclaimed the Korean national flag. Far later, after independence from Japan. The Korean national flag was revived with the current design on October 25, 1949.  Deep Philosophical principles are included in the colors and designs on the Taegeukgi. The white square background of the national flag symbolizes light and purity and reflects Koreans’ love for peace. The taegeuk circle stands for ever-lasting truth comprising the cosmic root and the human source. The blue and red, divided equally in the circle, represent the oriental ideas of Yang and Yin, dual forces that can not be separated. It is believed that the two forces make everything in the world circulate and harmonize for new creation and growth.  The four black trigrams called gwae also have important meanings related to the Yin and Yang of the circle. Geon, The Trigram in the upper left, where the force of Yang is the strongest, is a symbol of the justice of heaven. The one in the lower right called Gon, means abundance, as the force of Yin is the strongest there. Gam, the one in the upper right, expresses wisdom, while, while I, on the lower left, signifies light. These four elements represent the philosophy that the peaceful ideas included in the shite background will be realized by the ever-lasting development and circulation of Yin and Yang.  The Taegeukgi is hoisted on government buildings and in public squares. In the past, when it rained or the sun set, the flag was taken down. Now, however, it is not. Outside private homes, it is flown on national holidays. The flag pole for the taegeukgi has a cap which looks like a bud of mugunghwa, the rose of Sharon. The pride of Koreans in the peace of the universe and the love of their country is reflected well in the Taegeukgi. Like other national flags, the Taegeukgi represents the idealized nobility of Koreans. |