1. People with 'B' blood group are not to be trusted
This is illustrated with a story- In a restaurant there are four people sitting. First one is 'A' blood group, second one is 'B' blood group, third one is 'AB' and fourth one is 'O'. When the food arrives, it is not good, thus follows reactions from each person belonging to specific blood group. 'A' blood group- "Oh my!! if I leave my food what will the others think?" (incessantly worrying) 'B' blood group- "Who cares, let's finish it, forget it and move on" (insensitive, opportunist) 'AB' blood group- "What kind of crap is this!! I will sue you"(rebel, leader, extrovert, dominating) and 'O' blood group person continues to eat happily (easygoing, happy-go-lucky, carefree and cool-headed.) So people with 'B' blood group are supposed to be the twisted, cold-hearted, opportunists, who cannot be trusted. This interesting fact was related to me by none other than my Korean professor after a casual post-conference coffee. What surprised me was the reaction of the other Korean students who were subsequently asked their blood-groups, all of them said they belonged to 'A', 'AB', or 'O'. It turned out that I was the only person with 'B' blood group and a foreigner. The idea of personality based on blood group is said to be started by the Japanese (click on link)2. Writing name in red is inauspicious
If you write anyone's name in red, (including your own) you wish them death. I would write my name with multi-colour pens on my syntax text books just to make it look happy, one day my Korean classmate pointed out that I should not write my name in red, as I would be inviting death. My guess is that maybe the colour red is the colour of blood, so if you write your name in red it's like writing it in blood, hence you are going to spill your blood, in other words you would get hurt or die. On the contrary names are written in red on wedding invitation cards for Hindus. All names are written in red because it indicates celebration, joy and an auspicious occasion.3. Number four is bad and means death
When I would go to the biggest department store in Korea, Time World Galleria, I would be confused by the numbering in the elevator. It had numeric 1 to 15 indicating the floors on it except number 4. In place of 4 it was written 'F'. Now I would think this 'F' would stand for first floor. But that was not logical. So my Korean friend explained it to me that number 4 is the number of death for Koreans. The phonetic sound of 4 in Korean is 'sa', which is derived from Chinese, 'ci', which also means 'to die'. Therefore the elevator does not have 4 written on the buttons, just a 'F'. Some apartments do not even have the fourth floor, after the 3rd floor we go directly to the 5th floor.4. Counting of age begins even before you are born
Age in Korea starts one year ahead of when the baby is born. When it is conceived life starts from that moment, the counting of age also beings with it. So if you are 20yrs in India, you will be 21 in Korea. Also when the new year begins another year is added to your age from the start of new year. On January 2011 you will become 22, even before your birthday. When a baby is born he/she is already one year old, and if born in December, next month in January will become 2yrs. already!!
5. Eating hot food in summer cools your body
Eating hot, piping Korean food like 'Sam-gye-thang', chicken soup in scorching summer will cool your body. Eating the hot soup will make you sweat, therefore due to the perspiration your body temperature will cool down, releasing the heat from inside. Also when you are angry, you should drink hot water (not cold water). Hot water will make the anger spill out, instead of cooling it down and suppressing it. If you drink cool water the anger gets suppressed, it increases the pressure on your heart which is not good. Therefore, one should drink hot water to release anger.6. Body piercings are bad
The idea takes root in Confucianism-your parents gave you the body you are born with. You have no right over it, so you cannot destroy it or deform it in any ways. Piercing makes a hole in your body which is a form of defiling, therefore you are destroying the gift that your parents gave. Therefore any form of piercing is bad and a disrespect. Not many Korean girls actually have too many pierces, at max most of them have one set of ear piercing, that too after they pass out of school or graduate from university, basically as soon as they can renounce parental control. Although some Korean guys too are joining the piercing club with changing times. Personally, I used to get a lot of attention in Korea for my nose piercing, when perfect strangers in bus stations would come up to me, point at my nose and ask, "Appha-yo?" ("Does it hurt?")7. Pork soup is an anti-dote for hangover
There is a special spicy pork rib soup in Korea, called 'Hye-jang-kook' that is believed to be the perfect remedy to remove hangover. It is believed to be made with special herbs and spices that 'wake up' your senses. This is one of the most delicious dishes I have had in Korea. I still remember that place near City Hall, behind the Krispy Kreme that would serve the best pork rib soup in town. It is served specially in a black stone bowl, straight out of fire along with radish kimchi as side dish (fermented vegetable, Korean specialty). So if Saturday night you drunk then Sunday morning eat spicy pork rib soup to avoid hangover. Around the campus area called Gung Dong, there was an eating place run by a Korean ajuma, who would sell 'hye-jang-kook' and open up as early as 7.30am. Every morning there would be a long line of Korean men going in and ordering pork soup, after a night of partying!8. Sleeping with the fan switched on might result in death
Electric fans sold in Korea are equipped with a "timer knob" switch, which turns them off after a set number of minutes: perceived as a life-saving function, particularly essential for bed-time use. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_deathThere are hardly any ceiling fans in Korea, they mostly use table fans during summer. All fans come with a timer. The timer ensures that 'fan deaths' are prevented. The belief is that if you sleep with the fan on, the fan blades rotating at such high speed could fall down on you and kill you. This is my favourite of all the Korean superstitions. My students would tell me with straight faces and full concern that I should not sleep with the fan turned on at night, instead use air conditioner. The fan is dangerous, and could kill you, I could think of no explanation for this one. There are articles that would appear in newspapers convincing people of occurrences of 'fan deaths'.
In an e-mail interview with the IHT-JoongAng Daily, Dr. Yeon Dong-su, dean of Kwandong University's medical school, who has investigated some cases of "fan deaths," refuted some of the wilder theories but insisted fan deaths do occur."Many people say that these victims die from lack of oxygen, but that is not true," Dr. Yeon wrote. "Hypothermia does not only occur in the winter when it is cold. The symptoms can also take place if a person has been drinking and turns on a fan in a closed room. Most people wake up when they feel cold, but if you are drunk you will not wake up, even if your body temperature drops below 35 degrees Celsius (95 F), at which point you can die from hypothermia." (click on link) http://web.archive.org/web/20070110052746/http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200409/22/200409222123324579900091009101.html%0D%0D
Wonder how would they survive summer in Delhi without a ceiling fan!!
1 comment:
It's very interesting yet it also makes me giggle a bit, just like when I laugh at one of our Bengali superstition. It is also strange that we all believe in it too only because deep down we are scared of the bad omen it carries with itself.
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