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The Ubiquitous Pig
2006-12-21 VIEW : 547
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Not just fodder for the dinner plate, the pink portly porker is a multi-faceted
presence in Korean culture Written by Robert
Koehler Photos by Yonhap
News Agency |
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But first, a little information on the lunar calendar traditionally employed
in Korea. Korea's system, composed of a running cycle of 12 "animal gods,"
is called the sipijisin. This system originally developed in China, probably
during the Warring States period and definitely by the Han Dynasty. From China,
it spread east to Korea and Japan. It first appears in Korea during the Silla
period, where it was later influenced by Korean shamanism and Buddhism. Each lunar year is assigned an animal symbol, with the pig being the final symbol in the cycle. Running concurrent to the 12-animal cycle is a cycle composed of the "Five Elements," i.e., metal, wood, fire, water and earth. This cycle repeats over a 10-year period. The elements act as modifiers on the 12 animal symbols. This year (2006), for example, is the Year of the Fire Dog. The next lunar year, which will begin on Feb. 18 of 2007, will be the Year of the Fire Pig. No, that's not the name of a samgyeopsal restaurant. |
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Fire is red or yellow, and this is associated with gold; in China,
for example, red is considered a lucky color, and money is traditionally
given in red envelopes. Accordingly, the Year of the Fire Pig becomes
the Year of the Golden Pig. This occurs only once every 60 years,
and is considered a particularly auspicious time to have children.
It is believed children born during a pig year will be particularly
successful in acquiring material wealth. Those born during a "golden
pig" year, doubly so. |
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And to top it off, 2007 is no ordinary Year of the Golden Pig. When further
calculations are made using the principles of Ying and Yang, the year is a special
kind of Golden Pig year that occurs only once every 600 years! For adherents
of the science of divination, this makes it an extremely fortuitous time to
pop out a little one. |
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Yang Jongsung, a senior curator at the National Folk Museum of Korea, explained,
"This year, 2006, was a Ssangchungnyeon, or 'Double Spring Year.' This
is really good luck, so many young couples decided to get married. The Year
of the Pig follows in 2007. If you have a child during that time, he or she
will be very healthy and very wealthy. The pig means health, fertility and money.
And a golden pig? It shines very brightly, so this is very good luck!" |
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In East Asia, where rising prosperity - and the attending rise in cost of
living - has led to a dangerously precipitous drop in birth rates, it's hoped
that the Year of the Golden Pig will provide a much needed inspiration for young
couples to procreate. The Korean media, for example, is already talking of the
first possible "baby boom" in quite some time. The Segye Ilbo reported
on Nov. 11 that with the Golden Pig year approaching, young couples were lining
up to produce a new generation of Koreans. "Already, gynecology clinics
are getting a big spike in phone calls asking about planned pregnancy methods,
while at some post-natal care clinics, there has been a flood of reservations,
causing perhaps the first 'baby boom' in this era of low birth rates."
The paper reported that gynecology clinics, hospitals, post-natal care clinics,
and companies producing baby-related goods were all very busy with couples intent
on taking advantage of the fortuitous year. In a country where the birth rate tanked at 1.08 per woman in 2005, the lowest in the OECD, this is welcome news, indicating that the Year of the Golden Pig might not augur just individual wealth, but national prosperity as well. Baek Woon-san, head of Korean Fortune-tellers Association, told KBS, however, that despite the definite auspiciousness of the year, the hype surrounding the "Year of the Golden Pig" was somewhat exaggerated. Pig Dreamin' Dreaming of a hog might not, at least on the surface of it, seem like a pleasurable way to pass the night. But a nocturnal vision of our heavyset cloven-footed friend is considered a good sign in Korea, where it means you'll probably come into some wealth. It's not uncommon for Koreans who have "pig dreams" to play the lottery the next day. A recent survey by Kookmin Bank on the dreams of Lotto winners revealed that 23 percent - the highest total - dreamed of pigs. Of course, you don't necessarily need to dream of the pig - an actual pig will usually suffice. In July, a hungry wild boar came down from the mountains and entered a convenience store in Guri-si, Gyeonggi-do. The wild pig ran riot in the shop for two hours before being captured by emergency workers. After the attack, Lotto ticket sales at the shop tripled. Some two months after the incident, the shop owner told KBS TV that customers all the way from Seoul were still coming to his shop to purchase tickets. The Sports Seoul, meanwhile, reported that the store has since produced a string of winning tickets. For those thinking about purchasing a lottery ticket after a pig dream, however, a specialist told the illustrious Korean sports daily that not all pig dreams are created equal. The dream must be vivid, and the pig must be alone. It also helps if the dream is repetitive. Only then, he said, would it be worth plopping down some hard-earned won on a lottery ticket. The Sacred Pig As seen above, the pig is often seen as a symbol of fortune and good luck. This is partly because of the porker's portly profile - the corpulent beast certainly appears well fed. But it's more than that. In a society that for centuries was primarily agricultural, it was considered a blessing for families to have many children. In this regard, the pig is quite a fortunate character, as female pigs commonly give birth to ten or more piglets at a time. Naturally, the pig came to symbolize fertility. The association of the pig with procreational productivity, however, is not restricted to Korea, or even the Far East. Many pre-Christian societies in the West, including the ancient Celts, also considered the pig a symbol of fertility. |
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According to research done by Cheon Jin-gi on the cultural and historic significance
of the pig in Korean culture, however, the pig is more than just a symbol of
wealth and prosperity. In ancient Korean myths, it was an animal of divine power.
In one legend found in the classical Korean history text Samguksagi, the location
of the second capital of the ancient Korean kingdom of Goguryeo was selected
by a sacrificial pig that had momentarily escaped its handlers. |
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Another legend,
this one found in the Goryeosa, relates that a pig was responsible for choosing
the location of the Taejo Wanggeon's palace in Gaeseong, the capital of the
Goryeo kingdom. The pig could be a divine matchmaker as well. One legend, again in the Samguksagi, tells of yet another pig that managed to escape from a royal sacrifice. This time, however, the pig was captured by a girl in a nearby village. The king, who to that point was desperate for a son, found this a bit curious, so in the night, he visited the young woman's home incognito and, ahem, "had relations" with her. Soon after, the girl produced a royal heir who would become King Dongcheon of the Goryeo kingdom. The first character of his birth name, Gyoche, refers to the sacrificial swine that played Cupid (but was likely sacrificed anyway, indicating that royal cartographer and matchmaker was probably a thankless profession). |
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Today, a pig head is a must-have at a gosa, a shamanist sacrifice to the
spirits often held at the start of a new business venture, a move to a new home
or even the purchase of a new car. Professor David Mason of Kyunghee University,
an expert on Korean folk culture, explained however that this is less due to
the pig's spiritual power as it is to the pig's materialistic symbolism. "Pigs
are seen as a way to get rich; they are easy to feed, and they have 5-15 piglets
at a time. So the pig head is a symbol of wealth. And shamanism is geared not
to spiritual wisdom as much as it is to the material world." An Animal of Contradictions The lovable pig symbolizes many qualities. Among them, luck, fun, bliss, affection, cuteness, self-satisfaction, money (the Korean word for money, don, is a homonym for the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese character for pig), naiveté and being overly-honest (not exactly good qualities in a businessman - those of you planning kids in the Year of the Golden Pig should consider yourselves warned) and others. It's interesting to note that in addition to all the good things the pig may symbolize - health, wealth, fertility, for example - it has also come to represent greed, dirtiness, laziness and stupidity. There are many Korean expressions and folk sayings that speak of the pig in less-than-reverential terms. "Greed like a pig" is fairly self-explanatory. The succinct "A pig is a pig" indicates that someone is a mess. "A pig covered in shit scolds the one covered in gruel," is the Korean equivalent of the pot calling the kettle black, as is "The pig lying down scolds the one sitting." This writer's personal favorite is "like pearls on the neck of a pig," which indicated the target's inability to appreciate the finer things in life. Finally, those of you overly critical of others should remember, "In the eyes of a pig, everything looks like a pig. But in the eyes of the Buddha, everything looks like the Buddha." (Source: Monthly SEOUL) |
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