Stairway to Heaven

Here in Korea it's 'Chuseok' again; that chaotic time of year when families everywhere criss-cross the peninsular to visit the husband's parents the wife's parents, the grand parents and the shrines of their parents to leave ritual offerings and say prayers for their ancestors through time immemorial.

This year the autumn equinox harvest festival is a little unusual; stretching over a full 10 days and set to the distant rhythm of war drums beating across the Pacific. The holiday begins innocently enough by exchanging boxes of spam, extra virgin olive oil, or possibly war survival kits, if you subscribe to the ominous portents of the conservative media. 

War survival kits, now a popular alternative to traditional spam or olive oil at Chuseok

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20170925000797&ACE_SEARCH=1

Rapidly the vacation becomes fraught as record numbers jostle elbow-to-elbow through airports, tailgate for tedious hours along the highways and pack the trains to capacity. 

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20171001000143&ACE_SEARCH=1

For some the pressure is too much, with divorces in the weeks before and after Chuseok rising to twice the daily average.

http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/phone/news/view.jsp?req_newsidx=237244

In the western world the concept of god or divinity has undergone some major revisions over the centuries, much like we now roll out new software updates for our computers. The first humans probably huddled around camp fires, nervously asking each other how to prepare for the hereafter, desperately hoping that the answer wouldn't be more nerve-racking than preparing for a first mammoth hunt or perhaps even worse, a first date. 

Seemingly the first holy men recognised an opportunity to improve their social status and quickly launched to market Divinity 1.0, based on visible, mortal, tangible god-kings like the pharaohs of ancient Egypt. The pharaohs evidently believed the afterlife to be rather empty and ill-furnished; they therefore spent a lifetime arranging to store plenty of food, luxuries and concubines to take with them when they passed over. Meanwhile the peasants could only take the rags they stood up in. All in all, this was not a very equitable belief system for the great unwashed.

Egyptian Pharaohs - leaving no creature comfort behind in their journey to the Afterlife 

The next roll-out, Divinity 2.0, featured a whole host of new, improved, more ethereal gods; this time invisible and immortal, with dominion over each aspect of earthly life. Greek, Roman and Norse priests gave us a god for everything from love to harvests and from war to volcanoes. 

Greek gods; one available for every occasion, all sacrifices gratefully received

As before, each god required devotion and sacrifices in return for delivery from evil. It all sounded wonderful but as the centuries ticked by we slowly realised that protection from war, famine, pestilence, etc could not be bought with any amount of prayer or sacrifice.

The wisest holy men foresaw their high social status being utterly ruined by unsatisfied customers and so, analysing the flaws in their model, they rushed out Divinity 3.0 even before Divinity 2.0 was abandoned. This time just one single Great Omnipotent Deity requiring devotion and sacrifice. Cleverly, our devotion this time would not earn us tangible rewards in this lifetime but virtual rewards in the next life - which we would need to take on faith, of course. Finally a bullet-proof deity concept which could survive the most intense customer scrutiny !  

Local variations of Divinity 3.0 were rolled out around the Mediterranean in quick succession including Judaism, Christianity and Islam - although in some parts of the world the latter is still arguably considered even less user friendly than Windows Vista ever was.

Meanwhile Korea was surviving happily on a simple diet of shamanism, or the worship of nature spirits, until Buddhism was introduced in the late 4th century. Since Buddhist and shamanistic teachings were not contradictory and since Buddhism tended more towards philosophy than deity worship, Koreans found it possible to integrate the two and follow both doctrines together. 

The spirits of the trees, mountains and animals are highly revered in shamanism

Korean Buddhism largely went unchallenged for a full millennium until the late 14th century when neo-Confucians supported a military coup, winning themselves the opportunity to try to displace Buddhist mysticism with a traditional and deeply hierarchical Confucian rationalism which included ancestor worship.  Therefore the modern Chuseok vacation reflects an ancient fusion of  Buddhist and Shamanistic concepts overlaid by more recent Confucian reverence for one's ancestors.

Although Korea undoubtedly had its own versions of Divinity 1.0 and 2.0, little was known about western divinity until books by Portuguese Jesuit Matteo Ricci were brought over from Beijing in the early 1600s. However even then the Chinese translations  limited the Christian doctrine to a relatively small, wealthy, educated overclass. It was not until the 1780s, when the literature was re-printed in simplified Korean Hangul script, that Christianity became accessible to the masses.

After centuries of Buddhism and Confucianism which both reinforce rigid social hierarchies, with little upward mobility within the system, Christianity eventually started to win followers through its message that all men are equal under god and reward is ultimately based on effort and merit not birthright. Current figures suggest that among Koreans, 20% identify as Protestant, 8% as Catholic and 15% as Buddhist, leaving about 55% following  non-organised worship including shamanistic or Confucian rituals.

For those with faith, the stairway to heaven is, somewhat predictably, earned by putting in long and regular hours. Gentle inquiries show it is not unusual for a family to dedicate their entire Sunday to promoting church business. Given the lack of family time available during the week, this means that a devoted Christian family can regularly spend half the weekend (or half of its entire weekly family time) serving the church. This ardent presenteeism suggests that entry to the Afterlife may be controlled by a celestial Human Resources Dept. which values time-keeping over productivity in the same way that we see here in this life every day.

Robert De Niro as Louis Cyphre in Angel Heart:
"They say there's enough religion in the world to make men hate each other,
but not enough to make them love.
The future isn't what it used to be, Mr Angel."

   

Getting away from it all (along with everyone else !)

Wherever you choose to live, drive and survive, one important consideration is always vacations. Which interesting locations are within easy reach and how many days off can you get to explore them ?   

As a springboard for exploring east Asia, South Korea is ideally placed for scooting off to visit cultural and natural wonders such as Cambodia's temples of Siem Reap, Vietnam's Mekong Delta, the Philippines' volcanic archipelago, China's Forbidden City or (dare I say it ?) Japan's Mt Fuji - to name just a few.  Alternatively the commercial hubs of Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai are equally accessible.  Of course Hawaii, Guam and the whole of Australasia, are only slightly further afield.  

Surveys vary but in the global league table of public holidays, India seems to win outright with ~18 public holidays per year, mostly centred on numerous religious festivals. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/maps-and-graphics/mapped-the-countries-that-have-the-most-bank-holidays/

However South Korea also does respectably well with ~16 days, of which 5 relate to historical national events such as liberation, foundation or war memorials, 4 relate to Lunar (Chinese) New Year (Seollal) and 3 relate to Thanksgiving (Chuseok).     

Chuseok, falling around the autumn equinox, is perhaps the most important of the year, combining two main concepts.  The first of these is reconnecting with family, including the veneration of ancestors. The second is to celebrate a successful harvest at the end of a long, hard summer tending the crops.  The veneration of ancestors means travel to the hometowns of deceased family, visiting their graves, cleaning their headstones, leaving food offerings and flowers, completing prayers and other rituals. Reconnecting with surviving family includes the preparation of large family meals, giving prayers of thanks and other traditional rituals.  For a couple or family visiting only the previous 2 generations, Chuseok requires meeting the parents of each partner and also the parents of each of those - either dead or alive.  

Given South Korea's unusually homogeneous population (96% Korean vs 4% foreigners) and the fact that 92% of the population live in cities (with 50% living in Seoul itself), this annual pilgrimage to reconnect the generations becomes a logistically formidable exercise in dashing from city to city.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_South_Korea

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2016/08/25/0302000000AEN20160825009500320.html

Predictably, air and train tickets are pre-booked and sold out months in advance, leaving most people with little choice but to travel by road. Bus travel is an option for the minority of single travelers, however this is a highly competitive business at the best of times and does not come without its own risks.

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_mZA_kcFMU

For couples and especially families (ie: 8 out of 10 people) there really is no alternative but to take their chances by car. Korea's rugged, mountainous terrain restricts highways to the valleys, so Chuseok becomes yet another endurance test as millions of cars compete to criss-cross the country through highway bottle-necks which routinely extend a 4 hour journey to 12 or 16 hours or more. 

http://www.koreatimesus.com/millions-of-s-koreans-hit-the-road-for-chuseok/

Chuseok traffic in Seoul - a greater exodus than Moses high-tailing it from Egypt

For those who are fortunate enough to hold a job in a national conglomerate (see previous posts on Chaebols), this arduous task is sweetened slightly by the fact that employees receive a generous Chuseok travel allowance of about US$ 5,000 (GBP 3,750), which is not something to be sniffed at.  It is a reflection of the importance of Chuseok that the conglomerates have maintained such extravagant allowances even in the face of some pretty dire corporate performances.  More prudent employers often give employees gifts for the house of the order of US$100-200. However between individuals, the most common thing to send to each other at Chuseok is invariably spam. Not the email variety, this is the original, unidentified-meat-in-a-can variety. 

During the dire circumstances of the 1950-53 Korea war, spam supplied as a simple, cheap, non-perishable staple to the US forces accidentally became a desperately sought-after luxury in the Korean community, obtainable only by those who were influential or very well connected.  In a starving, peasant economy, spam quickly achieved the most improbably high prestige.    

SPAM was developed in 1937 by Hormel foods in Austin Minnesota.It became a key supply to the military forces of the US, Britain and Russia.
By 2007 production exceeded 7bn tins - and the world population of 6.6bn people

Demand was such that after the war, Korean production started under license from Hormel by CJ CheilJedang Corp, then part of the Samsung Group. Over the last 60 years the prestige of spam has, if anything increased. As with most other luxury items in Korea, the perceived prestige of spam rests largely on the fact that it originated from abroad and it is sold at a 30% premium over other tinned meats.  

Spam consumption in South Korea has increased five fold from 2000 to 2013 alone. Koreans now proudly advise that they produce not only the greatest varieties of spam but also the best quality - better even than the original !  Not only is spam served routinely in quality restaurants, it is also promoted in soap operas, movies and advertising as a luxury food.  When exchanged as a gift spam still reflects great mutual honour and respect. Although regular tins of spam are available everywhere all year round at about US$ 3 per tin, this does not prevent buying frenzies before national holidays like Chuseok.  At such times retail outlets package 9 tins together with a couple of bottles of olive oil in a fancy presentation box and knock these out as gift sets for a wallet-buckling US$ 75.  

http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2014/09/05/in-korea-its-spam-time-of-year/

Astonishingly everyone happily scrambles to buy these, even knowing full well that after the vacation, the unsold gift sets will be reduced to clear at half the price. 

SPAM - defying all odds in South Korea since 1953

It is worth noting that in North Korea Chuseok is an entirely different affair. Official permission is still required to leave one's home town and is normally forbidden without exceptional circumstances. Even then the cost of such a permit, either via bribes or the official process puts this beyond the reaches of all but a wealthy and privileged elite in Pyongyang.