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Monday, August 27, 2012

Culture Cookies: Fan Death and other Korean Myths

As the typhoon blows itself over Seoul I thought I would update here. Today's post will be a "culture cookie" one where I explore some culture from Korea. This one is going to be about Korean myths that we hear about through our time here. Whether it is the infamous Fan Death or other such things they can make life out here more interesting.

1. Kiss My Kimchi: A fun and whimsical post about many Korean Myths and whether they are real or not. I didn't know about the whistling at night one....oh boy!

2. F5 Waeg: Sometimes we create myths amongst our expat selves, here in Korea. Here is one about how those with an F5 visa earn more money than those on an E3.

3. The Marmot's Hole: I discovered he posted about a video someone made on the subject of Fan Death. A bit funny and silly as well!


4. Whatawaygook: General myths people might have about Korea discussed and debunked. For example, I guess some people think you can't get foreign food in Korea or you can't buy fluoride toothpaste. 

5. GwangjuNews: Who would have thought that eating apples at night are considered bad. Well here is a Korean myth discussed with science in mind. 

"It’s believed in Korea that eating an apple at night is actually unhealthy, causing indigestion and making it difficult to get a good night’s sleep. The origins of this idea are unknown, but the belief seems to be well known in Korea. There are many Koreans who say they’ve heard about this from an elder at some point in their life. A few of them believe it and refrain from eating sahgwah (Hangeul: 사과) at night."


Well I think it is safe to say you can learn a few new things from all those posts. What kind of myths come from my home country that people would find absurd? 

2 comments:

  1. In contrast, my mother (definitely NOT a Korean), says that eating an apple at night (or at least after supper) helps prevent heartburn.

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  2. These are really common hearsay and myths among Korean. Nice list.

    ReplyDelete