A few more pictures for you to enjoy, specifically pictures related to the paebek ceremony food. I’ve discussed paebek here before, but basically it is when the bride and groom show their respect to older generations by bowing on the ground to them (and in the past specifically it was the way for the bride to pledge obedience to her new family with whom she would live). In return, the couple receives cash in envelopes from each group, and then relatives get to throw chestnuts and jujubes onto the bride’s linen cloth which represents the amount of sons and daughters they will have. After all of this, the family members eat from the paebek table, and the couple receives the rest of the food.
Our paebek table included dried fruit, nuts, dried squid, and a whole lot of yugwa or fried Korean snack sweetened with honey. When it came time to choose our paebek food, we were planning on getting the cheapest possible set, but then I realized that one of the pieces was in fact a dead chicken with cloth over it’s beak and decorative pins sticking in its eyes….it looked nice if you didn’t think too deeply about what it was, but as a vegetarian, I was not about to bow toward a table with that on it…so we went for a different, less freakishly decorated and less meat based version.
While not part of the paebek, the wild geese were an important part of the wedding ceremony. I actually send a pair of ducks to all of my friends around the world when they get married because I think it is an interesting and unique custom. At the very beginning of the ceremony, my husband presented a wooden wild goose to my mother at the building which represented our ‘house.’ He then pledged to support and care for me and bowed to the ground in front of my mother. The wild goose represents many things including fidelity and long-partnership. The geese pair then sat on the altar table throughout the ceremony and were then given to us to keep. When you display them in your house, their beaks are supposed to touch…symbolizing of course that the couple has a good relationship (if they are tail to tail, it means the couple is fighting). Of course, I’m sure you will note the goose with the tied beak…that one is mine….and yes, it does represent what you are thinking. Of course, in our lives I am absolutely not the silent or obedient one, but it is a consideration in terms of our discussions as to if we are going to display the ducks in that way in our home or not.
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