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Today - well, yesterday in Korea at this point - was the first full moon of the new lunar year. The Korean name for this event is jeongwol daeboreum (정월 대보름; 正月大보름 in mixed script) and is marked by a couple of special events.

One of these is involves eating special foods - different types of nuts - as a ward against boils. This was something ( Read more... )

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Jeongneung: Part One | Part Two

Three weekends ago I made a trip out to the royal tombs at Uireung, and the weekend after that I made another voyage south from Uijeongbu to visit the tomb at Jeongneung. However, between leaving home late and backtracking twice due to not having any decent signs to guide me to the tomb I arrived five minutes after ( Read more... )

Uireung: Part One | Part Two

In my previous entry I wrote about the Joseon dynasty royal tombs located at Uireung and mentioned my desire to include information about the life of King Gyeongjong and his second lawful wife, Queen Seonhui. The main reason that kept me from doing this at the time is that so much of what happened during Gyeongjong's ( Read more... )

Uireung: Part One | Part Two

Two weekends ago I went out to Uireung (의릉) in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul. Uireung is one of the royal tombs that was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site last year and houses the tombs of King Gyeongjong (景宗, 1688-1724) - 20th king of the Joseon Dynasty - and his lawful second wife Queen Seonui (宣懿王后, 1705-1730).


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Last weekend I went to see an exhibit on pre-contact Andean civilizations at the National Museum of Korea. This special exhibition contains 351 artifacts from 20 different civilizations - including the Moche, Chimu, and Incas among others - on loan from nine different museums in Peru* and will be open to visitors through 28 March. While taking ( Read more... )

Two weeks ago I attended Diana's wedding in the southeast Korean city of Daegu. Or, perhaps more accurately, I showed up two hours after the wedding started and caught the reception party -- which I feel incredibly guilty about. Ignoring the fact that I am a horrible friend for the moment, one of the things worth mentioning is that her wedding ( Read more... )

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