| An ancestral rites table at the home of the family of the first son of Joseon Era scholar Toegye Yi Hwang / Courtesy of Korean Studies Institute |
By Kwon Mee-yoo
The charyesang (ancestral rites table) is an important part of Lunar New Year in Korea. One might immediately associate it with all sorts of delicacies laid out on the table, typically seen these days. However, research suggests that the food on the Joseon era charyesang was much simpler, yet with the same respect for ancestors.
According to the "Jujagarye" (The Family Rituals of Zhu Xi), a manual of rituals in daily life, Seollal, or Lunar New Year, is a day for giving New Year's greetings to one's ancestors with light foods. Compiled by Chinese Neo-Confucian philosopher Zhu Xi, the Jujagarye formed the guidelines for rituals during the Joseon Kingdom from 1392 to 1910.
"In the Jujagarye, you should serve a glass of liquor, a cup of tea and a dish of fruit, and you offer your ancestors a drink once, without reciting a ritual prayer, for the memorial service on Lunar New Year," Kim Mi-young, a researcher at the Korean Studies Institute, said.
| An example of a contemporary ancestral rites table for Lunar New Year at a typical household in North Gyeongsang Province / Courtesy of the Korean Studies Institute |
The type and number of dishes set on an ancestral rites table varies widely by region and family, but typically, a modern-day charyesang might feature some 20 dishes, which is burdensome for many Korean women, who are usually in charge of preparing them. Different kinds of fruit and vegetables are served in separate dishes, along with meat and fish, as well as hangwa, Korean sweets.
"The foods for ancestral rites were simple and frugal in the beginning, but the number of dishes increased as people become more financially stable," Kim said.
The descendants of the first son of Joseon era Confucian scholar Toegye Yi Hwang (1501―1570), who is featured on the 1,000 won bill, serve only five dishes on their ancestral rites table on Lunar New Year. It includes: liquor, dried pollack, fried fish fillet, assorted fruit and tteokguk (sliced rice cake soup eaten on New Year's Day). Even the fruit assortment is modest, with just one pear, one apple, one persimmon, one tangerine, three jujubes and five chestnuts together on one plate.
This arrangement is closer to the ancestral rites table suggested by the Jujagarye ― with the omission of tea and some additions ― than a typical modern version.
"We put our heart into preparing the ancestral rites table, but we set it simply," Yi Chi-eok, a 17th- generation descendant of Yi Hwang, said.
Before his death, Yi Hwang is known to have left the instructions, "Do not serve oil-and-honey pastries on my ancestral rites table." The oil-and-honey pastry, called yumilgwa in Korean, is a labor-intensive confection, and Yi Hwang did not want such luxuries on his ancestral rites table.
"This Lunar New Year would be a good opportunity to take a look back to the original setting of the charyesang, since even direct family members of more than four cannot gather together, due to the strengthened COVID-19 guidelines," the researcher said.