Korean Funeral

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When the co-founder of my college died, being both old and very important her funeral was a full-on no expenses barred event.  First we had to visit the special building in the hospital complex where she had died to bow to her photo on an altar, to give our condolence envelope of money and to have a small meal and a drink in her memory.  Everywhere were white flowers, occasionally interspersed with yellow blooms, and the immediate family and close friends spent the two days of this part of the funeral process at the hospital bowing and receiving guests.   On the day designated for the actual burial her body was placed in a coffin and driven in a hearse to significant sites of her life... such as the preschool, middle school, high school, technical college and finally four year university which she founded with her husband.  We met the procession at our college.  An altar was set up, the hearse was parked behind the altar, and speeches, bowing and singing took place.  Next we all loaded into cars and busses and headed for Gaya University.  

At Gaya University there was a gigantic altar, easily more than 100 feet long, with a huge photo of the deceased as it's central fixture.  Strong men lifted the coffin and carried it behind the altar.   This is where things started to get confusing.  You see, the deceased had had one religion, which she shared with her husband.  But among the many relatives and children there were Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants and only son of the same religion, Chundogyo, one of Korea's smaller indigenous belief systems somewhat akin to Buddhism.  The ceremony tried to mix all the religions together.  Which is good, in that it shows Korean religious tolerance, but bad in that I'd think she'd want her funeral to be a religious ceremony of the kind she participated in while alive.  

So, during the ceremony, interspersed with songs and speeches there were elements of many different religions clashing about.  After we each laid a white chrysanthemum with a prayer on the altar the body and coffin were brought back out from behind.  The coffin was a huge heavy wooden thing, covered with white mums.  It was placed (and tied securely) on a huge carrying apparatus (you can see it in photos 1 & 2).  The pall bearers instead of wearing Korean traditional hemp undyed cloth were in white gym suits of the kind they could slip over their regular clothes on that chilly December day.   They circled the coffin around the ceremonial area a couple of times, with the family members holding onto hempen twine and crying behind.  (Photo 1)  Some but not all of the family wore hemp funeral garments.  The men all wore at least hats, and most of them wore bands on their jacket sleeves, the number of bands representing first son, son other than first and grandson respectively.  

We then proceeded to climb up and down a long track to the prepared grave.  This process took a long time, you can see the pall bearers straining in photo 2.   A photo (carried by the first grandson) came first followed by a drummer and the casket, then the immediate family and last other mourners.  Most of the employees of all four educational institutions were present.  Periodically they stopped to rest at pre-arranged rest stops fit out with alcohol and snacks.  (This was primarily for the benefit of the pall-bearers).  At last (after more than 30 minutes of walking more or less straight up or straight down) we arrived at the prepared grave.  

Above in photo 3 you can see the Catholic priest and his nun accompaniment reading from the Bible and sprinkling some holy water. Interestingly, the coffin was removed and only the cloth wrapped body was deposited in the hole, covered with a piece of silk with a message in Chinese calligraphy on it. In photo 4 two of the daughters dressed in hemp cry as their mother is laid to rest, and in the last photo the first shovelfuls of earth are dropped down.    

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