The Year of the Pig

This is the 12th of the zodiac animals. The zodiac animals, in order, are: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.

Year of Pig Ushers in Hopeful Year
A pig ironically has a dual image _ both positive and negative.
Since it began living as a domestic animal in Korea some 2,000 years ago, pigs have brought a lot of myths and superstitions closely associated with wealth, good luck and sometimes a mythical supernatural power in sacrificial rituals.
However, pigs are also synonymous with greed, laziness, stupidity and dirtiness.
Pigs found in Korean history carry these mixed blessings long grafted onto folk culture and handed down to current times.
This year will find many people fussing a lot more than usual over all kinds of myths and rumors as the year of 2007 ushers in the year of a pig, hopefully an abundant year.
Year of the Golden Pig?
The belief about pigs is expected to be exaggerated more than ever this year.
The lunar calendar designates each year as one of the 12 zodiac animals; the pig is the 12th zodiac animal.
The lunar year follows the sequence of the 12 zodiac animals _ rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and lastly, pig.
But this pig year, called the year of "chonghae," which means a red pig, returns every 60 years. Among other pig years circling in a lunar cyclic numeral system, the red pig year is believed to be the most auspicious pig year, according to a research of the National Folk Museum of Korea. The red pig year is considered a year of booming businesses and family.
More interestingly, this year is strongly believed to be the "Year of the Golden Pig," which only comes around every 600 years, according to fortunetellers, a rumor that emerged in Korea and China.
People believe children born this year will be blessed with good luck and financial wealth. As wedding halls were crowded in 2006, maternity hospitals are expected to be in 2007.
Regardless of whether it's just superstition or not, the impact on society has been quite enormous. The nation predicts that birthrate is expected to rise 10 percent from the previous average because of the myths of the Year of the Golden Pig, helping maternity and baby related industries enjoy a boom much like the effects of the millennium baby boom in 2000.
However, many say that this will be debunked just as 2006, which was dubbed the year of ``two springs’’ (lunar calendar) and also a lucky year for couples to get married, was just feeding wedding-related businesses.
Folklorists say that the year of the golden pig is groundless as it is hardly mentioned in Korean history, except for the mythical story about Choi Chi-won, a literati during the Silla Kingdom (57 B.C.-A.D. 935).
According to the museum’s research, the myth says that Choi was the son of a golden pig with magical powers that kidnapped a county magistrate’s wife. The magistrate rescued his wife from the pig by using leather from a deer, which the pig feared, based on the mythical belief. Later, the wife gave birth to Choi, who was believed to be the pig’s baby.
A Mythical Animal with Supernatural Power
Although Korean historical records do not buttress the myths about the year of the golden pig, some attribute mythical meanings to pigs such as in the "Samguksagi," a history of the Three Kingdoms _ Paekje (18 B.C.-A.D. 660), Koguryo (37 B.C.-A.D. 668) and Silla (57 B.C.-A.D. 935) _ written during the Koryo Kingdom by Kim Bu-sik and "Koryosa," a history of the Koryo Kingdom (918-1392).
According to the museum, the two history annals include a story where a pig helped the kingdoms designate the capitals of Koguryo and Koryo in Kungnaesong and Songak respectively.
In Samguksagi, one day, King Sansang, who had no son, was given a supernatural instruction from a god to have a baby. During a ritual, a pig that was to be sacrificed ran away and a woman helped to catch the pig. The king had sexual relations with her and she bore him a son.
Like this, pigs played prophetic roles for many rulers and sometimes as a messenger connecting them to god.
Sacrificial Animal in Rituals
From ancient times to the present day, it is easy to see heads of pigs on tables as sacrificial offerings during shamanistic rituals, and sold in traditional markets due to consistent demand.
The folk custom to use a pig’s head as an object of worship and symbol of abundance dates back to the Koguryo Kingdom. Pigs were sacrificed in Samguksagi, when people prayed to the gods of heaven and earth.
People pray for success to the heads of pigs when they start on a venture such as opening a business or even before filming of a movie.
Symbols of Wealth, Good Luck
Pigs are omnivorous animals that survive well under any climate and circumstances.
They also are fertile giving birth to 6 to 12 piglets on average, and grow faster than any other animal. For that reason, a shop owner hangs a picture on his wall of a pig feeding a lot of piglets, symbolizing fertility and abundance.
Also, dreams about pigs are thought of as auspicious, foretelling the gain of wealth. When people dream of a pig at night, they often buy lottery tickets or make an investment.
Also, the dream considered as a sign of conception as a pig symbolizes fertility.

friends

I love pictures :D (incase you hadn't noticed)
more pics from New Year's Eve:Amy: the youngest of the group, sweet, great fun,
hadn't really talked to her before New Year's Eve.Chris: expert event/outing organizer, great cook,
too short to get on some amusement park rides :PStacey: a Kiwi, loves to party, always great fun

New Year's Eve... funky glow-in-the-dark glasses

Somehow, Stacey managed to find these fantastic glow in the dark frames.What a great look!! :P

New Year's Eve part IV

Some more pics from Club OI's New Year's party.Chris dancing with an alien.hiding from aliensummmmm...some vegetationdoors to...?the bar is on the left.
Notice what the guy is sitting on...
what you see is actually one of the supports of a bridge-like structure.

New Year's Eve part III

Club OI is: "OI: LIVING SCULPTURE LOUNGE CLUB. WATER, ART AND DECOR FOR YOUR IMAGINATION". It was a VERY interesting place to walk into. First of all, when you enter, you have to take off your shoes. They give you a little baggie at the door to put them in so that you can keep them with your things. Going up the stairs, I almost bumped my head, the ceiling was so low. It got better at the top, though. The place is STRANGE, to say the least. It is very hard to explain. Even the bathrooms were odd.You turn on the water on once side (on the left) and the water comes down a half-pipe type thingy from the opposite side. I'm not sure how it happened, but I ended up with a chunk out of my knuckle when I was washing my hands. I slid my knuckle against the bottom of the waterfall/pipe and then there was blood everywhere. I'll live.They weren't very prepared for the number of people that showed up, I think, as they ran out of cups, then they ran out of gin and tonic, then they ran out of rum. When they ran out of cups, they were saying they would only serve beer (bottles) to those that didn't have cups.When I was at the bar, they managed to find a baby cup with little bears on it. :P

The dance floor was lowered a bit... what I assume would be a bit of a water hole.Around the rest of the place were little stream like ruts. Not the best place to be navigating while drunk.Above the dance floor is a huge shower type thingy. The DJ booth beyond that is a bit of an odd looking cage-like thing.Where people sit there are little tables and very comfortable throw pillows around (two levels).
The only thing bad about having no shoes on is when someone drops a bottle... it is not a good thing. They had plastic cups for other drinks, but not for the bottled beer. A bottle was dropped right beside me and a piece of it flew and hit my foot. It didn't cut me or anything... but it did feel sharp. And then, of course, the broken glass had to be cleaned up before dancing could resume.
April and her beau disappeared (went home?) at some point while we were there. The rest of us stayed there for quite a while and then decided we needed a change of scenery... somewhere not so... well... weird. We went to TinPan, a popular dance club in the area. (There is also a TinPanII across the street). It was sooooo crowded. We had a drink there and did a little bit of dancing before a couple of people started getting tired. Time to head home. At least this time I had people to share a cab with!!!!! That NEVER happens! I think I got home around 4 AM or so.Today I found out that one of the groups that was supposed to go skiing cancelled and stayed home. At least one of them fell asleep on the sofa by 10pm.

New Year's Eve part II

Once it was 2007, we toasted the new year with our sparkling wine and we all had a New Year's Kiss, or two, or three...I think Chris got the most kisses. One from each girl... he even had an offer from some random guy that was nearby. :OI'm not sure who's decision it was... but Stacey was giving Amy a New Year's Kiss. They both ran to the nearest bar to get another shot a few minutes before. (Just an innocent kiss on the lips, of course.)Then we passed out the sparklers. Some of the group went home at this point: Ally (Korean) and her husband (Canadian?). Ally is VERY pregnant... due in only 2 weeks!!! We were then ready to move on. We weren't sure where to go at first.We thought we'd check out a nearby hof to see if anything was going on there, but it was dead (very boring... not many people, no dancing). So, we went to Club OI, which had posters up on the street.They were having a New Year's party: "ATTACK OF THE LITTLE GREEN WOMEN". Basically, they had 5 female djs providing the entertainment, as well as a few other shows (2 drum pieces and one live painting). Some people were in costume as aliens or anything space related. One girl (one of the drummers) was Princess Pleia.

New Year's Eve part I

I was having a hard time figuring out what to do for New Year's Eve. The two groups that I would normally go out with were both going skiing (to different locations). I didn't feel like skiing, but didn't want to sit at home. Then, some of one of the groups decided not to go skiing and so we decided to spend the evening in Hongdae.
We started out at an Italian restaurant called Alla Torre. It would be a great place to go in the summer, as they have a huge outdoor area. The food was great, as was the wine. :D

April and her guy
When we finally had our fill, we went out in search of another place to drink. We went to a bar beside the Ice Bar (sorry... I don't remember the name of the place... but they had "Long Ireland Iced Tea" instead of Long Island Iced Tea on the menu). This was also where the urinal planter can be found (see previous post).

A bit of tequila (NOT for me)
We had a few drinks there and waited until it was closer to midnight before heading out to a little park to open up the champagne (actually French sparkling wine bought at the 7-eleven down the street) and count down to the new year.

Clockwise: Ally and her husband, April and her guy, Anthony, a couple of guys that joined the group when we arrived at the park, Amy, Stacey, Chris

A few people around the park were lighting up fireworks and sparklers and flares and such. We were following Chris' I-Pod for time, as it had seconds on it. I think it was a few seconds fast, though, as a group of Koreans nearby looked at us strange when we were counting down, and then cheered a few seconds later. Not a huge deal. Maybe their clock was late!!!

Chris

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone.
Make it a good one!!!
Hopefully this year will be better than the last.
I'm hoping my streak of bad luck (that has lasted about a year now) will not follow through to the new year!!!!

"Halloween without the candy" ???

South Korea Encourages Prostitute-Free Holidays
Why Party With Prostitutes When You Can See a Movie?
What's New Year's Eve without drunken co-workers and hookers? Well, in South Korea, where office parties often devolve into bachelor parties, it would be like Halloween without the candy (almost). Nevertheless, in an effort to stomp out Auld Lang Syne debauchery, Seoul's Ministry of Gender Equality is giving away free movie tickets to workers who pledge not to hire prostitutes this December 31st. [...]
[washingtonpost.com]

South Korea combats prostitution with cash offer to businesses
SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea has launched a campaign offering cash to men if they promise not to buy sex from prostitutes after year-end office parties, government officials said Tuesday.
The move is aimed at changing the party culture in this male-dominated society by winning commitments from male employees to abstain from hiring prostitutes after the parties finish, said an official at the Gender Equality and Family Ministry,
who asked not to be identified because of policy.
A total of $5,000 will be paid to companies based on the largest number of volunteers who sign a written pledge, the official said. Some 1,300 companies so far have participated in the campaign.
South Korea has stepped up its crackdown on prostitution since 2004 when the legislature passed new anti-prostitution laws targeting human traffickers, pimps and prostitutes. The practice remains widespread, however.
[BostonHerald.com]

Prostitution is illegal here, yes... but...
I know in Yongsan, the red light district (a long street with doors and display windows lit up in red) is right around the corner from the local police office. The anti-prostitution laws have not made the street even change its look. And you can still see women sitting in the windows at times.