Page:History of Corea, ancient and modern; with description of manners and customs, language and geography (1879).djvu/356

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328 COREAN SOCIAL CUSTOMS. garments are used to pack the legs, the body being laid out very straight ; and some of the remaining garments are used to cover the face. The buttons of the deceased man's clothing, formerly tied on the right, are now placed on the left, but left untied. The sash around his middle, as well as those over the shoulders, are left untied, signifying the desire of the mourners that he would even yet return to life. And the rug is then placed over all. The Shangjoo and Joofoo are close at hand weeping, tearing their hair and pulling their clothes, — all the men looking west, the women looking east ; but grandchildren &c. stand out at a little distance. The Shangjoo has his left shoulder again bared ; and those who mourn for one year, with their hair done up, have also the left shoulder of their outer robe dropped underneath their left arm ; but they are further removed from the body. A long sash of cotton, like that used for mourning, or a hempen rope covered with cotton, is worn round the loins by the mourners. The hair of the mourners is now done up, and a skull cap* put on. The cord tying up the hair must be of hemp, not of silk, and be long enough to come down over the neck. The mourner should, have his head covered with a white napkin, but the use of the hempen cord renders this napkin unnecessary. Every mourner in the family must have a hempen sash ; and the cap he wears must be of ragged cotton, with holes in it Besides the waist sash, there is another from the middle of this sash over the right shoulder, and a third over the left . The board on which the body had been resting is taken back into the hall, and the mourners return to their posts ; the aged and more honourable sitting down, the younger and meaner standing. Four literary men (Confucianists) now appear to chant the Ritual, in accordance with the book of Rites. They stand outside the tent, where they wash their hands ; then go to the

  • This 18 made of horse hair, with a hole in the crown to let out the " top-knot/*

into which the male Corean*8 iudr is always done up after marriage.