The approach to Queen Munjeong's Tomb / Courtesy of David Tizzard

Autumn in Korea is magical. You can even smell it coming, walking the streets late at night. Barbeque joints, chicken houses, and all sorts of other cafes, bakeries, and places selling food and booze finally open their doors and windows, putting customers out in the road. People no longer run from building to building seeking either the sweet solace of an air conditioner or the safety of an umbrella. Now, instead, they dawdle. Loitering outside, catching the breeze, and drinking long into the night. A local joke has it that it’s not just the horses that get fat in autumn, it’s the people too. Love and mischief can be heard and seen everywhere. It feels like this is a season when not only are a lot of babies made, the divorce count and counselling rates probably jump up as well.

The festive attitude is supplemented by an array of different public holidays, giving people the excuse to have one more glass of beer, highball, or bottle of soju. Chuseok, Foundation Day, Korean Language Day, and Armed Forces Day all appear within a few weeks of each other giving most of us six days off work. It doesn’t matter that few can now accurately recount the tale of Tangun Grandfather nor explain the charye ceremony that used to dominate households up and down the peninsula. The traditions, the myths and the culture have disappeared, and we are left with commodified replacements, encouraging us to spend vast amounts on fruit, spam, and trips to Japan and Vietnam. Yet this substitution is not frowned upon too much because we still get the day off. Some have even suggested that holidays like Foundation Day are still kept purely because the weather is so good this time of year.

The temperature fluctuates between warm and chilly, but it never hurts you like summer or winter. The cries of “nomu teowo” fade away. The shrieks of “aigo chuwo” are yet to be heard. The sky shines with a blue radiance and stark white clouds burst across the sky. Those white clouds are a nod to history. Because as the buildings, the........

© The Korea Times