Korean residences often lived in a traditional house.Their traditional houses contains a roof (Kiwa) made of tile that curves up in the corners. If the angle of the roof were exact, it could help protect the house from rainy weather. Each tile had to be shaped properly in order for it to work. A traditional Korean house has an inner wing, called anchae, and the outer wing, called sarangchae. Depending on your social class, you would the sarangchae as a shed for the cattle and sometimes used for storage or as a reception. The upper class has a larger house than the lower class. The wealthy could afford larger buildings and more wings. Inner wings usually were used as a kitchen, living room, or a central room with wooden floors. These rooms were all placed in a line. These rooms was used by the mother and her children. The outer wings were used by the main person in the family.
The weather in Korea could change dramatically from the hot and burning summer to the freezing winter. Luckily, the houses had an heating system to keep the house warm. A Korean house uses building materials such as tiles, brick, stone, and thatch. These materials can change depending on their location such as the city, farming, villages, or in the mountains. Most of these houses are built with wood and clay and since they were made long ago with old materials, they can only last a few hundred years.
Korean gardens each have their own unique style. The gardens are designed to represent nature as it is. The gardens were supposed to show that nature represents harmony. An underwater course is set up which leads to a stone channel to provide irrigation.
Most gardens have a landscape that contains trees shaped by man, a view of the mountains, a lake, river or pond, bamboos, waterfalls (for the wealthy), an arrangement of rocks, and fruit trees. Your status can lead you to have bigger and better gardens. Gardens have existed since King Dongmyeong of Goguryeo during the Three Kingdoms era. It was noted that the gardens usually drew birds to it. Many gardens were constructed during the unified Silla Kingdom period including Anapji .
The Koreans dress in a traditional dress called hanbok. The hanbok is a type of dress that men and women wore with pants or a skirt. Along with the pants or the skirt, they also wore a jacket or a robe over it which was trimmed and colored differently. Koreans also wore a hat calls the gwanmo. Their clothing allowed people to see their social status.
The upper class wore the hanbok with necklaces, bracelets, rings, and other luxuries.A basic dress can be worn by people from all the classes. Several important dresses included the official's style of dress for the government officals, the sacrificial dress for sacrifices, and the ceremonial dress for special ceremonies.
Many hanboks traditional dresses of North and South Korea. People with a higher social status use color to separate themselves from the people of the lower social class. Their hanboks are made up of high quality materials that are light, or woven cloths. The others usually wore hanboks with a regular, plain patterned design. Children’s hanboks were decorated with bright and lively designs while older people had calmer colors. Commoners were forced to wear white by the law. However, during formal events, they were allowed to wear pink, green, or black.
Many different types of food were eaten in Korea. Their had food such as pickled fish, shellfish, and vegetables. The main crops grown in Korea were rice, beans, and other type of wheat. Special types of food were used to celebrate an infant's 100-day-old party, first birthday, wedding ceremony, 60th birthday party, funerals, temple food, and in a shaman's offering. Temple foods don't use garlic, green onion, wild rocambole, leeks, and ginger. They use wild vegetable, tree roots, bark, berries, seaweed, and food made from wheat. Meat wasn't a part of the food. In rituals, rice cakes were important. Their food had to be balanced between yin and yang as well as color. Vegetable dishes were important to their everyday meal because it provided a lot of nutrients.
Kimchi, was one of the most essential recipes used in Korean food. Many kimchi vegetables include radish, cabbage, cucumber, red pepper, sliced green onion, crushed garlic, ginger, along with many other ingredients. Fruits, salted fish, shellfish or meat could also be added depending if the food would be used in a ceremony. In the spring, cabbage kimchi along with sliced radish kimchi,would be eaten commonly. During the summer stuffed cucumber kimchi would be eaten as a cool treat. In the autumn, Koreans would prepare enough kimchi to last through the winter.
Tea was an important part of Korean culture. It was first introduced to Korea during the Silla Kingdom and it was once believed that it can heal the sick. It was drunk as a medicine but it soon drunk for pleasure. Tea was also used as a ceremonial offering. Tea was made from a variety of ingredients such as fruits, leaves, seeds, or roots. The quality of the tea depended on the size of the leaves, the growing process, and the year. Different treas taste different. They can be bitter, acidic, sour, salty, and/or sweet. A tea ceremony has to have all of the five tastes.
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