When You Open the Door of the National Folk Museum, Obok Comes In

Special Exhibition "Happiness of That Winter" Until March 2 Next Year
Showcasing Over 200 Gilsang Collection Items Including 'Sipjangsaengdo'

Ten Symbols of Longevity Painting

Gilsang (吉祥) means an omen of good things happening. It encompasses all acts of placing decent symbols around to wish for good fortune. Most often, it was represented in patterns. For example, flower and butterfly patterns symbolized marital love and harmony, and were used on bedroom furniture or paintings. A representative example is the 'Three-tiered Mother-of-Pearl Wardrobe' at the National Folk Museum of Korea. It is a three-tiered mother-of-pearl wardrobe decorated with various patterns on its surface. The inside of the doors is adorned with landscape paintings, Baekdongjado, flowers, butterflies, birds, and more.

The National Folk Museum of Korea is showcasing over 200 pieces related to gilsang, including the Three-tiered Mother-of-Pearl Wardrobe, in Exhibition Hall 1 until March 2nd next year. The special exhibition "Happiness of That Winter" was prepared to deliver a message of happiness and hope to the people weary from various disasters. Happiness has recently become a concern for everyone as negative emotions have accumulated. Ancestors also valued the 'Five Blessings (오복, Obok)' of longevity (壽), wealth (富), nobility (貴), health and peace (康寧), and many descendants (子孫衆多). This means living long, acquiring much wealth and high status, being healthy and comfortable, and having many offspring. These were often expressed through everyday patterns or motifs.

The most common symbol is the cat. It represented longevity because the Korean word for a seventy-year-old person, 'mo(?)', sounds the same as the Chinese pronunciation (mao). Magpies were called 'Heejak (喜鵲)' because their heads to backs are black and shiny, while their shoulders and bellies are white. It was considered a good omen as the magpie’s cry signaled the arrival of a welcome guest. When drawn together with a cat, it symbolized 'marital harmony.' The wish for many descendants to continue through generations was expressed with hedgehogs. They were often depicted in forms like 'Jawi Bugwado,' where a hedgehog is seen carrying cucumbers on its back while running away from a cucumber field. Vegetables and fruits with many seeds, such as cucumbers, eggplants, and pomegranates, symbolized fertility. The spiny hedgehog was also used with the same meaning.

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There were also symbolic gifts given to wish for business prosperity and the like. Matches were frequently used as daily necessities and housewarming gifts until a few decades ago. They symbolized the hope that the household would flourish like a blazing fire. Recently, sunflower paintings are gifted when opening a business or moving. Painted in yellow or golden colors, they are believed to bring wealth and good luck.

The National Folk Museum of Korea has designed the center of the exhibition hall broadly so visitors can understand and experience various meanings. It is arranged as a comfortable resting place where visitors can build stone towers and touch koi fish in a pond. A small 'Happiness Bookshelf' is also provided where visitors can relax while reading books related to happiness. A museum official said, "We hope this will be an opportunity for people to think about what happiness means to them personally."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.