Photo emailed by Allan Muir. Thanks Allan.
Today is Korea's Founding Day, so it's a holiday. The Creation Myth goes something like this (for the full version click on the title of this post):
A bear and a tiger who shared a cave near the sacred sandalwood tree wanted very much to become human beings. Everyday they prayed so earnestly before the tree that the Heavenly Prince decided to give them a chance to become human. The Heavenly Prince gave the bear and the tiger a bundle of mugwort and twenty bulbs of garlic and told them that if they ate only these and stayed in the cave for one hundred days that they would become human.
So the bear and the tiger took the garlic and the mugwort and went into the cave. After a short time the tiger ran away because it could not stand the long days of sitting the cave and eating only garlic and mugwort, but the bear endured the boredom and the hunger, and after only twenty one days the bear was transformed into a beautiful woman.
The woman was overjoyed, visiting the sandalwood tree again and again she prayed that she may have a child. She became Queen before long and soon gave birth to Dan-Gun the Sandalwood King. Dan-Gun later reigned as the first human King of Korea.
If you want to think seriously about this story, then the bear symbolises a tribe, with certain features, and another tribe, perhaps more aggressive, perhaps more dangerous, represented by the tiger. Stories are told using this mythological device to insure that they hold onto, maintain, a degree of authenticity. The Bible uses the same device. But it's important that people remember what symbols represent, and don't start worshipping the symbols themselves.
Cleaned my apartment today and ate a delicious dinner (a warmed up can of beans).
Have been doing some frantic emailing...possible job as editor for a South African magazine on the line.
But also made time to watch Smallville with a good friend. Nice to see her, and she brought me a salad, which made dinner a slightly more balanced affair.
We also went downstairs briefly to find out what the enormous explosions were that were shaking the windows. Big fireworks display in front of Lotte. The building create a sounding board, really throwing the bangs against the windows of nearby buildings and then bouncing them right back.
It's chilly. 19 degrees.
Tomorrow I can pick up my passport and alien card. And then the clock really starts ticking.
If you have any beautiful or interesting photos that you think I might like to use, please email them to me at nicolasvdl@yahoo.com.
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