Jongmyo is a Confucian shrine dedicated to the memorial services for the deceased kings and queens of the Korean Choson Dynasty and has existed since the 14th century. There are still rituals performed here on special holidays. It's one of the UNESCO World Heritage site.
It was pretty deserted on Chuseok (surprisingly!). I was expecting some kind of ritual to be performed, but they had some of the shrines open and set up a royal place setting for people to look at. Again, I love food vessels with animalistic faces on them. I find them fascinating. I realize I'm probably in the minority, but I do love them. ^.^
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| There's a park right outside the entrance, where 100+ men all gathered drinking coffee and playing Go. |
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| Picture of royal ritual in May |
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| Royal Banquet Setting |
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| Well for water rituals |
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| Well for Water Rituals |
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| Sam-Taegeuk: An alternate form of the Korean flag to represent Yin-Yang (Taegeuk); Sam-Taegeuk has three colors: Red (Yang Heaven), Blue (Yin Earth), and Yellow (Humanity). |
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| Steps leading up to one of the open courtyards in front of the shrine |
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| HUGE courtyard where the royal rituals are performed |
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I seriously thought I took more pictures than this, but I cannot find them. Oh, well. It's more of the same. All the shrines and courtyards looked alike. Plus, I'm planning on going to the ritual performance in May, so I should get some more interesting pictures then. (^.^)/
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