Confucianism & The Ajumma

In Korea, Confucianism is still a fundamental part of Korean society. One of the bases of Confucianism has to do with the relationship between young and old. While we are taught to respect our elders in the West, this idea is taken to a whole new level in the East. Any age difference can be a stumbling block between people.

I teach a Special English class that has kids from grade 3,4,5 and 6 in it. My students will always sit in groups with other kids their age (even if they are a different gender) rather than sit with someone of a different age. Sometimes they'll converse with the students from the grade directly above or below them, but even that can be rare. Whenever I try and make teams for us to play a game the kids will refuse to be grouped with kids of a differing age, even if it means losing. Last semester I tried to operate on a 2 team basis and every week I fought with my kids over the teams and every week they'd refuse to play until the two teams were Grade 3 & 4 vs Grade 5 & 6. I'd tell the younger kids every week that they'd lose. This didn't phase them at all. They'd rather lose by a wide margin then break their social norms (and it's hard to blame them if that's the way they've been raised). By the way, this system doesn't only apply to children. We've been told that adults of differing ages can't be friends either. Someone we know here was told they couldn't be friends with someone because they were 30 and she was only 27.

A more annoying byproduct of the Confucius system is the Ajumma. Ajumma means, literally, "woman old enough to be married." Although the term usually isn't applied to women until they are in their mid to late 30's or early 40's. Ajumma's basically exist above the culture. They can pretty much do whatever they like and nobody will say anything to them. It can be maddening at times.

They walk three across on a street and don't move to let you pass. They push you out of the way to get to a seat on the subway. They get in the elevator and push "door close" so that they don't have to ride the elevator with you. And most commonly, they push past you in line at the grocery store (or any store for that matter) and check-out no matter how many people are standing in line.

The Foreigners here generally find Ajummas to be particularly annoying, yet since it's deeply rooted in the Korean culture, nobody else blinks an eye at their actions. It's quite interesting (and usually frustrating) to watch and experience firsthand.

The reason I'm writing this blog on Ajummas is because Meg sent me a youtube video earlier today that made me laugh and I thought most of you would enjoy it too. It's from a Korean wedding ceremony (it starts a little slow but is definitely worth the pay off).