The proclamation of Korean alphabet

As I mentioned in the last post, I visited Seoul's main royal palace today. Again, today is the 562nd anniversary of the creation of the Korean alphabet, and there was a re-enactment of the proclamation ceremony.

In reality, there was no such ceremony 562 years ago today, and the king simply issued an executive order. However, this ceremony was re-created based on historical records of ceremonies marking other important occasions. This is the very courtyard where a new king's inauguration ceremony takes place.

Lots of spectators today - including many foreigners - as well as photographers with press credentials.

In any case, I love the uniforms and the architecture.

The ceremony has begun with some slow-paced announcements and drum signals. The military officers are marching into the courtyard.

Now that the military officers are in position, the royal orchestra is setting up.

Next up are the civil officers, lined up by rank, in their gold crowns.

There is King Sejong, carried in an open sedan by his advisors. Covered by the parasol and not having to walk much, the king had it easier today than everyone else; temperatures at the palace were about 25 degrees Centigrade with high humidity, and it's a challenge to stay in those heavy uniforms without sweating.

Of course, you know what I am tempted to do at this time: heckle the king about the fate of his lesbian daughter-in-law! (In reality, the prime minister exiled the daughter-in-law, and gave a bogus reason for the exile to make sure that the population didn't know. But the royal annals do state the real reason for the exile as a lesbian affair.)

As the civil officers bow, King Sejong (in the tall red crown) climbs up the stairs to take his position at the throne.

The civil and military officers have given the king four bows. Now, the Minister of Culture and Education is bringing the original copy of the proclamation, announcing the creation of the alphabet. He will hand it to King Sejong, then bow to him.

I didn't have any view of the king while he was seated at the throne. But this live television screen shows the king reviewing the proclamation, before giving it his approval.

Once the approval was granted, the Minister read it, as the king had to save his precious body and energy for other important endeavors. The Minister, however, was the only person in today's ceremony without a microphone, and in the midst of chatting tourists and screaming children, I couldn't hear a word of him.

A real royal ceremony would have ended with the exiting of the officers in an orderly pattern. However, since this is a re-enactment for the tourists, a special congratulatory performance by the royal orchestra took place instead. The musicians are going up the steps to the throne level. Once there, they played various court music, including a piece composed by King Sejong himself, as well as another ancient piece with modern-day lyrics.

I left sometime during the concert, so that I could check out the folk museum and get you the Korean life cycle photos of the previous post instead.

I couldn't understand a word of the commands and announcements, done in archaic royal Korean, but commentaries in modern Korean and English helped out quite a bit. And in any case, I loved the palace architecture too. Gyeongbok is the second largest palace in Asia, after Beijing's Forbidden City, though the Japanese have managed to destroy it twice; restoration has been going on slowly but steadily for almost two decades, and once that's finished in another few decades, this palace will look just as magnificent as the Forbidden City.