You may notice quite a few homeless people around Seoul Station. A lot of visitors ask me, “Why are there so many homeless people here?” One of the biggest reasons goes back to 1997, during the Asian Financial Crisis. In Korea, we usually call it the IMF Crisis . A lot of companies went bankrupt, unemployment rose very quickly, and many people suddenly lost their jobs and income. Some people eventually lost their homes as well. And many of them came to Seoul Station . Why here? Because this was one of the main places to find day labor and temporary jobs , and it was also the main railway station if they wanted to go back to their hometowns. But some had no money left and nowhere else to go, so they stayed around the station. That is one reason Seoul Station became one of the main gathering places for homeless people after the 1997 crisis. Then another thing happened. Once many homeless people were here, churches, charities, NGOs, and the government started providing help here. Th...
One of the old customs of Koreans is to give their baby a name during pregnancy to call the unborn baby before the baby is born. The first thing Koreans ask after greeting congratulations on their pregnancy is to ask what Taemyeong is.
The reason to make Tae-myeong (fetus naming)
Koreans usually do not name the baby until delivery, so there is kind of a nickname that is used to call the fetus in the stomach which is called Tae-myeong in Korean. The fetus in the belly has not yet appeared in the world, but this is to give the child a little more speciality, and recognize it as a living being. It is also a way to communicate by increasing the bond between the baby and the mother.
What is the most popular Tae-myeong in Korea?
Tae-myeong is very casual and named wit the meaning of blessing for baby because it is a name that they will only use for a few months.
Korean star Kim Hee-seon once gave a baby the name 'Jackpot'.
The most common Tae-myung is salang-i(meaning love) followed by 'teunteun-i'(meaning strong), 'chukbog-i(meaing blessing)', 'haengbog-i'(meaing happiness), and 'gippeum-i'(meaning joy)
For example, the meaning of kkomul-i (pure Korean) is one of the many used in Taemyeong as a mimic word that moves small things wriggling and grows cutely in the mother's stomach.
Is Taemyeong a cultural custom unique to Korea?
In Western culture, there was no Taemyeong. In fact, the fetus is referred to by using the denoting pronoun of 'it' or just called a baby. It means that Westerners who turn one year old only after they are born do not have a Korean interest in the fetus.
There is also a saying that Koreans, who had even prenatalized for the baby in the stomach, were obsessed with Taemyeong because of their unusual interest in the fetus. It is said that 98% of Korean pregnant women build Taemyeong.
Lately, Westerners have also seen children in their stomachs through ultrasound, and interest in the fetus has increased like Koreans, and new customs have arisen to give nicknames or nicknames close to those of the birthplaces such as Yoda, Tiger, Monster, Jelly Bean, and Chickpea.
However, Taemyeong is still introduced as Hallyu culture, and many countries, including Japan, China, and the United States, are giving Tae-myeong their baby.