The Great Korean Pumpkin Carve-off
by Some Western cultural events or customs like sending Christmas cards or giving chocolates on Valentine’s Day have traveled well in Asia-in terms of how well they have caught on, with a few modifications here and there.
Halloween has also caught on in places like South Korea, Japan, and Thailand where the influx of Western English teachers has brought such customs of costumes, trick and treating, and carving Jack o’ Lanterns to the English classroom when teaching students about the holiday.
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Some Western cultural events or customs like sending Christmas cards or giving chocolates on Valentine’s Day have traveled well in Asia-in terms of how well they have caught on, with a few modifications here and there.
Halloween has also caught on in places like South Korea, Japan, and Thailand where the influx of Western English teachers has brought such customs of costumes, trick and treating, and carving Jack o’ Lanterns to the English classroom when teaching students about the holiday.
Sometimes though, there can be a clash of cultures like what happened at The Great Korean Pumpkin Carve-Off at a language institute in Seoul.
It was 1991, and I was teaching English at ELS, a well-known and quite famous language institute in southern Seoul (there was another branch located downtown). When Halloween neared, a few teachers got together and came up with some ideas on how the school and students could celebrate the holiday-from a haunted house in the basement and a costume contest to making decorations and finally, a Jack O’ Lantern carving contest.
Every teacher who had a class during the day could have their students participate in any one of these activities. Most classes wanted to carve a pumpkin because most students had never done anything like this before. Although pumpkins are indigenous to Korea, they are not like the ones, say found in the United States. Korean pumpkins are short and squat and a pale, brownish orange. Not exactly what you call ideal pumpkins for carving, but whoever was in charge of procuring the pumpkins managed to find some that had a little more height to them to facilitate carving as well as those with more color to them.
Pumpkins are used a lot in Korean cooking, especially for a kind of pumpkin porridge that is quite delicious. On the other hand though, and something I would learn to my own embarrassment, calling someone a “pumpkin” is not a term of endearment like it might be in the States. Instead in Korea, it implies being short and ugly,
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Post CommentDarla Cooke
On October 7, 2009 at 7:57 am
Very interesting.
lillyrose
On October 7, 2009 at 8:31 am
thats a lovely story! I wish there were some photo’s of the finished pumpkins. I hate the feel of the pumpkin goo and the smell of it but find it a great way to scare the children by putting it under a cloth then blind folding them and getting them to put their fingers under the cloth and touch it, I did it with cold spaghetti as well. good fun at a halloween party!
Papa Sparks
On October 7, 2009 at 8:47 am
There are some photos, of the students carving the pumpkins but they are somewhere in storage back in the States.
Thanks so much for your kind comments.
Christine Ramsay
On October 7, 2009 at 9:10 am
A lovely story. I once made lanterns with a class of special needs children and we didn’t waste a scrap. We made pumpkin pie and biscuits with the insides. They had a very enjoyable day.
Christine
Joe Dorish
On October 7, 2009 at 9:14 am
Interesting to read, those cleaning ladies sound like trouble.
CHAN LEE PENG
On October 7, 2009 at 10:26 am
I really enjoyed reading this piece. The craft of pumpkin is really an amzing art. I’ve seen some of them are really a fine art. Interesting piece though. Thanks.
CHAN LEE PENG
On October 7, 2009 at 10:28 am
should be “amazing” not “amzing” Sorry for the typing error.
Lady Sunshine
On October 7, 2009 at 10:29 am
Another enjoyable piece, Papa Sparks. That incident with the cleaning ladies could only happen in Korea, lol. This one absolutely made me smile. Thank you for sharing.
strovek
On October 7, 2009 at 11:21 am
Good article. A good comparison how some see as wastage and others see as fun. But times are changing, lots of things we used to throw away are not of great value take for example chicken wings are now used to make Buffalo Wings.
Thank you.
LilRoastBeef
On October 7, 2009 at 5:59 pm
you always bring a different and interesting perspective, very good write..
Joie Schmidt
On October 7, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Thanks for sharing!
Blessings.
Sincerely,
-Liane Schmidt.
athena goodlight
On October 8, 2009 at 8:32 am
Very interesting. Such an enjoyable read. I wonder how pumpkin porridge taste like.
CutestPrincess
On November 5, 2009 at 4:28 am
that’s great,your works are always interesting