Funeral at the Source

The father of one of the directors at my school passed away yesterday. We found out about it when we got into work that afternoon. My head teacher informed us and then said to wear black today because we were all going to go pay our respects at the hospital after work. Now, I didn't even know that my director's father was in the hospital, I didn't know why we were going to pay our respects at the hospital if the father was already dead, I didn't know if I should bring anything or chip in for a gift, I didn't know how I was getting to the hospital, or what hospital...you probably get the gist....once again, I had no idea what I was getting into. 

A few of the Korean teachers have cars, so we all carpooled after work to the hospital on the other side of town. We went through the floors of the hospital until we reached a corridor that was lined with flowers and scrolls (with names of the recently deceased). At the end of the corridor was the room that had a picture of the director's father and a shrine below that with various fruits, special water, alcohol, and candles were arranged all along one wall. No body though, good. We all crammed into that room and faced the wall and our director. Someone went up to the little alter and did something with the water. I then followed everyone as we knelt down and bowed our heads all the way to the ground. Then we stood up, and then knelt down again for another formal bow. Then we stood up and did a standing bow to our director and his family. They said thank you and seemed very appreciative to us. At this point all of the Koreans gave the mourning families envelopes of money. 

Then we were ushered into the room right next door and we all sat on the floor at a table. People immediately started putting little dishes of food and condiments all along the table. They brought soda, water, and a sweet rice drink. I asked a Korean girl what we were doing, and she said that now we eat. Oh yeah, this is all happening inside the hospital. Apparently they just have their memorial services right there in the hospital so that the people can have the services immediately after the person dies. Apparently they have the room and food service open all day and night for 3 to 5 days after the person has passed, so that all of your family members, friends, coworkers, relatives, etc. can come and pay their respects, and you can feed them to show your appreciation. The job of the guests who come is to not be too sad, but to bring happiness. They believe that the soul gets to move on if you are happy when it passes. If you are sad then the soul stays and mourns as well. 

It was a very interesting night, because I have not had a lot of exposure to Buddhist customs before. And I was surprised that the whole funeral service was offered right there at the hospital. I never thought I would get the chance to experience a Korean funeral while I was here. I wanted to take pictures, but I didn't out of respect for the occasion. Hopefully my description gives a descent idea of what went down.