The scorching summer heat never fails to arrive year after year in our small nation of South Korea. The moment we go outside is quite precisely the moment we start to sweat and feel dizzy. Such deadly summer seasons, however, weren’t much different in the past. In fact, one could argue our ancestors had it worse since those days lacked the technologies we use to survive through summer, such as the air conditioner or the electronic fan. Although looking back, we expect people in the past to have been unarmed against such vicious heat, as it turns out, Korea’s ancestors have found various creative ways to withstand the summer.
First, the royal family usually stayed inside their breezy palaces to avoid the heat and enjoyed watermelons, which were also very expensive back then, costing 80kgs of rice per watermelon. Each king found unique ways to enjoy the summer. For example, the 4th King Sejong often watched his hands, and the 9th King Seongjeong ate su-ban(수반) which is a mix of rice and cold water. Kings often drank jaeho-tang, a sweet drink made of honey and different herbs.
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(Picture of Su-ban via Donga)
On the surface, these methods seem simple compared to how much power a king had and the extent to which a king could spend money to keep himself cool. However, these wise kings had something very different in mind: they practiced such simple measures to set an example for the commoners and their servants, whom the kings precisely knew were not in very different situations than the kings themselves. The commoners, who had to work in the fields for harvest even during the intense heatstroke of July, worried more about the drought messing up their harvest than their suffering.
As another act of courtesy, the king gave ice stored from the winter to the commoners. The government/royal family stored ice from rivers in what is called a seok-bing-go, which still exists today as a national heritage site. There, the ice was secured and persisted even in the hottest days of summer.
Furthermore, some other ways the commoners of Chosun withstood the summer was by traveling to rivers for the day to feel relieved from the heat, while they also used hand fans called “Bu-chae” which made wind that cooled body temperature. (P.S. I would recommend you to pick one up for you to take home when visiting Korea)
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In terms of food, the most common food for commoners to relieve themselves was Sam-gae-tang: a steaming hot soup made out of chicken and different herbs and medicines. Ironically, even though it is steaming hot, it allows heat within the body to circulate and be released through sweat. Although the first bite makes you have second thoughts due to the hot nature of the soup, you will soon understand why Sam-gae-tang is the go-to summer food in Korea, helping you feel energized amidst the heat.
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(Here is a list of Samgaetang restaurants in Seoul if interested)
Lastly, traditional clothes Hanbok also allowed our ancestors to battle heat. Better-off citizens had many more options than the common people when it came to this, and they could buy expensive Hanbok that had ventilation which allowed them to stay cool, as shown in the designs of Hanbok at that time. On a side note, such nobles, rather than playing inside the rivers like the commoners mentioned above, preferred to only dip their feet. This was to differentiate themselves from the commoners since noblemen valued elegant behavior.
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