Walking up the hillside towards our hilltop park, we pass by some odd circular mounds of dirt. There are no markings and no monuments, just the grass-covered domes. They are grave sites. Traditional Korean graves are mounds of dirt usually on rural hillsides in scenic locations. There aren’t many designated cemeteries in Korea so these random groupings of graves can be seen in many places throughout the city and countryside.
On another side of the hill, we found a lone grave site. I assume this was either someone important or someone wealthy due to the cement wall encasing the mound and the monuments surrounding it.
While trying to find some information about Korean graves, I came across a great story written by an American who taught English in Korea. She was invited by the family of one of her students to visit the grave site of the student’s grandparents. The author describes the etiquette of visiting Korean graves, most of which she learned by doing the wrong things.
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“He spoke well who said that graves are the footprints of angels.”
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow