30 Korean Superstitions You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
Superstitions exist everywhere and they’re good to know if at the very least to not offend someone or accidentally create some sort of faux pas. If you’ll be traveling to Korea or living in Korea and wonder if there are Korean superstitions (미신), well there are! From accidental death by fan to red ink causing a stir, there are plenty of superstitions in Korea you should be aware of… or beware of.
Superstitions may just be quirky beliefs to some, but they can bring on ritualistic behavior by others. Korea has a history steeped in folklore and mythology and brings together beliefs in Confucianism, Buddhism, and Shamanism which means there is everything from hierarchal beliefs to karma, and spirits in Korean superstition and belief.
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1. May the 4th Be Bad: The number four is considered bad luck and has origins in China where the number four sounds similar to the word “death”. In Korean elevators, and other relevant places where a four would commonly be seen, the number is replaced with the letter “F” rather than having the numeral scaring unsuspecting elevator users.
If you’re looking to buy a house and this superstition doesn’t have you wary though, check out apartments with multiple number 4s. They are often lower in value due to less people wanting to live in them.
2. The Red Death: Never write someone’s name in red ink as this denotes that someone has died. In the past, red ink was used to write a persons name on the family registry who had died, thus doing it while someone is living is to wish them ill or death. Something I still don’t understand though is that the ink for name stamps or seals is always red though. So, it seems to be okay to have stamped your name in red with a dojang, but not to write it with red ink…
3. Evil Spirits Be Gone!: Koreans believe that moving on certain days of the month will not only have you bringing boxes to your new pad, but also angry spirits as well. Before you contact those movers, make sure the day is an “evil spirit free” day (손없는날) on the calendar.
4. Fan Death: Some people in Korea believe that a fan can kill you! This common superstition comes up almost every summer in the news and garners attention as people discuss and disagree. Some believe that leaving the fan on while inside a room with the windows closed and the door shut while you sleep will result in your death by fan (선풍기사망설).
Some people say it all started when people were found dead in their rooms with nothing in the room except a running fan… obviously EMTs must have then reported that the fans were indeed the culprits behind the gruesome murders. This is a superstition that many Koreans believe still today and timers on fans are always essential to set before you drift off to sleep.
5. Trim While It’s Light: In Korea, it’s not a good idea to trim your nails at night. Apparently, mice will eat the nail trimmings and they can transform into you and then they will go around being the evil version of you.
6. Don’t Whistle While You Walk: Some believe that whistling at night will beckon the ghosts and spirits of those passed as well as snakes… guess that means you shouldn’t start whistling your favorite tune as you take a jaunt this week.
7. Shoes Away: If you were thinking of buying someone some new kicks in the upcoming holiday season, think again. Giving someone shoes will almost definitely have them running away from you… at least that’s what this superstition says. (On a funny side note, my husband has given me shoes multiple times in our relationship a rather BIG no-no… and yet…)
8. Be Careful With Your Chopsticks: Most visitors to Korea will quickly note that chopsticks are metal in Korea leading them to struggle to get food in their mouths. The next thing most visitors learn is that they should not putting their chopsticks straight up and down in rice as they’re reading about eating etiquette in Korea. If you place your chopsticks in to your bowl of rice, this is very similar to how incense looks during funeral rites and memorial ceremonies. If you do this it is said to bring bad luck and misfortune.
9. Chopsticks May Lead To Marriage: Another one that is said is the closer to the tips of the chopsticks you hold them, the longer it will take you to marry. I’m sure this is a superstition that was made up to get children and young people to hold their chopsticks correctly, ie further up. It’s often taught that holding the chopsticks closer to the end, not the food end, is better etiquette and denotes higher status of the individual.
10. Walking Apart: There are plenty of paths in Korea that are said to denote love and lengthy relationships should you walk down them in Korea and as such, there are just as many that will have you walking to splitsville. The path along Deoksugung Palace is said to lead couples to break up. This was once where couples walked to go to divorce court so I guess there’s something to this superstition. It’s a really beautiful path though and you’ll often find it on lists of where to go with a date written by those that just don’t know enough Korean superstitions.
11. Shake It Off: Getting children to sit still is probably one of the biggest annoyances to many parents and grandparents. Did you know that shaking your legs doesn’t only make you look nervous or jittery but also brings you bad luck in Korea? Legs symbolize wealth and prosperity so shaking them means you’re literally shaking the wealthy right away from you (다리 떨면 복 나간다).
12. Look Away From Crows: Headed to work in the morning? Try NOT to spot a crow. Spotting a crow in the morning is a sign of very bad luck and you’ll almost certainly have a no good very bad day. I remember hiking up Hallasan and saw some just massive crows. In Shamanism there is a bit different feeling about crows though and some very interesting information regarding crows on Jeju Island so this might be a superstition that isn’t quite the same from north to south in Korea.
13. The Blind Butterfly: It was once believed that touching a butterfly or moth and then touching one’s eyes would lead to blindness. How this got started, I’ll never know but you’d just be better off not touching your eyes in general after playing with insects or animals of any kind.
14. No Shower New Years: Koreans traditionally celebrate the New Year not with kisses at midnight, but with a welcoming of the sunrise from mountain tops and the east coast. After that early morning though, there’s a Korean superstition that says you shouldn’t wash your hair on New Year’s Day. It is believed that the new year brings good luck and thus taking a shower on New Year’s Day would wash the good luck away. There seems to be a lot of issue with showering in Korea, as in, after you give birth in Korea, you’re also not supposed to shower.
15. Test Foods: We’ve talked about students and their shower habits. How about their culinary habits? While seaweed soup is considered good on a birthday, it’s NOT good to eat on a test day because it’s “slippery” and therefore a student’s test scores could “slip” if they eat it before an exam. On the other hand, eating yeot, or Korean taffy which is very sticky is said to help as the knowledge will “stick” better.
16. Good Luck on Test Day: There are a lot of tests for students in Korea so there are a lot of superstitions that surround them. When a student is going to be tested, two common gifts are a mirror or a fork. There’s an expression in Korea that says “one must look carefully to catch all of the proper answers on a test”, hence the mirror and the fork symbolizes “stabbing”, or grabbing those correct answers from the page.
17. Don’t Shower Before A Test: Similar to the above, students in Korea are told not to shower before a test because they can wash away all of the knowledge they gained while studying.
18. Flying Husbands: Giving your husband, spouse or boyfriend chicken wings for dinner will most cause him to “fly” away as his belly will be full of chicken wings. Goes for any winged creature really and basically means you don’t want to feed your significant other anything that can fly…
19. No Jumping Over Babies!: There are plenty of superstitions on raising kids in Korea and one of them regards jumping over them. Not sure why someone jumped over their child in the first place but, so it goes… It is said that jumping over a baby will cause him/her NOT to grow taller. I wouldn’t recommend trying it to test the theory though.
20. Eat Your Birthday Soup: In Korea, it’s common to eat seaweed soup for your birthday. When you’re pregnant in Korea, you’ll start hearing all about seaweed soup if you haven’t heard of it before and after giving birth, it’s what is literally served for every meal in a Korean postnatal hotel. Moms are on top of their seaweed intake so ever after, not just for the health benefits, but also for the luck, people eat seaweed soup on their birthdays.
21. Dreaming of Babies: In Korea, traditionally a woman, sister, mother or mother-in-law will have a dream that indicates that someone is pregnant and the symbolism in the dream will indicate the gender of the child to be. These conception dreams are known as taemong (태몽).
- For a boy: there will be a dream with a tiger, dragon, a fruit with a seed in it or a strong muscular animal.
- For a girl: there will be a dream with a bird, snake, ring or a flower.
22. Dreaming of Pigs: There is a lot that could be said about dreams. In Korea, and other parts of Asia, pigs are a symbol of wealth and fertility so a dream that features a pig is a good omen. Instead of counting sheep as you fall asleep, maybe try counting pigs.
23. Poo Poo Dreams: Not all dreams can be so lovely as tigers, dragons, flowers, and pigs. Koreans can seem pretty obsessed with poop if you don’t know any better. There are even poop cafes! (Don’t worry, it’s just baked items in the shape of poop.)
Koreans talk about poop and bowel movements pretty openly and apparently dreaming of poop is also a sign of good luck. Poop from babies was even used medicinally in Korea a long time ago. Anyway, positive poos. That’s all.
24. Pregnant But Don’t Prepare: When I was pregnant, I held a baby shower in Korea and invited my husband because I knew he didn’t know anything about them. Some Korean women I knew who were also pregnant said that in Korea they don’t usually hold baby showers because preparing for the baby and celebrating could be assuming too much and would bring on bad omens that would take the baby away.
I think this probably came out of the high mortality rate in infants that Korea used to suffer which was also a reason why Koreans didn’t celebrate their new babies until they passed 100 days at which point parents would then hold a dol ceremony and invite friends and family to meet the new child.
25. Mirrors and Doors Don’t Mix: If a mirror is placed in front of a door, it is believed that it will reflect, or deflect, all of the good luck that tries to enter.
26. Cleaning Not Included: If you’ve ever moved into a Korean apartment, you might have been surprised to find it a bit messy when you arrived. It is said that if you clean out your apartment and live it sparkling clean on your way out, any evil spirits there will know you’re leaving and they will go with you. I feel like you would have known already if you had some evil spirits in your home. If you didn’t, you can probably clean. If you’re worried though, leave a bit of dust around just in case.
27. Cleaning Supplies Are Perfect Housewarming Gifts: It makes sense now why housewarming gifts in Korea are usually cleaning supplies since the new home you just moved into was likely not clean when you arrived. In Korea, cleaning supplies like detergent make perfect housewarming gifts because they bubble profusely and as such mean the person hopes the residents wealth will “bubble over”. Detergent doesn’t just symbolize a physically clean/pure home, but the round, shiny bubbles represent money and prosperity. It’s a wish for the new homeowners to have a clean and prosperous place to live.
Rolls of tissue and kitchen towels are other common housewarming party gifts and because they are long, they add to the prosperity wishes to the friends or family that has moved as it unravels smoothly and everlasting. It’s also very practical as it doesn’t go bad so having a lot of it isn’t a bad thing.
28. Stick To Me: Something not so ominous, Korean yeot (엿) or hard taffy made from glutinous rice is so sticky that the superstition around this one has good luck sticking to you if you eat it. This is often given to students studying for a big test so that the correct answers will stick to them and help them during the exam.
29. Don’t Turn Into A Cow: This superstition, likely very closely related to just general health and wellness, says that if you lie down right after eating, you’ll turn into a cow.
30. Don’t Let Your Teeth Fall Out: Last but not least and back to our dreams. Try not to dream of your teeth falling out. If you dream of losing your teeth, it is said that you will lose your money or health. To avoid this, Koreans will tell you to brush your teeth diligently after every meal. Maybe that’s why they take toothbrushes with them to work.
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