I went to a korean funeral. My poppa died. My poppa is my grandpa. It was kind of scary. It was a five day ceremony and on three days my mommy and my two aunts had to wear these black dresses and white bows in their hair. On the first day, there was a room with his picture in it and there was incense and we bowed and lit the incense. I bowed two and a half times. His picture was really nice. If you were far back it looked like he was smiling, but if you were close up it looked like he was frowning.
On the second day we did the same thing. On the third day I went with my mommy and my aunty Sumi and uncle Brian and uncle Ben and we saw Poppa's body being wrapped up. It was scary when we saw his body because it didn't look like him at all. They had shaved off his beard and it did not look like him at all. At first he was wearing these linen clothes and there were no knots at all. Not even at the end of a thread. There was no knots because if there are knots it might trap the spirit and might stop the spirit from getting out. Then they put a paper bag thing on his head and then they tied his arms up but they didn't use knots. They had to tie his arms up because he was especially big and wouldn't fit in the coffin. Then they put him in the coffin and fit it with paper rolls so that he wouldn't wobble around. And then they put the coffin lid on and covered it with a red clothe that had his name on it and then another red cloth then put it in a freezer.
On the fifth day, we went to another ceremony place and there we saw them put his coffin in an oven. We waited two hours and then we went back and saw them take out his ashes. There was a fake hip that didn't burn because it was metal. My mommy got that. Then there was a glass jar that we put his ashes in and my mommy put the fake hip in there. And then we took the jar and went to a place where there were glass boxes and we put Poppa's jar in a glass box. On the sixth day, we went back and unscrewed the box and put pictures of his family in the box so he wouldn't be lonely. And I thought it would a good idea to put one of his sailing medals in there too because he was a sailor till he got Alzheimer's.
And that was my Poppa's funeral.
On the second day we did the same thing. On the third day I went with my mommy and my aunty Sumi and uncle Brian and uncle Ben and we saw Poppa's body being wrapped up. It was scary when we saw his body because it didn't look like him at all. They had shaved off his beard and it did not look like him at all. At first he was wearing these linen clothes and there were no knots at all. Not even at the end of a thread. There was no knots because if there are knots it might trap the spirit and might stop the spirit from getting out. Then they put a paper bag thing on his head and then they tied his arms up but they didn't use knots. They had to tie his arms up because he was especially big and wouldn't fit in the coffin. Then they put him in the coffin and fit it with paper rolls so that he wouldn't wobble around. And then they put the coffin lid on and covered it with a red clothe that had his name on it and then another red cloth then put it in a freezer.
On the fifth day, we went to another ceremony place and there we saw them put his coffin in an oven. We waited two hours and then we went back and saw them take out his ashes. There was a fake hip that didn't burn because it was metal. My mommy got that. Then there was a glass jar that we put his ashes in and my mommy put the fake hip in there. And then we took the jar and went to a place where there were glass boxes and we put Poppa's jar in a glass box. On the sixth day, we went back and unscrewed the box and put pictures of his family in the box so he wouldn't be lonely. And I thought it would a good idea to put one of his sailing medals in there too because he was a sailor till he got Alzheimer's.
And that was my Poppa's funeral.
