Sunday May 6 was Jongmyo Daeje
This is the memorial day service for all the Joseon kings held at Jongmyo , the Royal Ancestral Shrine for the Joseon dynasty.
Visitors usually have to pay an entry fee and visit the shrine in an organised tour. But on this special day it’s open to the public for the yearly memorial ceremony.
The Jongmyo Daejo was the BIGGEST and most important memorial rite held for royalty during the Joseon dynasty. And the ceremony is still held every year on the first Sunday in May (and once again in November) starting from Gyeongbok Palace.
Royal Procession 거가출궁 geogachulgung
The first part of the ceremony is the procession to escort the king from the palace to the shrine.
During the Joseon period the members of the procession would have included the king’s retinue, government ministers and royal guards and musicians. And for several days before the ceremony, participants were supposed to keep their minds and bodies clean which included avoiding visiting sick people and listening to music!
Today the event is organised by the Jongmyo Daejo Committee (whose members also include ancestors of the Yi family – the ruling Joseon dynasty). The procession is made up of Yi family members, possibly some men from the army (the guards who stand outside the palace these days are young men doing their national service) and volunteers organised from local schools and colleges.
Most of the participants walk, high officials ride on horseback, and the king and other members of the royal family ride in palanquins.
During this procession though, the palanquin for the king is empty – luckily the palanquin bearers don’t actually have to carry ‘the king’ all the way there for this reenactment! Later for the rest of the ceremony, the king’s role was carried out by an ancestor of the Yi family.
The streets were lined with onlookers and the crowds grew as we got nearer the shrine.
Not everyone is interested in watching the procession: The park outside the shrine is a meeting area for local pensioners, mostly men, who come to play board games and chat. It’s peaceful here compared to the chaos at the entrance to the shrine where the king has arrived..
It took an hour to get from the palace to the shrine. And then there was a break while preparations began for the ceremony. So we went to Burger King…
Yeongnyeongjeon The Hall of Eternal Peace
The next part of the ceremony takes place at Yeongnyeongjeon, a smaller shrine within the main grounds.
This was built when the main shrine couldn’t handle any more chambers. But even on a tour of Jongmyo Shrine this building is not open to the public so this must be the only day we can take a look inside.
Visitors have to cram into the doorways of the shrine so it feels a bit like we are spying in on a private event. The ceremony is quite long – 2 hours – so people don’t stay to watch the whole thing and while others shuffle outside other vistitors are quick to jump in and get their place! We eventually got a better view too.
The memorial tablets of the kings and their queen(s) are in each spirit chamber. The doors to each chamber are opened and an alter placed outside each one.
The Joseon dynasty kept very detailed records and the ceremony follows the strict rules set out in the Joseon Uigwe (The Protocols for the Royal Ancestral Shrine) The ceremony includes music and dancing and various rituals including burning incense to call the spirits and offering wine and food on the alter.
Jeongjeon The Main Hall
A free pamphlet available at the shrine gives more details on this ceremony:
Only VIPs can get inside the shrine for the main event! So a large screen is set up outside the Main Hall for us commoners to gather to watch the ceremony.
The whole event takes ALL DAY. If you want to catch a glimpse of a solemn traditional event, it’s a good day out – as long as you don’t mind chilling during the breaks or mingling in large crowds.
