Handmade Hanji flowers for all life events from birth to afterlife celebrations

Flowers are omnipresent in Korean life, which is a series of celebrations, one after another. One of the essential components of the Korean psyche is the "Heung" and the "Kki." Heung represents the rhythms of life, while the Kki is the enthusiastic energy that moves us.

April rain brings May flowers everywhere but flowers are needed at other times of the year when they don't naturally bloom outdoors.

Modern greenhouse temperature controlled farms produce almost unlimited selection of colorful flowers throughout the year, but fresh flowers were not always readily available in Korea until the late 20th century.

No worries. Koreans have Ji-hwa, the paper flowers made with Hanji papers with natural plant colorings. Hanji flowers guaranteed flowers no matter what time of the year the flowers were needed.

The Korean Hanji paper is a multipurpose paper made from Ddak tree fibers that give organic strength and longevity to the Hanji paper like no other. Hanji paper is used as colorful flower petals, as leaves and as a wrap for bamboo stems. Rolled up tiny Hanji papers become paper strings and paper nails to keep the loose pieces together in the shape of a flower.

Long before fresh flowers were readily available, jihwai were the norm and they added colors to all life events that needed flowers.

Ceremonial events such as weddings, spiritual rituals like "gut," the Korean shamanic rituals where shamans dance to please spirits, the "Nongak" community band music, dance rituals as well as religious traditions which call for honoring spiritual enlightenments in Buddhism all require flowers.

Colorful flowers are seen when Koreans celebrate the "Baek-il" the 100-day celebration of the birth of a child. "Dol" which is the first biological birthday.

In addition to generic birthday celebrations, Hanji flower arrangements were common at traditional celebrations of the Hwangap, the 60th birthday celebration after the fifth 12 Korean zodiac cycles, returning you to the same birth signs in the year of your birth.

Hwangap was a big deal until the 21st century when the life expectancy was far below the modern average numbers. One of Korea's most famous leaders in history, King Sejong the Great (1397 - 1450) didn't even make it to his 54th birthday.

A traditional Korean funeral procession has a hearse called Sangyeo, which is decorated with paper flowers. The paper flowers on Sangyeo are burned after graveside service, to send them to the next world.

Nongak, the community band music and dance rituals that are included as part of UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, also uses hanji flowers.

"When I first learned Nongak in 1991, for the annual New Year's first full-moon celebration Nongak performance, we used to take several days to make hanji flowers to go on the cone-shaped headgear topped with the flowers. There were no fresh flowers in the middle of the winter." said Lee Myoung-hoon, the Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 7-6 designee of North Jeolla province, and Gochang Nongak Sangsoe, the head performer.

"We have two types of gokkal, the cone-shaped headgear. Baek Gokkal is the one topped with white flowers. Saek Gokkal is the one with a variety of colors depending on regions around the country. Some use red, yellow, blue, and white, while others use red, yellow, green and white. There are even ones with just red, yellow and white colored flowers." said Lee, one of the best known Nongak performers in Korea.

Hanji flower is also called Ji-hwa for short. Ji-hwa-jang is the artist who makes Hanji flowers.

Ji-hwa-jang Ven. Seok-yong, 54, is the Gyeonggi-do Intangible Cultural Heritage holder No. 63 who is dedicated to making Buddhism flowers. Ven. Seok-yong says he's working on reinventing Buddhist flowers in ancient painting.

"There used to be 56 different flowers appearing in Buddhist art. We can make about twenty of them. I am going to resurrect the rest of them." said Ven. Seokyong, who moved into the Guinsa Temple, the main temple of the Cheontae Order of Korean Buddhism when he was 17 years old.

Ven. Seokyong, who colors Hanji papers and makes the most detailed flowers from Hanji papers, meticulously works on Ji-Hwa paper flowers using tools inherited from his teachers.

In "Ssikimgut" ceremony which is a traditional Korean healing ceremony, paper flowers are used along with human figured papers.

The spirits of the deceased are helped sent over to the next world in an underworld boat decorated with paper flowers during a Gut ceremony.

In a final act involving spiritual ceremonies usually are burnt to send them to the next world.

"Things used in Gut, the things made right before the Gut are burned after the ceremony." said professor Lee Kyung-yup, a folklore expert at the Mokpo National University.

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