Vol. 09, Issue 03 March 2009 
Namga Ma-eul
Right on the doorstep of the cities in Jeollanam Do there are villages, where the way of life of generations ago is still being practiced. We may not be able to see this much longer, because the average age of the inhabitants is high, and younger people will not return to live and labor in the old ways. This photo essay is of Namga Ma-eul in Haeryeong Dong, Suncheon, where I have taken a daily walk with my dog during the past year. Let me take you on a stroll through its four seasons.
Since it is spring time, there is raking to be done. When summer comes, the rice is ripe and ready to harvest. When autumn comes and the aspens turn gold and persimmons ripen. A farmer is filling his back pack with straw for winter use, while a family totes their straw home in a trailer. When the first snow falls, even the ancestral watchers on the mountains withdraw into a deeper sleep under their blanket of snow.
The young rice is ready to be planted out in the water-soaked paddy, and in the background you can see the village shrine, where they have ceremonies to honor the ancestors and ask for their crops to be blessed. It is the most imposing structure in the village. All sorts of improvised scarecrows help to keep the birds away from the seeds and seedlings.
There are many houses with the traditional hipped and gabled roofs, a shape that is truly aesthetic. One house, at least, has guardians painted on it to chase evil spirits away; another is built on a slope, so that its roof is almost at the same level as the lane beside it. I met a farmer pulling his equipment along in a trailer and he was happy to be photographed, although many farmers preferred not to have their pictures taken.
Summer comes, and the ancestors are robed in green as they watch over the village paddies. The Pride of India, with a fringe of bamboo, is spectacular. Its Korean name is baek il hong, or a hundred days red, a reference to how long it continues to bloom. The rice is ripe and ready to harvest*.
Autumn comes and the aspens turn gold. Persimmons ripen. This farmer is taking a smoke break at the end of his harvesting. Another is filling his back pack with straw for winter use, while a family totes their straw home in a trailer.
Amazingly, as winter arrives, the women continue to do the washing in the outdoor washing pond. Then the first snow falls, and even the watchers on the mountains withdraw into a deeper sleep under their blanket of snow.
