Seongeup Folk Village, Korea

 
   
 
 
 
 

This is Seongeup Folk Village on the very windy Korean island of Jeju. It's not a show village where actors dress up pretending to live life like they did hundreds of years ago. People live here in traditional thatched houses (choga-jip) and maintain them with traditional knowledge and skills handed down from generation to generation.

   
       
   
   
 


Pictured left is how the villagers collect water from the bow of a nettle tree. The tree catches the rain which pours down the trunk of the tree onto a plait of straw that feeds the water into a collection jar. Because the island is so windy the thatch on the roof needs to be kept in place with rope. Below, two women from the village make the traditional straw rope
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Jeju Island has a warm climate, the houses are not equipped with the typical under floor (ondol) heating system, nor do they have kitchen ranges. Food is generally made in a cooking stove outside the house. Take a short tour of the village in the video below.

  Rope making at Seongeup Folk Village  
 

Making straw rope

 
 
  Seongeup Folk Village  
 

Seongeup Folk Village