Four in 10 South Koreans plan to spend this year's Chuseok holiday meeting family and relatives rather than performing ancestral rites or visiting family graves, a survey found.
Family gatherings replace ancestral rites
In a survey on plans for this year's Chuseok, 43% of respondents said they had arranged only a family gathering, with no ancestral rites or grave visits, the Survey Research Center at Sungkyunkwan University said on the 23rd.
Another 43% said they had planned both rites or grave visits and a family gathering. By contrast, only 4% said they would perform rites or visit graves without setting aside separate time with family and relatives. Eleven percent said they had planned neither.
The survey was conducted by Research & Research on behalf of the center from the 18th to the 21st among 1,220 adults aged 18 and older nationwide. It was carried out by telephone using random digit dialing.
The center read the results as clear evidence that the focus of the holiday is shifting from traditional ritual to gatherings among family members.
Manners are kept, hierarchy is not
The change in traditional ritual did not point to a broader disappearance of Confucian values. Asked about the statement "I always try to keep the promises I make," 93% agreed, while 91% said they try to observe the manners appropriate to a given situation.
Seventy-seven percent agreed with the statement "When I see someone in difficulty, I want to help." Sixty-nine percent said Confucian values have a positive influence on modern society.
Awareness of the negative aspects of Confucian values was also substantial. Fifty-seven percent said they reinforce hierarchical order, 52% said they strengthen favoritism based on personal ties, and 50% agreed that they reinforce a male-centered patriarchal order.
Support for age-based seniority was comparatively weak. Only 30% agreed with the statement that the opinions of older people should be respected more than those of younger people.
"Rather than simply holding steady or weakening, Confucian values are being accepted selectively depending on which value is at stake," the center said. "Instead of taking in or pushing away traditional values as a whole, people are placing meaning on relationships and community while keeping their distance from hierarchy and privilege."
