June, I agree. The book also made me think of my relationship with my mother and experienced a little of that same mom-guilt that the children were feeling.
I was curious about some of the traditions that were mentioned in the book and other details about daily life. For example, buying a gift for your parents from your first paycheck. I found this great Korean Culture Blog.
https://koreancultureblog.com/blog/
Quote:
Red colour
If you want to write a card to someone, you should not use the red ink, especially when writing the recipient’s name. It is because Koreans write names of the dead using red ink which is never used to write a living person’s name. As an extension, red ink is not used to write cards as well.
Although red ink is forbidden, there is one type of gift that should be red – underwear for parents! When a Korean receives the first pay check from his/her first job, he/she buys red ‘long johns’ as gifts for his/her parents. Some people may buy other types of underwear such as bras, boxers or panties. Red underwear is considered as a good gift for parents to express filial affection because in the past, Koreans wore long johns to keep warm and believed that red underwear could bring good luck. Such belief continues even nowadays and red underwear is used to bring good luck in other areas as well. For example, you may find plenty of red underwear on sale during the grand opening of a department store. In 2009 when there was flu scare in South Korea, the sales of red underwear shot up as people bought red underwear to to bring them good luck and protect them from catching cold.
In the cold winter, you may also consider buying yourself red underwear to bring good luck and health!
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