Many Cemeteries in South Korea Offered Virtual Means to Honor Deceased Relatives During Chuseok

To stop the spread of coronavirus many South Korean cemeteries have created virtual means for families to honor deceased relatives:

Over the five-day holiday, South Korea announced, all public cemeteries would close or operate in a strictly limited capacity with reservations. Such unease seemed as if from another time. So much so that the provincial office of North Gyeongsang province noted on its social media account that historical texts dating to the 16th century showed rites had been canceled at the time because of disease outbreaks including smallpox.

For Yi Jun-jae, 46, this Chuseok would have marked the first year holding rites for his father, who passed away in January.

He is the eldest son of the eldest son, which in South Korea’s patriarchal society gives him the responsibility to uphold traditions. Growing up, he was instilled with the importance of his roots, and the fact that he exists only because of previous generations.

Even so, when he saw that Goesan National Cemetery, where his father, Yi Kang-bup, is interred, would be closed to visits during the holiday, he thought his father would understand.

“The living shouldn’t spread the virus to remember the dead,” he said. “Ancestors are important, but given the circumstances, what’s in the heart is what matters.”

He signed up for a virtual remembrance, in which the national cemetery, where his father is buried because he fought in the Korean War, would lay a flower and pay their respects in his stead and email him photos. Yi was one of hundreds to log on to the cemetery’s website to experience a new, socially distanced ritual.

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