Community Corner
Staying Cool and Cultured With Traditional Korean Fans
These hand-held fans do more than keep you comfortable.
As things were scattered out on the floor from a box full of summer goodies, our hands immediately reached for a plastic bag filled with Boo-Chae, hand-held fans.
An old Korean proverb says, “Fans for a summer and calendars for a winter to impress someone.”
Presenting a fan to families and friends on Danoh Day (May 5 on the Lunar calendar) to prepare for the summer season has been a longstanding tradition in Korea. Air conditioning systems and electric fans have taken the place of hand-held fans, but it would still make a special personal belonging.
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A fan isn’t just for blowing the air or refreshing you–it was used for special ceremonies, musical events, as an accessory, exchanging greetings, and even to classify social status.
We go back to the Koguryo era (37 BC - 668 AD) to find the origin of the Korean hand-held fan. An excavated fresco from that time had a picture of a feather fan and other historical artifacts to show the different types of fans that were used on different occasions during the era.
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Elaborate craftsmanship enhanced the quality of the fans and created a variety of styles as we move onto the Chosun Dynasty (1392-1897).
Shapes and materials play a major role to name the different types of fans.
“Boo” is the combined word of “drawing winds” and “handle,” and “chae” is the thin frameworks on body of the fan.
Assortments are very diverse. Some fans have paintings, writings, stampings and embroidering on the face while some have none.
Tracing back on my , almost everything in Korean tradition has special meaning and symbols. We can’t ignore the same symbols on fans. Drawings, colors and patterns represent certain objects: yin and yang energies and prosperity. Writings were either selected from special books or poems were written.
The Boo-Chae functioned as a letter between lovers, a way to swap culture with foreign countries, a piece to leave as an heirloom and most of all, a way to blow some breeze and dry away your sweat.
More than 1,600 years of history accompanies the beauty and the special role of the fan. Succeeding that tradition, hands-on programs and studies are available for people to learn how to make and cherish traditional Korean fans.