10 Bizarre Superstitions in Korea That People Still Believe Today

Superstitions are a part of any culture, no matter how bizarre or illogical they sound, still have an impact on peoples lives. South Korea, being one of the most advanced countries in the world, has lots of superstitions in Korea. Starting from naming a baby to choosing a partner, selecting the day of moving to specific presents to give, superstitions are everywhere and in each corner.

10 Superstitions In Korea That Still Exist Today

Its always good to know such superstitions as they will help you understand the culture better, and also help you feel more like locals. Above all, these are still the beauty of any culture.  Here are 10 Bizarre Superstitions in Korean that people still believe today..

1) Writing Some one’s Name In Red

If you are living in Korea, you already know that one should never ever write any name in Red. Since the deceased names are written in red, so writing someone’s name in red could imply bad luck, or it people would assume that you are wishing him bad luck or in worst cases even death :O

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2) Whistling at Night

Superstitions in Korea aren’t just limited to day, rather there are more weird believes about night compared to day. It doesn’t matter if you are happy or in a mood of singing, in Korea, whistling at night is considered very bad thing. It usually means that you are calling for ghosts or snakes. But well, singing at night isn’t a problem (only if you don’t have a terrible voice 😀 )

3) Number 4 – Alphabet ‘F’ rather than number ‘4’

To me this is one of the most weird superstitions in Korea. When I first moved to Korea, I was in my university Keimyung University in Daegu, and I was shocked to see that the elevator was showing 1,2,3,F,5,6…….. :O I really couldn’t get the idea at that time. Later on, I once went to a hospital in Daegu, and to my surprise, again the elevators were having alphabet F, rather than number 4. I asked my professor and she explained to me that in sino Korean numbers, 4 is pronounced as “sa” (?) which in Korean means “Death”. Hence most of the buildings don’t have 4th Floor (they go like 1,2,3,5,…..) or instead of 4 they write F 🙂

Poor 4 number also ends up saying ‘What The F’ ?

4) Evil Spirits on Moving Days

You bought a new apartment and finally its that day when you will be moving. You might be leaving behind old jeans, used and torn off clothes or even some 2 years old utensils.. But wait, make sure you are leaving behind “Evil Spirits” too!

uperstitions in Korea is related to moving day. Koreans believe that if you are moving on some specific days of a month, its a bad omen since evil spirits may come along with you to your new place. There is a special calendar that people see before moving or shifting to new place. And one has to look for the day called ????” (evil spirit-free day). You should only move to a new place during these days ?

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5) Beautiful Food means Beautiful Kids

When there is no doubt that Korean food looks really colorful and pretty especially if ‘banchan’ – side dishes are served along with it. But most of the Koreans believe that if you serve food in a beautiful way, your kids born will be beautiful too ?

Finally! Not a bad superstition..

But not all the foods look pretty! Here is one of the weirdest and not so good looking Korean food of all times

6) Never Give Shoes To Your Loved Ones Unless You Want Breakup

That’s one of the superstitions in Korea that made me crack up a lot. Although its very difficult to find the right size for your feet, giving shoes to your partner is a big NO! In Korean culture, giving shoe means that you are giving a sign to your partner to run away and that you want a breakup. I mean what? Seriously!

I would rather send a message than buying a 200$ shoe to tell her that I want to break up ?

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7) Beware! Fans may Kill You

I don’t know if I should call it a superstition or a scientific theory, but Koreans think that if you are sleeping with doors and windows closed and electric fan ON, you are calling your death angel. They believe that with doors closed, electric fan will create moving air that may cause suffocation and hindrance to breathe.

Would any scientist like to say anything in the comment section below?

8) Seeing a Pig in Dream

There are lots of superstition in Korea which are related to pigs. While pig is not considered a cute animal in the eyes of all the muslims, Koreans love pigs and lots of food have pig meat. Not only that, there is this ??(superstitions) that seeing a pig in your dream means you are either going to get lots of money, or getting some promotion. If you are been in a pig farm, you definitely are on your way to become Bill Gates ?

9) Eating Yeot (?) before exams

Yeot is a Korean traditional candy like snack made of glutinous rice. Since glutenous rice is sticky, it is believed that if you eat Yeot before exam, good luck will stick to you.. (don’t know why bad luck can’t stick 😀 )

Anyways, if you are going for exam, don’t forget to have few bites of this delicious snack.

If you love Korean snacks, here is our recommendation for the best Korean snacks.

10) Shaking Legs

In Korean culture, legs symbolize success and wealth. The longer legs you have, richer you will be 😀 Just kidding! But yeah, in Korean culture, shaking legs means you are dropping wealth and success. Well it sounds normal in some cases. For example, if you are giving a presentation, and have shaken legs, 😀 definitely, you wont be doing great in your presentation. Meaning losing marks. In Korean, there is also a proverb related to it, ?? ?? ? ??? which literally means, if you shake your legs, good luck will run away.

So tell us which one of these superstitions is also popular in your culture? And don’t forget to share the post about superstitions in Korea with your friends and family..