Why do Koreans say back when tigers used to smoke?

The actual full phrase used in the folklores is “A long long time ago when a tiger used to smoke.” This simply means that the setting of the story goes way back in time to the point of everything being a bit different from a contemporary person knows or expects.

What do tigers symbolize in Korean culture?

The tiger is strongly associated with Korean culture and is seen as representative to the identity of Koreans. Tigers in Korea are a symbol of strength and power and often seen as the guardian spirit and protector of the Korean people. When Seoul hosted the 1988 Olympics ‘Hodori the tiger’ was a popular figure.

How do Korean fairytales start?

In Korean, a typical fairytale begins: “Once, in the old days, when tigers smoked…”. In Catalan, spoken in the north-east of Spain, a story may start with, “Once upon a time in a corner of the world where everybody had a nose…” or, “Once upon a time, when the beasts spoke and people were silent…”.

Did Korea used to have tigers?

The Siberian tiger was once common in the Korean Peninsula. It was eradicated during the period of Korea under Japanese rule between 1910 and 1945.

What is white tiger in Korean?

A white tiger (백호) called Soohorang (수호랑) was chosen as the mascot in the Winter Olympics held in Pyeongchang (평창) in 2018. Sooho (수호) means “protection” in Korean and rang (랑) is again taken from the Korean word for tiger (호랑이).

Why do frogs cry in the rain in Korea?

He was a happy little frog and his mother loved him very much. But he was a little green rebel who never obeyed her. One morning his mother said, “Please go catch some flies for dinner tonight.” Instead, he left home to play in the river with Todd, the turtle. “Honey, will you please go to the market for me?”

Where does once upon a time come from?

The earliest use of the phrase “once upon a time” is estimated to be dated to 1380 with the story Sir Ferumbras. Composed of ten, 540 short lines of metric poetry, this Middle English romance is connected to the Matter of France.

Are Korean tigers extinct?

In South Korea tigers are extinct. It was 1922 that the last tiger was seen and hunted on Mt. Daedeuk in Gyeongju, South Korea’s North Gyeongsang Province. Currently, there remain about 400 Siberian tigers (Koreans call them Korean tigers) mainly in Far Eastern parts of Russia.

What happened to Korea’s Tigers?

Why did Korean tigers go extinct?

He left the cave early, unable cope with the hunger and waiting, and has been slinking through the Korean mountains ever since. That is, until the last century when hunting and habitat loss pushed the Korean tiger over the brink of extinction in the wild in South Korea.

Why did Tigers in Korea smoke?

A different article points out that the reason why back when tiger used to smoke is because according to “Hamel’s Journal and a Description of the Kingdom of Korea, 1653-1666” everybody regardless age and gender would smoke in Korea. Until it started getting class restricted and lower class was no longer allowed to smoke infront of higher classes.

Why do folktales say ‘back when Tigers used to smoke’?

Like instead of starting their folktales with ‘Once upon a time,’ like in the Western European tradition, they started ‘Back when tigers used to smoke.’ The tiger is just, I guess it some sort of culturally important image, and by invoking that image, it goes back to some mystical, legendary days.

What is the significance of the Tiger in Korean folktales?

A lot of Korean folktales have to do with tigers if you have noticed. There is such a tale of the grandmother and the tiger, the tiger and the persimmon, yin and yang, etc. because the tiger is representative of Korean identity and culture throughout history. It does not really have any deep meaning between a tiger and tobacco smoking

Are Tigers native to Korea?

In folktales, tigers display different characteristics – sometimes scary, sometime friendly and sometimes even divine. Because Koreans have for decades referred to Siberian tigers as Korean tigers or Mount Paektu tigers, many people here believe the animals are native to the Korean Peninsula.