Jee Yeun tells me today that her daughter has a new beau. She was yammering on the phone to Sohee this afternoon and I ask what was that all about? Jee Yeun said she was getting the boyfriend’s birth date info. Turns out he’s 35 (Sohee is 26, but I can’t remember if that is “Korean age” or American-style counting). I ask Jee Yeun if that’s too old and she responds that she is going to find out. Next thing I know Jee Yeun is heading out the door and I say where are you going? She responds, “I told you, the fortune teller”.
But of course. No one invests much time in a relationship these days without the sage advice and wisdom of a seer. I recollect Jee Yeun dragging me in to see one back in our early days of dating. I thought at the time we were doing it as a novelty. But that was wrong. Had I not gotten the thumbs up from the fortune teller I would be but a distant memory by now I suppose.
Well, Sohee is a sweet girl. So I hope this new guy was not born in the year of the rat. Or snake for that matter.
Was a fortune-teller used with the previous beau? And how did that turn out?
A few good vocab words to know:
점쟁이 (jeom-jaengi) = fortune-teller
평생 (pyeong-saeng) = your entire lifetime
사 (sa) = four (4)
주 (ju) = pillar(s)
평생사주 (pyeong-saeng sa-ju) = the 4 pillars of your life
The “four pillars of your life” are your time of birth, your date of birth, your month of birth, and your year of birth. These are used by the jeom-jaengi to determine your destiny (saju, along with meaning “four pillars,” also refers to fate/destiny).
Well… good luck to Sohee and her new guy. Here’s hoping there no new new guy in a few months! May her fortune be a good one.
Apparently the jeom-jaengi didn’t think this new guy is an ideal fit. I take it the four pillars is a Buddhist philosophy?
Nah, not Buddhist at all. More folkloric than anything. But modern Buddhists and Christians (and atheists) alike will visit fortune-tellers, even if they might not admit to doing so.