I Will Not Bow to a Pig's Head

So, just a couple days ago, my director warned us that the company that gives money to the school will be coming, so we had to dress nicely. Usually, us teachers just wear jeans and a nice shirt. Very relaxed. But on Thursday she came up to me and said, "tomorrow, shirt and tie." Easy. I don't mind dressing up.



So us teachers arrived and everyone was dressed up and speaking Korean, so us English speakers didn't really know what was going on. But all these Koreans were stuffing 10.000 won bills in these fish's mouths. That's about $10 each bill and they had at least ten of them. I really need that money, I don't know why they had to give it to a fish. Anyhoo, then they mentioned that a pig's head is coming and we have to bow to it. I didn't really know what to think. But this ceremony took place outside and it was well below freezing and everyone was shoving large bills in the mouth, ears and nostrils of this pig's head. The main man from the company that gives money to our school made a speech (in Korean, obviously) so I don't know what he was saying.



I guess when something new happens or the grand opening of something, this is a pretty common ceremony. It's to bring good luck to whatever the ceremony is. For example, if you buy a new car, they will do this too. I don't know exactly know what our ceremony was for, but we took part nonetheless.