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Seoul cafes offer fortunes with the fresh brewed
Source: Agencies |
November 20, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
"I WILL work in publishing or translation, and marry an accountant in six years," said the woman in her early twenties, seated in a Seoul cafe.
"We will have one son," she added, totally serious.
She was far from alone. The trendy cafe in downtown Seoul filled with antique tables and pastel-toned decorations was crowded with others who, like her, had come to find out what the future may hold for them.
Fortune-telling has permeated South Korea's youth culture in the form of "saju," or "fate," cafes, where fortune-tellers tell customers in very specific terms about their possible jobs and marriages.
The first round of saju owners set out to lure customers wary from older fortune-telling styles, such as "mudang" houses, where shamans act as an intercessor between spirits and humans.
The Gangnam and Sinchon areas of Seoul, haunts of young South Koreans, are fortune-telling meccas.
Each cafe has a distinct fortune-telling method. Some fortune-tellers pull up a chair, while others see customers in a separate room.
Costs range from 5,000 won (US$4.41) to up to 100,000 won depending on factors such as location and the reputation of the fortune-teller. "In my opinion, Koreans tend to need some sort of validation by others about their thoughts. They also tend to be a bit fatalistic," Professor Suh Eunkook of Yonsei University said.
Customers leaving the cafe appeared satisfied.
"I'm so glad I got my fortune told today," the woman to marry an accountant in six years was heard saying. "I could have made a huge mistake."
"We will have one son," she added, totally serious.
She was far from alone. The trendy cafe in downtown Seoul filled with antique tables and pastel-toned decorations was crowded with others who, like her, had come to find out what the future may hold for them.
Fortune-telling has permeated South Korea's youth culture in the form of "saju," or "fate," cafes, where fortune-tellers tell customers in very specific terms about their possible jobs and marriages.
The first round of saju owners set out to lure customers wary from older fortune-telling styles, such as "mudang" houses, where shamans act as an intercessor between spirits and humans.
The Gangnam and Sinchon areas of Seoul, haunts of young South Koreans, are fortune-telling meccas.
Each cafe has a distinct fortune-telling method. Some fortune-tellers pull up a chair, while others see customers in a separate room.
Costs range from 5,000 won (US$4.41) to up to 100,000 won depending on factors such as location and the reputation of the fortune-teller. "In my opinion, Koreans tend to need some sort of validation by others about their thoughts. They also tend to be a bit fatalistic," Professor Suh Eunkook of Yonsei University said.
Customers leaving the cafe appeared satisfied.
"I'm so glad I got my fortune told today," the woman to marry an accountant in six years was heard saying. "I could have made a huge mistake."
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