Luna placed beef soup and white rice, apples and pears, steamed bracken and radish, sanjeok and dongtae jeon¹, grilled croaker and jeotgal, yakgwa² and kimchi on a large table. A cup of sake and a cup of her beloved espresso were placed in the very front. My mother’s hungry soul will rest in peace tonight, full of food and intoxicated by the aroma of espresso.
During the periods of Seol and Chuseok³, she placed all of my grandparents’ and my mother’s favourite foods on the table. On these holidays, when her grandfather, grandmother, mother, and so many other ancestors that she couldn’t remember came to eat together, Luna could feel them all. For that one day, she could forget that she was alone.
Luna has a mission. To remember the lives of her ancestors, and to make sure they never go hungry. It is her responsibility as a remnant, as a descendant. She just does what her mother did, and what her grandmother and grandfather did, in the same way.
The ancestors must have loved to eat. To Luna, eating and being alive were synonym. No one should ever go hungry, not even people, not even ghosts, so who is the dead? After a few moments of reflection, Luna opens the fridge door. She takes out a piece of meat and lays it on a chopping board, pounding it so it becomes tenderised. Luna, MG-29 Great-Granddaughter of the Lu Family of Seoul, a great-grandchild, has been on Earth for a long time and performs rituals 365 times a year. The smells of incense in the living room and smells of oil in the kitchen are constant. Tomorrow, she has to prepare the rituals for her grandfather Jaejong, who had led a solitary life.
The moon is rising outside the window and a group of people are marching in the streets with great excitement. Someone dies today, and people will continue to die until there are no more people left to die.
1.Sanjeok and Dongtaejeon: These are representative cuisine for Korean traditional rituals. Sanjeok is a dish of meat and assorted vegetables cut into thin, long strips and skewered and grilled.
Dongdaejeon is made by coating frozen pollack with tempura batter and baking it.
2.Yakgwa: A traditional Korean sweet made by mixing honey, flour, water, cooking oil and liquor, kneading the dough, shaping it in Yakwa molds and deep-frying it in oil.
3.Seol and Chuseok: Both are important Korean holidays. Seol is the Korean New Year and Chuseok is an autumn harvest festival where one usually goes to their family home to honor their ancestors as well as give thanks for the yearly harvest.