Читать книгу Things Korean - O-Young Lee - Страница 26

From Twine to Macrame

Maedup

The arrow root and the wisteria are products of nature, but once we cut them off and tie them together they become twine and knot, products of human culture. There are those who say that human culture and civilization originated in the twine. To be precise, twine, like words, was used to signify meaning, and, as we know, for culture to exist there must be some way to convey meaning. The role of twine in the genesis of civilization is witnessed in prehistoric earthenware pottery, where we find patterns made from twine which were thought to bear special significance.

For twine to fully serve its purpose, though, the technique of knot tying had first to be learned. If we did not know how to use twine, this twine would have been of no avail. Therefore it is no exaggeration to say that without the knot the primitive skills of civilization could not have developed as they have. Information had to be conveyed and records kept. The twine and knot depicted meaning as words do. A concrete example of this can be found in the knotted rope used in pre-literate times.

I have mentioned in other pages that the twine is to the Korean what the button is to the Westerner; we can even go so far as to say that twine is the basis of Korean culture. Korea's first twine was made from straw, which was until recently the most frequently used material in Korea. The origin of all our technical skills can be found in the making of straw twine, which was then combined by knots with other twine to make straw shoes, straw packs and straw baskets.

In Korea twine and its knot are not used only for making things. The Korean views life in terms of twine and its knot. When a Korean talks about people meeting and parting he will often express it in terms of twine, as tying and untying, joining or breaking. And if he is in straightened circumstances with no one to turn to, he says in this situation, "my string broke."