A virtual memorial service table, available at "e-sky burial information system." Courtesy of Korea Funeral Culture and Policy Institute

• ●COVID-19 has transformed the culture of Chuseok as people are advised to stay apart.

• ●The Ministry of Health and Welfare is providing online memorial services as an alternative.

Massive traffic jams are a typical scene around Chuseok – the lunar calendar-based harvest celebration that is one of Korea’s two biggest traditional holidays. Millions of people join an exodus to hometowns to attend large family gatherings and, more importantly, tend to their ancestral gravesites.

Last year was different, however, due to a surge in COVID-19 infections. In an attempt to curb the spread of the virus, the government strongly encouraged citizens to forgo visiting relatives and holding memorial rites for ancestors. Public mausoleums and cemeteries across the nation were even closed during the holiday.

The Delta variant has fueled a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections that has kept daily cases fluctuating around 1,700 for weeks, periodically breaking 2,000 per day, so the forthcoming three-day Chuseok holiday – which falls on September 20-22 this year – will see similar closures and government appeals.

To counter the abrupt, albeit temporary, halt to centuries-old customs, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Funeral Culture and Policy Institute (KFCPI) have devised alternative means to help people carry out their traditional practices online at sky.15774129.go.kr.

“Paying respects at ancestral graves during the holidays is Korea’s traditional custom. Because it is a cultural practice that should be preserved and continued, we came up with a new, contactless virtual system that can replace the physical rituals,” a KFCPI official told Korea Here & Now in a recent e-mail interview.

When the Ministry launched its “e-sky burial information system” in September 2020, in time for last Chuseok, it was initially met with skepticism from those who preferred to pay their respects to deceased ancestors in the traditional way.

However, many have come to find it an appropriate alternative during the lingering pandemic. According to the KFCPI, more than 470,000 users have taken advantage of the service as of July this year, and it will continue to provide online memorial services as the Delta variant has made in-person Chuseok gatherings too risky.

After site visitors sign up or log into an existing e-sky burial information system account, they can register an online memorial for their own direct ancestors and other departed relatives. Once the memorial is created, they can upload the portrait of the deceased and add personal eulogies, texts, audio files and photo and video albums to remember them by.

Users can also prepare a virtual memorial service table, write ancestral tablets and choose to either light incense or offer flowers as part of the ceremony.

One of the most notable functions of the online ritual, according to KFCPI, is that it can be shared on various social media channels including Twitter, Facebook and Kakaotalk. Consequently, multiple family members across the nation and overseas can easily participate in services even in these trying times when traveling remains difficult.

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