Men’s Mourning Clothes

This is a funeral outfit that is worn by the chief mourner during the period of mourning, from the burial until 27 months after the death of the deceased. Men’s mourning attire is collectively called gulgeonjebok, meaning chief mourner’s hat and funeral attire, which includes a mourners’ hat, a straw headband, a mourning cloth, a mourning skirt, a hemp or straw waist band, a cane, and mourners’ shoes. There are two types of mourners’ hat – mourner’s head cloth and chief mourner’s hat. A mourner’s head cloth was worn by those who were required to dress in mourning for less than a year after the death, while the chief mourner’s hat comes with a tall hat and straw headband. Mourning cloth refers to the upper garment with a patch on the left chest meant for catching the mourner’s tear. Mourning skirt consists of three panels of fabric on the front and four panels on the back. During untrimmed mourning (heaviest mourning specified in Ceremonials and Rites), the chief mourner should wear funeral clothing made of rough hemp cloth with no hem, while during trimmed mourning (second heaviest mourning), mourners should wear hemmed clothing made of rough hemp. Mourners also wore a waist strip made by twisting hemp and carried a cane. When going out, mourners wore durumagi, or an outer robe, with a hemp band and a bamboo hat for chief mourners. The mourners wrapped their calves with haengjeon made of hemp cloth, and wore rough straw shoes or hemp cloth shoes.