preview

Jeju Haenyeo Essay

Decent Essays

Culture of Jeju Haenyeo (Women divers) Haenyeos are professional female divers who hold their breath for every 10 meters under the sea to collect different types of seafood and seaweed without the use of breathing apparatus. They use a special breathing technique called Sumbi sori where the Jeju Haenyeo whistle to breathe out the carbon dioxide and breathe in fresh oxygen (UNESCO.org, 2016). They can dive up to 7 hours a day and 90 days of the year. According to the Jeju Haenyeo Museum, the haenyeo forbids harvesting at a certain period to preserve the region’s ecology, and harvesting of young fish and shellfish is never allowed (Cataneo, 2017). Diving was a job for Jeju men, but it changed during the 17th century when the Korean King at that time recruited numbers of them in the army and since abalones still had to be sent to the King, the women were forced into taking up this job to replace the men (Mundy, 2015). …show more content…

The Haenyeos are respected for protecting their Haenyeo culture during that period. There are three different levels of haenyeo, and it is according to their level of experience. Sanggun being the highest level of haenyeo, they can dive into the most difficult areas because of her skills. Junggun is the middle level while Hagun is the bottom level, which mostly consists of beginners or older women (Cataneo, 2017). A 100 percent cotton bathing suit in white or black were originally worn by the Haenyeos until wetsuits were supplied to them, the traditional cotton bathing suit consisted of a bathing suit, upper shirt, and a hood without any goggles (Lee, 2017). Nowadays, they wear yellow flippers and a black wetsuit and carry a turquoise net, which attached to a bright orange float to collect the

Get Access