By Bernard Rowan
Mara Island or Marado marks the southernmost point of South Korea, roughly 11 kilometers from the popular Jeju Island. Mara Island is popular, as a place of natural beauty, solitude for walking and reflection, and as a place of the famous haenyeo or diving grandmas. We need to think about Mara Island and cultivate its natural beauty and potential.
Mara Island's population is small, in part because the island is so small, less than a quarter square mile. One can reach Mara by ferry from Jeju. There's plenty to see and do there. I enjoy walking around the island. It doesn't take that long to circle the entire perimeter.
Along the way, a visitor can see the homes where perhaps less than a hundred people live nowadays. There's a school, a church, a recently planted forest, and some other buildings. There's a Buddhist temple too. I don't remember what many guides mention as a Chocolate Museum. Everyone should visit Janggun Rock, which is a touchstone revered by local divers and their families. The Mara Lighthouse is impressive. Certain parts of the coastline are craggy and show the sturdy basalt rock that forms its base. Others are wonderful views of sky and seas.
One of the experiences I value most when visiting Korea is the way that her natural places and spaces provide many opportunities for quiet reflection combined with exercise. I find that time spent meditating in Korean places causes many good thoughts and restores balance to my spirit. Walking on Mara Island does so as well.
The local restaurant has its specialties, including dishes complemented by fresh local seafood such as black bean noodles with abalone or other shellfish. The inhabitants cultivate solar energy and use rainwater as freshwater.
The island had been home to an ever-shrinking number of diving women, now well-known as experts in the art of catching seafood. Stemming from Joseon times, these women work to catch the sea's bounty and are their families' breadwinners. Their husbands spend time at home and other jobs, while they dive to catch the sea's wonderful food. Modern accounts paint a romantic exaggeration of role reversals with their husbands. Mara and Jeju haenyeo mark the flexibility inherent in Korean Confucian self-understanding. Haenyeo show many of the rugged, determined, and life-loving qualities of ajummas in their lives and work.
I also note that Mara Island lies in the Korea Strait. The Strait connects the Korea Sea and East Sea. Various nations disagree and fight over the names of these great water bodies and islets. The islets of Ieodo further south and west mark one prominent example. Our world still faces conflicts because of contested borders. Like all animals, we humans stand fast on territorial jurisdictions, even in the oceans of our world.
In this way, visiting Mara Island made me think of the value of Korea to the Korean people but also of the song "Finlandia" by Sibelius with lyrics by Lloyd Stone and Georgia Harkness as "O God of All the Nations." The words speak of all nations and that people love their nations alike. Mara's quiet energy calls us to international humanity. Her peaceful face calls human motivation to a higher civilization. Humanity wants sharing and building the goods of individuals, of collectivities, and the wider public good.
There is a Facebook page entitled Mara Island South Korea. Find on it a few images of some lovely views. Other webpages capture glimpses of Mara's beauty and less touched quality. Well worth the small price for a ferry ride, it makes a different sought-after place or day excursion when visiting Jeju and South Jeolla Province.
Korea's national, provincial, and local governments should make it a priority to add to the sustainability of Mara Island. It's a monument to the resilience of many Korean traditions and people. I worry it will fall into lack of use and attention. Nothing is forever. It's not the time for Marado to fade!
Bernard Rowan is associate provost for contract administration and professor of political science at Chicago State University. He is a past fellow of the Korea Foundation and former visiting professor at Hanyang University. Reach him at browan10@yahoo.com
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Mara Island's population is small, in part because the island is so small, less than a quarter square mile. One can reach Mara by ferry from Jeju. There's plenty to see and do there. I enjoy walking around the island. It doesn't take that long to circle the entire perimeter.
Along the way, a visitor can see the homes where perhaps less than a hundred people live nowadays. There's a school, a church, a recently planted forest, and some other buildings. There's a Buddhist temple too. I don't remember what many guides mention as a Chocolate Museum. Everyone should visit Janggun Rock, which is a touchstone revered by local divers and their families. The Mara Lighthouse is impressive. Certain parts of the coastline are craggy and show the sturdy basalt rock that forms its base. Others are wonderful views of sky and seas.
One of the experiences I value most when visiting Korea is the way that her natural places and spaces provide many opportunities for quiet reflection combined with exercise. I find that time spent meditating in Korean places causes many good thoughts and restores balance to my spirit. Walking on Mara Island does so as well.
The local restaurant has its specialties, including dishes complemented by fresh local seafood such as black bean noodles with abalone or other shellfish. The inhabitants cultivate solar energy and use rainwater as freshwater.
The island had been home to an ever-shrinking number of diving women, now well-known as experts in the art of catching seafood. Stemming from Joseon times, these women work to catch the sea's bounty and are their families' breadwinners. Their husbands spend time at home and other jobs, while they dive to catch the sea's wonderful food. Modern accounts paint a romantic exaggeration of role reversals with their husbands. Mara and Jeju haenyeo mark the flexibility inherent in Korean Confucian self-understanding. Haenyeo show many of the rugged, determined, and life-loving qualities of ajummas in their lives and work.
I also note that Mara Island lies in the Korea Strait. The Strait connects the Korea Sea and East Sea. Various nations disagree and fight over the names of these great water bodies and islets. The islets of Ieodo further south and west mark one prominent example. Our world still faces conflicts because of contested borders. Like all animals, we humans stand fast on territorial jurisdictions, even in the oceans of our world.
In this way, visiting Mara Island made me think of the value of Korea to the Korean people but also of the song "Finlandia" by Sibelius with lyrics by Lloyd Stone and Georgia Harkness as "O God of All the Nations." The words speak of all nations and that people love their nations alike. Mara's quiet energy calls us to international humanity. Her peaceful face calls human motivation to a higher civilization. Humanity wants sharing and building the goods of individuals, of collectivities, and the wider public good.
There is a Facebook page entitled Mara Island South Korea. Find on it a few images of some lovely views. Other webpages capture glimpses of Mara's beauty and less touched quality. Well worth the small price for a ferry ride, it makes a different sought-after place or day excursion when visiting Jeju and South Jeolla Province.
Korea's national, provincial, and local governments should make it a priority to add to the sustainability of Mara Island. It's a monument to the resilience of many Korean traditions and people. I worry it will fall into lack of use and attention. Nothing is forever. It's not the time for Marado to fade!
Bernard Rowan is associate provost for contract administration and professor of political science at Chicago State University. He is a past fellow of the Korea Foundation and former visiting professor at Hanyang University. Reach him at browan10@yahoo.com
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