That’s what one 18th century government official said about the Hanyeo of Jeju Island.  Before we set out on vacation there in early October, I did some reading on these women and was determined to see them in action.  To me the hanyeo seemed mythic, elusive, amazing.

Don’t know what one is?  They are Jeju-do’s very own mermaids, fierce women divers who have worked the shores of Jeju Island for centuries.  Until the mid twentieth century, the women dove into the frigid waters without any kind of modern wetsuit.  They still dive up to 20 feet deep for as long as two minutes without any kind of breathing apparatus.  Just fins, a couple weights, and goggles.  They harvest abalone, sea urchins, octopuses, and seaweed, which they then sell to support their families.

In addition to working the water 12 or so days a month, the hanyeo also participated in the subsistence farms that still exist all over the island.  Hanyeo dove until just days before giving birth and went back to work as little as three days after their children were born.  Women divers enjoyed and still enjoy special status in Jeju society. They were the most sought after brides in Tamna society, and they even worked actively to resist the occupation of the Japanese during the first half of the twentieth century.  The hanyeo advocated for better education for girls, and for centuries they trained the most promising of their daughters to follow in their footsteps as divers.

Here in the middle of Confucian Korea, where many of my students’ mothers still do not work outside of the home, where many women quit their jobs after marriage or pregnancy, the hanyeo stand as feminist badasses on the brink of extinction.  See, making a living from the ocean is difficult and dangerous, so not many women do it any more.  Most of the remaining hanyeo are in their sixties or older.  And they STILL DIVE.

I was awed by these women and absolutely entranced by their story.  When we saw hanyeo divers selling their wares in the southern part of the island or working the coast down by Sunrise Peak, I felt like I had glimpsed something precious and ephemeral, something few others would have the chance to witness.

Probably because I was right.  These women are a treasure.  What they do, what they represent to Korean and women’s culture, cannot be quantified or classified.  And soon, there will be no women divers to work the shores of Jeju.  And that thought makes me completely, indescribably sad.

 

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