The Beat of Drums and Clash of Cymbals

I have been told that it often takes some time to grow accustomed to a new culture, a new country, a new community. Often usual customs of the local people present challenges to one unaccustomed to their practices. One such custom here in Korea is the playing of traditional drums and cymbals. In a few weeks, the students of Handong will celebrate a festival. One of the highlights of the festival is traditional drumming, cymbals and the accompanying dance.

In order to prepare for this festival, a group of about 20 students have begun practicing the drumming and cymbal crashing outside the back of the Student Center under the large canopy. The structure of the Student Center forms sort of a amphitheater that resonates any sounds that are produced within it. This effect becomes particularly reverberating when the drum and cymbal corp commence there rehearsal.

It started last evening about 8pm. It continued -- constantly -- with the same recurring rhythm and clashing -- loud pounding -- and pronounced clashing -- until after 11pm. My apartment in the Mission House is within 100 yards of the area of the Student Center where the "rehearsal" was taking place. Needless to say, I was not able to even think about sleep until after the numbing drumming and clashing cymbals ceased.

While I sat and listened to the recurring rhythms, I was reminded of a story that my son Caleb told me from his experiences living among the Yanamamo Indians in the south of Venezuela. The young men of the community began preparing one night for a hunt. The preparation ritual involved their gathering around a large fire with drums and dancing. The partying continued to three days and nights before the young men (with Caleb tagging along) departed for the hunt.

As Caleb first reported this account in his email to us, he reminded us that teenagers are the same all over the world. They all enjoy the strong rhythms of the drum, dancing and a never-ending party. Well, Caleb's assessment of the young Yanamamo seems to hold true for the youth of Korea also -- at least here on the campus of Handong. So evidently, I will need to adjust my sleeping schedule or pull out my trusty ear plugs (an item every world traveler needs to have readily at hand -- another lesson I've learned from my son Caleb).

In any case, I am beginning, with a large measure of grace, to grow accustomed to their sound. I take some solace in knowing that even the Lord enjoins his congregation to:

Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!

Psalm 150:4-5