I’m Bill Tsutsui with another Postcard from Asia from the Center for East Asian Studies.

South Korean fiancés are under pressure and the country’s esteemed fortune tellers are turning up the heat. Why? Because this lunar year has two first days of spring—one last January, and another next February—and such an anomaly is practically an astrological guarantee of marital bliss. To fuel the frenzy even further, this double spring year will be followed by the ominous Year of the Widow which pretty much everyone would argue sounds like a bad time to get married. Record numbers of couples are rushing to take advantage of this propitious time which brings to mind the proverb “Marry in haste; repent at leisure.” One can’t help wondering how many couples might be saying “I do” when they should be saying “I don’t.”

With thanks to Leslie vonHolten for this text, from the Center for East Asian Studies, I’m Bill Tsutsui. Wish you were here.