Christmas on Ganghwa Island 1927

Ganghwa Island on Christmas Eve in 2012 / Robert Neff Collection

In 1927, Miss Jeannette Oldfather, an American missionary from Iowa, wrote, “Christmas in Korea is a happy affair [although] there are few gifts for the children.” She was especially concerned for the children on Ganghwa and the smaller islands surrounding it “where the children have never seen dolls.” However, she was determined to change that — with, of course, Santa Claus’ help.

Of course, none of the children actually saw Santa that year. He was far too busy to put up with the bureaucratic paperwork that was required to visit the islands, so, instead, he sent Miss Oldfather. According to her, to get to Ganghwa Island and some of the nearby smaller islands from Jemulpo (modern Incheon), she was forced to take a coastal steamer part of the way, then a motorboat and finally an open Korean sailboat. The trip was not as tedious as the paperwork was:

“[In] addition to the regular information as to name, birthplace and business, which the government requires when we buy our tickets [to the island], the man asked me to write my name in Japanese (which I can’t do), when they already had the Chinese characters of my name, which are also used in Japanese.”

Snow covers the steps along the wall around Ganghwa City in 2012. Robert Neff Collection

Once she arrived at the island’s dock, she had to walk five kilometers to the mission’s rest house in Ganghwa City. Instead of finding a warm, comfortable bed, she found a minor disaster:

“There I found that the bedding line had broken, dropping the bedding on the damp clay floor of one room, while in the other room, the clay floor [had] fallen in so that I could not heat the floor (by a style of flues underneath) and dry the bedding. That meant unpacking all my baggage roll, to get the bedding, and packing it again the next morning, but we, the baggage coolie, and I got off at six in the morning on our [20-kilometer] trip across [Ganghwa] Island.”

Yet, despite these initial hardships, she remained very positive and noted the island’s scenery was beautiful during the winter. She also displayed a fair amount of patience — something many people are short of during the holiday season.

While waiting for a boat to take her to one of the smaller islands, she was besieged by a group of “curious folks” that kept coming and going to look at her and discussed and questioned her every move. In her letter, she acknowledged that she was a little tired from her long walk and found the boys to be “a bit rude” but for the most part, “the little youngsters were dear, and the women friendly.”

A view of Ganghwa City from the island's old fortifications in 2012 / Robert Neff Collection

Of course, her hair (which her Korean spectators announced to be yellow) and her white skin (she put question marks next to the white, so I am assuming she had a darker complexion) attracted the most attention. Amusingly, despite having been in Korea for only three years, she was able to understand some of the conversations she overheard about her:

“‘Where’s she going?’ ‘Just look what all she’s got there.’ ‘Well, would you look at that fan!’ ‘I wonder how old she is.’ ‘How old are you?’ ‘Oh, yes, these foreigners have all colors of hair.’ ‘Aigo, what’s she doing now?’ ‘Do you suppose that’s beer she’s drinking?’ (My poor innocent tea – how quickly I set them right!) ‘Wow, the foreign men, they are horribly tall; one used to travel this district.’ ‘O, will you take this youngster along with you and raise it as your own? My husband’s dead.’ (Of course, I knew in spite of the clipped hair it was a girl. Not so would they talk of sons.) ‘O, say do you eat (smoke) tobacco?’ (I am speechless for a moment.) ‘Well, what’s she eating now? Huh, of course it’s western bread.’”

It isn’t clear what the children on Ganghwa and the surrounding islands received, but we know the gifts Santa gave the children at the mission schools in Jemulpo.

At a little ceremony in their kindergarten, “the little kiddies in their best, looking like little flowers in the bright colors of the Korean costume, all excited and wiggly, taking peeks on the quiet, at the [Christmas] tree up in front,” were presented with their gifts. Each little girl received “a tiny celluloid doll and a yarn ball” while the boys each received “a nice plump cloth dog or rabbit, which they seemed to like, as it was made of red cloth.”

The home of a man who would become king, December 2012 / Robert Neff Collection

The following day the elementary students received their gifts from Santa. He presented the first grade girls with dolls, and a box of crayons and a pencil for the second graders, a notebook and a ruler for the third graders and for the fourth graders a handkerchief and a pencil.

They were, for the most part, practical gifts to aid them with their schoolwork but Santa truly showed compassion and understanding with his gifts to the fifth graders. He presented them with a small bottle of hand lotion. Oldfather explained:

“At that age, when they must help with the cooking in an unheated dirt-floored kitchen, and often do the family washing, outside, in cold water, at some stream, even in midwinter, little hands become so chapped and bleeding a soothing lotion is much appreciated.”

The past meets the present at Ganghwa City in December 2012. Robert Neff Collection

The position of the sixth graders was also considered as they were “soon to graduate [and] the dignity of their positions required [them to receive] a bit more” than their younger peers. They were presented with a notebook, a pencil and a handkerchief.

We do know that a couple of dolls, left over from the schools in Jemulpo, were sent to the islands where they were received with great joy. In her letter thanking one of Santa’s helpers in Iowa, she wrote: “What they […] mean to the girls there you cannot imagine, unless you know the hardness, the poverty of their lives, and their home conditions.”

I know very little about Jeannette Oldfather, but this year, when I think about the jolly old fellow, it won’t be Saint Nick who I am thinking about — it will be Oldfather.

I wish everyone a great holiday season. Stay warm and take care.

I would like to thank Diane Nars for her invaluable assistance and friendship.

Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books, including "Letters from Joseon," "Korea Through Western Eyes" and "Brief Encounters."