The Sunday Dress Culture

I have never really been the great Catholic devotee, but having been raised by spiritually-rooted parents and sent to an all-girls school that had to answer short, weekly quizzes about the Holy Bible, I don’t think it would surprise anyone if I show even the slightest effect of the Catholic influence in me.

And one great practice, you ask? Sporting a dress for the mass-- especially on an Easter Sunday. Whoot whoo!

I was very much aware of the Lenten week this year, though I must say that it was very hard to feel the supposed quiet and calm spirit of it, given the fast-paced working environment that I am in. It was “business as usual” in the place where I am currently caved in: hearing the same alarm sound from my mobile phone in the morning, walking on the same underground walkway to the same subway exit, to reach the same building elevator so I’ll get to the floor where my same high-backed office chair is placed. And for some reasons, as soon as my ass slumps itself on the cushion of that office chair that I just mentioned, I am automatically transported to a world of non-stop googling, online reading, and occasional eye-drooping. It’s normal, don’t worry. We all get tired when all we have to do is burn holes in our chairs, and pretend we have mastered all that there is in our field of work.

But despite this five-day virtual transformation in the office, weekends have more or less brought me back to the simpler of things, and not to mention, the more pleasant ones. I have never looked forward to Easter Sunday in my whole life than this year, when even an outright reminder to myself that I should not eat meat on a Friday, still plodded me to a samgyeopsal lunch appointment with a colleague. My longing for Easter Sunday is therefore a redemption from my submergence to another culture that made me forget my own.

And what a way to celebrate such yearning, than with someone who has more or less been exposed to the Sunday dress culture back in our teen years. It’s funny that the first question that this friend brought up as we talked about meeting up to attend the morning mass, was if we have gotten ourselves a church dress to wear. In the few times that this friend and I have actually met, hearing the Holy Eucharist has always been our agenda together, so going a level higher to inquiring about church etiquette may be a promise of better church meet-ups together. Who knows?

I get a late night, self-invite and reminder from a housemate that she wants to join me to mass the next morning, plus a shout-out from someone in the subway station as I high-heel your way to church-- and I end up standing in one line at the back of the cathedral with three of my friends, for coming in late. Serves me right for wearing black heels, eh?

So off to my newly-bought white flats as I spend Easter Sunday with the cherry blossoms in Yeouido, after hearing the mass. Despite the crowd and the heat of the afternoon, I think I can say that my dress had its perfect use for this day. :-)