Korean Culture lesson

So I was a little curious about these little stone statues that they have here in Korea...we were at the supermarket and saw them next to the tangerines...

Now I know a little...they are called Dol hareubang (돌 하르방) which literally means "stone grandfather" ...but I had heard they were just the symbol for Jeju Island, Koreas biggest island under the peninsula...but I also heard it had pagan roots...decided I wanted to research this!^^

So this is what they look like...





Now I went to Wikipedia...did a search on "dol hareubang". You van the search yourself but the gist of the info is that, Yes, it WAS a symbol of deity and promoted fertility, (small replicas would be given women wih fertility problems) BUT, it seems to have changed lately. People mostly correlate it to just Jeju Island since it's mostly a "honeymoon" place.

But anyways, Jeju is famous for their tangerines and really beautiful waters, and these old stone grandpas symbolize Koreas most popular tourist place. ^^