Festival @ Korea

FESTIVALS YOU CAN ONLY EXPERIENCEIN SOUTH KOREA

Daeboreum

Jeongwol Daeboreum refers to the first full moon of the Lunar New Year, which falls on the 15th day of the lunar calendar. This first full moon is considered to be the largest and roundest of all the moons in the year. On this day, traditions and customs are performed to wish for a peaceful and bountiful year. In 2017, Jeongwol Daeboreum falls on February 11 of the Gregorian calendar. Jeongwol Daeboreum is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about Korea’s traditions, and there are plenty of hands-on activities and events taking place to celebrate.








Drinking gwibalgisul: A tradition of drinking a cup of chilled liquor on the morning of Jeongwol Daeboreum to open one’s ears to hearing only good news all year round.


• Cracking bureom: Bureom are nuts, such as peanuts, walnuts, pine nuts, chestnuts, and ginkgo nuts. A common tradition of Jeongwol Daeboreum is to crack a nut in your mouth in the morning. This is believed to help strengthen one’s teeth and avoid skin problems in the coming year.


• Sharing ogok-bap rice: Ogok-bap is steamed rice made with five grains. The rice is eaten with various seasoned vegetables and is believed to bring good luck.


• Burning daljip: Daljip is a heap of straw or twigs. Burning daljip is a tradition intended to ward off misfortune and bring good luck.


• Jwibulnori: Jwibulnori is a tradition of burning grass and weeds on dry fields and rice paddies after sunset in order to kill insect eggs and to fertilize the fields with ashes. The flames lighting up the night sky also make for a spectacular sight.


• Jisinbapgi: On Jeongwol Daeboreum, a band of farmer musicians travel from house to house to stomp on the ground to call on jisin, the gods of the earth. As the traveling band of musicians visits each house in the village, thereby bringing good fortune to all, the villagers in turn provide the musicians with food and drinks.


• Juldarigi: Juldarigi is a traditional tug-of-war game, with people dividing into two teams to pull on a rope. On the day before Jeongwol Daeboreum, the villagers gather together and make one large rope out of many smaller ropes. The next day, the villagers divide into two teams, depending on which side of the village they live in.


• Deowipalgi: Deowipalgi literally means "selling heat." This fun, symbolic tradition involves calling a friend or family member by name. If they respond, they are then told, "Buy my heat!" The buyer is then responsible for absorbing all the heat the seller would have otherwise received in the coming summer.

Buddha's Birthday Celebration

In Korea the birthday of Buddha is celebrated according to the lunar calendar. This day is called “Seokga tansinil”, meaning "Buddha's birthday" or “Bucheonim osin nal” meaning "the day when the Buddha came". It falls on the eighth day of the fourth month according to the lunar calendar and this year the celebration falls on May 6th. Buddha’s birthday is not only a holiday for the 15 million people who pray at Buddhist temples all over Korea on a daily basis, but a public holiday enjoyed by everyone. It is a carnival day when Korean culture and tradition is celebrated.

Take a visit to one of the many temples in the country and one will see lotus lanterns that cover the entire temple along with the surrounding yards and streets. On the day of Buddha's birth, many temples provide free meals and tea to all visitors who make the journey. The breakfast and lunch provided are often a mixed rice and vegetable dish known as “bibimbab”. Outside in the temple yards and parks, traditional games and rope jumping are organized. There are mask dances and acrobatic shows with tightrope walkers.

Everywhere in the world, Buddha's Birthday is known as the Festival of the Lanterns. Colored paper lanterns with candles inside them are made that are mostly red, pink and gold. A small paper tag is hung from the bottom of the lantern and on that tag, you write your name and a wish or a hope that you carry in your heart. The largest lantern festival happens in downtown Seoul and this year runs from April 25 through to May 11 with the annual parade being the highlight.

This year’s festival takes on added a far more sombre tone however as the grief from the recent ferry disaster continues to engulf the nation. In Seoul on Saturday night, participants holding funeral streamers bearing messages for victims of the capsized passenger ship Sewol, marched to commemorate the victims. South Korean Buddhists dedicated this annual lotus lantern festival, the highlight of its celebrations for Buddha's birthday, to those killed in the accident and pray for the safe return of possible survivors.

Chuseok: Korean Thanksgiving Day

Chuseok, also known as Korean Thanksgiving Day, is one of the most important and festive holidays of the year. This year, Chuseok falls on Thursday, September 19th, but the holiday period actually lasts for three days in total – including the day before and after Chuseok. Traditionally, Koreans return to their ancestral hometowns to celebrate with their families, causing one of the biggest traffic jams of the year as people often take to the road to reach the provinces outside of Seoul.

A time for family
The origins of Chuseok can be traced back to Korea’s past as an agrarian society. Chuseok is also known as Hangawi, which means the 15th day of August, according to the lunar calendar. On this day, a full harvest moon appeared in the sky and families gathered to enjoy time together and give thanks to their ancestors for the plentiful harvest. The women of the family also prepared an ancestral memorial ceremony called charye by filling a table with food including newly harvested rice and fruit.

Koreans celebrate Chuseok by making special foods, particularly a certain kind of rice cake called songpyeon. Songpyeon is made with finely ground new rice and the dough is kneaded into small round shapes and filled with sesame seeds, chestnuts, red beans, or other similar ingredients. The rice cakes are arranged upon layers of pine needles as they are steamed, filling the home with the delicate and fresh fragrance of autumn. On the eve of Chuseok, family members gather to make songpyeon together, illustrating the importance of family in Korean society.

A plate full of songpyeon, the representative Chuseok food. Joe McPherson/ZenKimchi


Another Chuseok tradition in modern-day Korea is that of gift-giving. Koreans will present gifts to not only their relatives, but also to friends and business acquaintances to show their thanks and appreciation. Some customary gift ideas are high-quality cuts of beef, fresh fruit such as apples, and gift sets of everything from traditional Korean snacks to useful items like shampoo. If you look around supermarkets and department stores before Chuseok, you will no doubt encounter a huge variety of gift sets on sale. Spam, which is extremely popular in Korea, is actually one of the most popular gift sets to present to those near and dear to you.

KOREAN LUNAR NEW YEAR

Known as Seollal, Korean New Year is the first day of the lunar Korean calendar.

It is the most important of the traditional Korean holidays. It consists of a period of celebrations, starting on New Year's Eve.

The Korean New Year holidays last three days. It is customary and may be required under collective bargaining agreements for South Korean businesses to close for the lunar new year.

Despite this festival having its origins in antiquity, Seollal was under threat as a holiday for about a century until the 1980s. It was effectively ignored during the period of Japanese rule as part of the cultural assimilation with the solar New Year pushed instead with three days of holidays. Lunar New Year was only reinstated as a one-day holiday called Folk's Day in 1985. It was named Seollal in 1989 when it was expanded to three days and solar New Year clipped back to two days.

In South Korea, the Lunar New Year festival centers on family reunions, food and placating the ancestors.

During the New Year festivities it is common for adults to wear the colourful traditional costume, the Hanbok. Traditional women's hanbok consists of a blouse shirt or a jacket and chima, a wrap-around skirt, which is usually worn full. Men's hanbok consists of a shirt and baji which means pants in Korea.

The soup that takes a year to eat
Tteokguk is a traditional Korean food that is customarily eaten for the New Year. The dish is a soup with thinly sliced rice cakes.

According to tradition the Korean New Year is similar to a birthday for Koreans, and having Tteokguk is part of the birthday celebration. Once you finish eating your Tteokguk, you are one year older.

New Year's Eve
Celebrations on New Year's Eve in Korea are similar to the western traditions such as parties and fireworks to welcome in the new year. A recent tradition is the ringing of the historic Boshingak Bell. The bell was originally constructed in 1396 and is now only rung on Lunar New Year.

Another New Year's eve custom is playing Yunnori, a traditional board game.



Gangneung Danoje Festival, Where Spirit of Unity Pervades

Korea's annual Dano holiday (단오), falling on May 5th of the lunar calendar each year, is one of the three most-celebrated holidays in the nation; the other two being Seollal (Lunar New Year's Day) and Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving Day). It was originally established as a day for people to share traditional food together in order to stay healthy and fit for the summer. It was also a time to hold rituals to pray for a year of abundant harvest.

The Gangneung Danoje Festival, held in Gangwon-do, was the most well-known commemorative event found during the past, and its traditional games and activities have been passed down from generation to generation. Thanks to the cultural uniqueness and remarkable artistic qualities of Gangneung Danoje, the festival was acknowledged by UNESCO and proclaimed a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. 

The festive mood of the Gangneung Danoje Festival can be felt throughout the whole city. Visitors will be able to experience traditional performances for free and experience a variety of other time-honored cultural events.

credit to: Imagine Your Korea, Imagine Your Korea, Office Holiday, Asia Society, Asia Society.