Burning the Moon House festival

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A snow storm hit Busan!
After only 3 days of classes I was told that I not only had the rest of the week off but that the following 2 weeks I didn't need to come! All the students have vacation but according to the contracts public teachers should come into school during these weeks to plan and prepare. Fortunately my school again proved how nice they were and let me have 2 more weeks of vacation rather than coming in and “desk warming” as many other foreign teachers have to. For 2 days I did have to go in for half days to meet the new teachers but this actually lead to a great evening. I had heard that February 17 was a Korean Holiday but it didn't sound like anything special. When I was talking about it with a teacher (a social studies teacher who studies English on her own accord) she first told me about the events happening at the beach near my house and then suggested we go together. So after school she picked me and so began our adventures.
Tonight was the first full moon of the Lunar New Year. So we gathered on the beach area in front of a massive “moon house” a giant wooden structure covered in very flammable tree boughs. You put all your bad luck accumulated into the house then burn it back to the Moon god. Then, while it's burning you make a wish for the future year. This is a very old tradition. Traditional dances were happening and I watched merely. Unfortunately my lighter hair attracted attention and I was grabbed (and I do mean grabbed, there was no saying no to two people) into the circle. My friend, bless her heart, came with me to help explain what was going on and to help with my embarrassment. So I then awkwardly tried to join in the dance and clapped off beat to the various percussion instruments. After a few minutes (which seemed far longer) my friend grabbed my hand and we were able to escape back into the crowd.

We watched the offers/honoring of the ancestors which she explained went on far longer than normal because all the local politicians there. It will soon be election time. A Korean even shouted “just light the fire already!” as my friend translated. Being the only foreigner there again got us intro trouble. A reporter/photographer asked if she could put my picture and story online as part of her write-up of the event. It's like being a celebrity in Korea! I said yes because the lady was rather sweet. After the massive fire (which I was told was less impressive because the rain of the past few days) there were some pretty impressive fireworks. They were so close I could feel my pants vibrate from the boom and at one point thought for sure the sparks coming down where going to catch me on fire. We ended the night with some delicious pumpkin porridge.

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Photos

Photo 3
Eddie and our friend Tori after just 30 minutes of walking around

Kids playing in the snow
They are using Hite (domestic Korean beer) boxes as sleds

Comments

[StaceyandEddie]

Music
Oh and the music choice for the show? Pirates of the Caribbean and Escaflowne.