Festivals in Korea


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April 21st 2013
Published: August 6th 2013
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Korea is always the country for festivals - it's hard to keep count of what goes on! The first big one this year was the Lunar New Year (Seollal) February 9th-11th. We didn't attend celebrations as most of our friends went away together and hired a pension for the weekend, but for most Koreans it's a very important holiday and one that's spent with family. Lanterns were strung up all over towns and cities and some temples put on magnificent lantern shows at night, which I heard about too late! Two weeks later, however, I made my way down to Haeundae and Gwangalli beaches in Busan to see the Jeongwol Daeboreum Fire Festival celebrations. This is held every year on the day of the first full moon of the Lunar New Year, for people to come together to pray for good health and harvest for the coming year. Bonfires were lit all over the country and other celebrations and events planned. I just caught the bonfire being lit at Haeundae beach. People had tucked in slips of paper (containing their hopes and wishes for the coming year) into the bottom of the heap and the torches were lowered. There was a big cheer when it went up. It was the same at Gwangalli and I seemed to have missed most of the music and dancing ceremonies, although there were still plenty of people in traditional costumes walking around.

Before Easter, we were able to celebrate the Indian festival of Holi Hai. It's a Hindu festival of colour that marks the beginning of spring, and the Indian Association of Korea had organised an event on Haeundae beach that kicked off in the morning. I was feeling a bitunder the weather from the night before, and the early start didn't help, but it turned into the best way to start your day! We were given hats, a beer and body paint (dry and liquid) and it all started almost immediately! Complete strangers kept wandering up to us, coating us in paint saying "Happy Holi!" The atmosphere was electric! Punjabi music was pumping, soju and paint was being thrown around in the air, and we were plied with free drink and samosas. We danced for so long, getting into the thick of the group, dancing with strangers and feeling like we were at the best festival on the planet! Eventually all good things
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Cheongdo
come to an end, and we headed off to an Indian restaurant naturally for a late lunch.

One Saturday in April, I found myself on an organised tour to the Cheongdo Bullfighting Festival. This tour came with a lot of random extras attached. First we went a wine tunnel, literally a converted train tunnel, for some sampling. While the tunnel was really cool and atmospheric, unfortunately the wine was disgusting - possibly made from persimmon, it tasted like the vilest vinegar. We had two samples which were accompanied with tiny squares of processed cheese on cheap crackers. Then we went for a 'tour' down the tunnel to admire some fairy light displays before it came to a dead end. Oh well, we made our own fun! After this we were packed back onto the bus and taken to an 'organic farm shop' which was very small and seemed to mostly sell dried persimmon. After lunch, we went to the bullfighting stadium. The Cheongdo Bullfighting Festival celebrates the long tradition of bullfighting in the Gyeongsangbuk-do Province and is the largest bullfighting championship in the country. The bull-fights themselves were more like two bulls sumo-wrestling! No matadors, blood or gore here
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Ulsan Whale Festival
- this is bullfighting at its most basic. They were led into the centre circle by their handlers, almost reluctantly. Their head were pulled around by the rings in their noses and they were made to lock eyes. Almost immediately they butted heads. The objective appeared to be to shove and intimidate the other bull until they broke away from the headlock. The strangest part was seeing the handlers literally a few feet away shouting and egging them on. When a bull conceded defeat it broke away and trotted back to it's gate, the winner just stood in the centre waiting for it's handler to head it away again. It was brilliant!

The following weekend was the Ulsan Whale festival, and a few of were heading over to join our Ulsan friends in a dragon boat race for charity. We arrived late on the Saturday, but as it turned out the whole race was delayed as divers were looking for the body of a jumper, who had leaped off the bridge in the early hours of the morning. (South Korea has the highest rate of suicide among the 30 OECD countries, and it's rate has doubled over the last
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Ulsan Whale Festival
decade). When everything got started eventually, we had two races each in our groups to determine who would make it to the semi-finals, and then the finals. Our first run was a bit of a disaster! We had 18 rowers, 1 drummer and 1 steersperson, and our steersperson had us going around in circles! The second time I took over the job and we finished in a more respectable time but still 3rd in our group. Out of the running, the day was spent drinking and cheering on the other teams. One boat capsized, with the team being fished out of the water near the bridge. We explored the rest of the festival site, there seemed to be something for everybody to do, a very family orientated festival!


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Wine Tunnel

Cheongdo
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processions

Cheongdo
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Drummer Boy

Ulsan Whale Festival
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racing

Ulsan Whale Festival
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Moby Dick

Ulsan Whale Festival
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adjummas making pajeon

Ulsan Whale Festival


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