Danoje Festival

This past weekend we went to the Danoje Festival in Gangeung which is a festival which celebrates the old Shamanist religion in Korea. There is not much of this religion practiced anymore, but it was once the main religion in Korea, it is a mix of ancestor and nature worship as far as I understand it. Much like Native American religions in the U.S.

They did lots of shows and presentations which showed how Korean religion and life used to be as well as having a huge market with lots of great deals and food. I particularly enjoyed the fresh squeezed watermelon juice. Sean got a little fairy angel figure cut into glass that would light up with different colors. He named her the Lady of the Night and we had her as our mascot for the rest of the trip.

This guy made these really intricate woven animals out of coconut fronds which were absolutely amazing. I had never seen anything like this before. I really wanted to buy one but they were too delicate, I knew I would destroy one if I tried to lug it all over the festival and back to Cheongju.

Every few hours or so there would be a big procession through the festival with the traditional music and outfits that Shamanists wear. Lots of drums, it was really interesting to watch.

Part of the parade had a traditional marriage procession which you can see here, they would put the bride in the little box litter thing. And the parents would act real sad that they were giving her away.

A traditional part of the festival is getting your hair washed in iris water to make it shiny and healthy. This is me getting my hair washed in iris water. So many Koreans came up to Constance and I when we did it. They loved that we were participating and not just watching. And it made my hair smell good and cooled me off on the hot day. It was quite relaxing actually. They pour the water from hollowed coconut shells.

Sean and Steve had a lot of fun with their balloons, doing the wonderful balloon dance you can see below and confusing Koreans all around them. And then they invented a game where they would hit people lightly on the head with the balloon and say "boop!" Most people they did it to thought it was really funny. I was surprised how cool they were with it. It was quite funny.

At the festival, there was wrestling and standing up swinging and a mask dance that we saw. The mask dance was interesting if quite misogynist. It was all about how the bride did not do what her husband (who is old enough to be her father) said and runs away with other men, so it ruins everything and he beats her until he thinks he killed her, but then she is not dead.

When we went out at night we had quite a fun time. We made friends with a bunch of Koreans we met at the bulgogi (beef) place.