Daeboreum Festival at Namsangol Hanok Village

After I wrote the first post about 대보름, serendipitously a Facebook post from Korean Clickers popped up with an article about a Daeboreum festival going on at the 남산골한옥마을, Namsangol Hanok Village, in Chungmuro today. I wasn't doing anything except sitting around looking at Facebook (I don't work on Tuesdays/Thursdays anymore) I jumped up and headed out to check out the activities. Fortunately, Chungmuro is only a 10 minute bus ride from my house, so I was there before 4pm to check out what was going on.

There were various events going on for kids and grown-ups...

 

떡 만들기- Ddeok (rice cake) making 

 연 만들기- Kite making 

삼해주 (소주) 만들기 - Samhae Liquor (Soju) making

But my favorite event here was a performance of the Bukcheong sajanoreum, or traditional lion mask dance which is considered to be an "Important Intangible Cultural Heritage of Korea". 

 Bukcheong sajanoreum is a traditional lion dance performed in Bukcheong-gun, Hamgyeongnam-do on the first full-moon day of the Lunar New Year. It was widely performed as an event to dispel evil and pray for the peace of the village. During the performance, a lion, nobleman (Yangban), servant (Kkeoksoe), hunchback (Kkopchu), and departed soul (Saryeong) appear. And boy-dancer (Mudong), monk (Jung), troupe of dancers and singers (Sadang), doctor (Uiwon) and devoted Buddhist (Geosa) appear without masks. A six-holed bamboo flute, drum, gong, hourglass-shaped drum are used in the performance. Among them, Tungso, the six-holed bamboo flute is more used in Bukcheong's lion mask dance than in other lion mask dances. It is notable that the lion dance displays sophisticated and vigorous actions rather than speeches and satire. [source]