The 컨셉 (ugh, concept) this year is symbolized by three words: 美, 樂, 쿨. 美 is pronounced "mi" and means beauty, 樂 is pronounced 락 and means pleasure, and 쿨 is pronounced "kul" and means, um, cool. The last component is advertised on the official website by two teachers from Suncheon, continuing the tradition of using foreigners in advertisements for local festivals to make them seem more international and popular:
Found through this article in 호남조은뉴스.
I'll probably post a reminder about the festival a little later, when I do my annual spring festival preview. For the time being you'll find a schedule of events here, in Korean. Most of you probably can't go because it's from Tuesday through Thursday this year.
I made the fairly long trip from Gwangju last year, but thanks to the limited information available ended up choosing the wrong day, and went back home when I saw there'd be no sea parting. I met up with Kelsey of Drifting Focus who lived on Jindo at the time, grabbed a couple pictures, and ran into an amusing man selling 엿 and entertaining the middle-aged women.
All accounts I've heard and read by people who actually picked the right day, it's a good time, albeit a crowded one. You put on a big pair of rubber boots, make your way out to Modo---a small outlying island soem 54 acres in size---and walk back before the tide comes in. Kelsey, an excellent photographer and a valuable source of information for life in Jindo county, did a number of posts last year both before and after the festival; here are a few: 1, 2, 3.
Jindo is somewhat remote, and is one of three provinces in Jeollanam-do comprised entirely of islands. The county also shares the name of the largest island, which can lead to some confusing when reading about it, though the Chinese characters for "-do" are different. This is a point I'll make again when I write at greater length about festivals, but people who don't live in rural Korea and who've never visited really ought to make the effort to spend at least a weekend away. You won't get the full experience surrounded by hundreds or thousands of tourists, but you owe it to yourself to see a different side of Korea. Actually, this is probably the one week out of the year you won't have a very authentic Jindo experience: two years ago they attempted to set a Guinness world record for longest sea-parting area and most people crossing at one time.
Regarding the title of the festival, I did have to chuckle at what commenter ROK Hound had to say last year:
The tide went out!
It's a miracle!
It happens between one and three times a year, though the festivities are reserved for spring.
1 comment:
I went in 2008 and while not walking to the island and back, had a great time there. It's well worth experiencing and I would go back this year if I were going to be around when it was happening.
Post a Comment