Shortly after a February 2008 sunrise at Busan's Haeundae beach.
The last sunset of the year and the first of the next are events celebrated in counties and cities throughout the country. I had planned a brief overview of festivals happening in Jeollanam-do, but unfortunately the most notable ones have been cancelled over concerns of foot-and-mouth disease. These include the sunrise and sunset festivals at Haenam county's "Land's Edge" (which posted the following message on the 24th on the official webpage)
해남 땅끝마을에서 개최예정이었던
제15회 땅끝해넘이해맞이축제 및 울돌목거북배 선상해맞이 행사를
최근 구제역이 전국적으로 확산됨에 따라 부득이 취소키로 결정하였음을 알려드리오니,
이점 양지하시기 바랍니다
그동안 행사의 성공적 개최를 위해 각계각층에서 보내주신 성원에 감사드리며
내년에는 더욱 알차고 차별화된 축제로 발전시킬 것을 약속드립니다.
and the sunrise festivals at Goheung's Namyeol Beach, at Yeongam Lake, Wando, and Yeosu's Hyangiram.
6 comments:
Yeah, there's at least one winter festival that has been cancelled in Gangwondo... The weirdest thing about the fear? Again, the lack of attention to facts - how many get infected by animals at a festival? Bad foos maybe - so go gey Australian beef and be done with it...
The big one in Busan hasn't been cancelled yet, and there's a sunrise-viewing festival on a ship heading out of Mokpo at 5 am.
Better safe than sorry, I suppose, but this looks awfully similar to what happened with swine flu, when hundreds of festivals were cancelled. We've read for years how smaller festivals don't make any money, and the swine flu scare was a way to cancel and save money without the county losing face.
These festivals often have some small performances (and speeches) associated with them, but it's not like the sunrise itself is cancelled. There's (likely) nothing stopping you from going to Haenam's Ddangkkeut, Wando, or atop Jirisan to enjoy it.
The fear isn't about humans getting infected with foot and mouth disease, it's about humans transporting the disease from animals in one part of the country to animals in the other part of the country. You just have to look at wikipedia to find a precedent for this in England.
Farmers will have to slaughter millions of dollars worth of livestock, so the government is doing what it can to help prevent the disease from spreading.
Good point, thank you 3gyupsal.
How are they doing on blaming the hoof-and-mouth disease on English teachers? Any progress on that yet? ;)
@ Kushibo, They have good reason to, I spent all last week making hoof and mouth Gom Tang with my classes. A delicious treat really.
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