Gochang Fortress Festival
Later in October we spent a Saturday at the Gochang Fortress Festival. I assume that it wasn't canceled during the swine flu scare because it is focused on health. According to legend, if a woman walks around the walls of Gochang three times with a stone on her head during a leap month then she will never be sick again. I expect you are now wondering what the hell a leap month is. On our solar calendar we have a leap day--February 29th--every four years. The lunar calendar isn't as close, so occasionally it is necessary to add a full month to make it add up.
I had hoped to see the parade of women in traditional Korean clothing (hanboks) walking the walls like I saw in the pictures of the event, but we didn't get into town until early afternoon and that part was already over. Instead we watched a big parade. As we waited for the procession to start moving I found traditional red and blue lantern on the ground that Alanna had been coveting for ages and so we took it. The parade had everything from cavemen to traditional musicians to women with absurdly intricate patterns in their hair to kids dressed as warriors. One of the more entertaining parts was to watch the huge towers hung with a triangle of lanterns as they passed under power lines and street lights, which involved leaning them nearly on their sides to let them pass. I also really enjoyed the giant ropes that were part of the planting festival game I talked about concerning the Gwangju museum where two teams ram the giant ropes together to knock one side's rider off. They didn't play this obviously dangerous game with the non-traditionally super young kids as the riders, but I was glad to see the ropes in person anyway.
The parade ended back where it began at the fortress entrance. We went in and a man insisted that we take a flowery hat. We weren't really sure it was his to give, so we left it behind and watched the sun set over the fortress walls. After a while we left and turned back to see the lights come on along the walls.
I had hoped to see the parade of women in traditional Korean clothing (hanboks) walking the walls like I saw in the pictures of the event, but we didn't get into town until early afternoon and that part was already over. Instead we watched a big parade. As we waited for the procession to start moving I found traditional red and blue lantern on the ground that Alanna had been coveting for ages and so we took it. The parade had everything from cavemen to traditional musicians to women with absurdly intricate patterns in their hair to kids dressed as warriors. One of the more entertaining parts was to watch the huge towers hung with a triangle of lanterns as they passed under power lines and street lights, which involved leaning them nearly on their sides to let them pass. I also really enjoyed the giant ropes that were part of the planting festival game I talked about concerning the Gwangju museum where two teams ram the giant ropes together to knock one side's rider off. They didn't play this obviously dangerous game with the non-traditionally super young kids as the riders, but I was glad to see the ropes in person anyway.
The parade ended back where it began at the fortress entrance. We went in and a man insisted that we take a flowery hat. We weren't really sure it was his to give, so we left it behind and watched the sun set over the fortress walls. After a while we left and turned back to see the lights come on along the walls.
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