Celebrate Seasonal Dano Festival
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
The National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts (NCKTPA) will hold a seasonal performance on June 8 to celebrate Dano Day, which falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar and share its traditions with ancient sacrificial rites.
Traditionally, Korean ancestors used to celebrate Dano as a day of rest and offering prayers for a good harvest after the rice planting.
Dano is one of the major traditional holidays in Korea designated by UNESCO as one of the ``Masterpieces of Intangible Heritage.''
In Korean tradition, women wash their hair in water boiled with changpo (iris) to make one's hair shiny, while men wear iris roots around their waist to drive off evil spirits.
Korean's also wear blue and red clothes and dye hairpins red with iris roots.
People enjoy traditional foods such as different types of rice cakes ― ``surichitteok,'' ``ssuktteok,'' and other herb rice cakes.
On that day, traditional folk games such as the swing, a game played by women, and the ssireum, a wrestling match among men, are enjoyed along with a mask dance which was popular among peasants due to the satirical lyrics flouting local aristocrats.
Continuing with the traditions of folk sacrificial rites where the people gather for songs and dance to pray for a good harvest, the NCKTPA will present the Dano as a national festival, featuring the Folk Music Troupe, Dance Company and Creative Music Troupe.
The festival starts with a great ensemble of percussions as part of the ``Heaven Summon.'' Then it follows the officiating priest's recital of a written prayer and a musical performance of the people's hopes and prayers.
The final entertainment program of ``Unity of the Heaven, Earth and Mankind'' includes songs about the Dano Day and other folk performances such as Byunshinnori and Pungmulnanjang.
The performance will be held at Byeolmajiteo of the NCKTPA Sunday. Tickets cost 5,000 won. Grandparents accompanied by three-generations of family members will be given free admission.
For more admission inquiries, call (02) 580-3300 or visit www.ncktpa.go.kr.