Sword Fights and Shaman Delights!

[My Visit to the Tamna Guk Ipchun Gut Nori 2010]

I've been looking forward to this weekend for awhile now. It's the traditional Jeju Shaman ceremony, celebrating the coming of spring and asking for a good harvest from the gods. For whatever reason this tradition is strongly symbolized by a wooden cow. Unfortunately the pamphlet (the only thing in English for the entire event) didn't tell me too much information. But I will quickly tell you some of the information I learned.

First off, it was supposed to be held on Wednesday (which is day of Ipchun which represents the beginning of Spring) but was forced to be celebrated on Saturday for the sake of tourism (I gather this led to some arguments between city officials and the shamans). The festival started off on Friday, with a large parade procession from the current city hall down to the old city hall: Jeju-Mok Gwhama. I couldn't go because I had to educate Korea's brats of the future. Starting at 11am on Saturday the day was begun with the head shaman doing the traditional ceremony in order to garner favor from the spirits for a good harvest. Finally the day ended with a 6 stage drama/dance that basically wished for a bountiful harvest for the year:

1. A dance of the stone grandfather
2. A dance of the Hojang who plants seeds in the field
3. A dance of the hunter who shoos away the bird that eats the planted seeds
4. A dance that represents the seeds slowly growing
5. A dance that signifies the conflict between the grandfather's wife and his mistress
6. And finally a dance wishing the best for a good harvest at the end of the year
   

Now I'll discuss the highlights of the day. The stuff that I'll can promise you, I will never forget and should be highlighted more often in Korean tourism. Saturday was filled with drum processions, sword fights, traditional dances, traditional songs, a traditional hanji paper activity, traditional plays, traditional.... well you get it. That was the stuff that was most amazing for me, and so that is what I will talk about in this post!


On Saturday Mike and I headed down to Jeju-mok, and there standing in front of the entrance was a large bull statue. This anime is made of natural wood pieced together (not carved) and is surrounded rope with little papers tied to it with wishes for the new year written upon them. There was an interesting (but admitedly lengthy to the point of boredom) ceremony performed by the head shaman in the pavillion in front of Jeju-mok. (Picture is posted further above)

Photograph by Mike Laidman

We then headed to the activity area where I made a cute little box using the hanji (wikipedia it, you lazy bums!) paper method. It sounds complicated, but all I did was glue colored paper strips to a box and created a lovely new place to put my pencils. We also made tea soap. I think. They pointed to a tree behind us and made the most atrocious smelling soap I've ever had the 'pleasure' to smell. It's officially a gift for my brother now! (I love you!!)

Photograph by Mike Laidman

We then proceeded to view the more traditional political side of the ceremony. At least people were dressed in traditional political clothes (again, I don't know the history and tradition behind this ceremony sadly). Now at this point we were invited to sit down for a traditional tea ceremony (I truly am a lucky soul), while everyone else had to stand in line for snacks. I don't know who I was sitting beside, but I think they were some pretty important people in Jeju (who were quite friendly). Never in my life have I had so many cameras in my face. When Mike and I were first poured tea, the sound of cameras clicking was something out of a TMZ episode.

Ah yes. Mike and I came early, and by coming early we were one of the first foreigners to arrive. And as I've mentioned in previous posts, Jeju media LOVE foreigners. Mike and I were in 4 interviews today, and I have to say that there is nothing more nerve-wracking than a camera in my face and having questions being asked to me in Korean (however, most people spoke to me in English and EVERYONE was very kind).

Photograph by Mike Laidman

After all the interviews, Mike and I settled down to watch an amazing display of Korean warrior prowess. There is nothing more amazing than watching a skilled warrior slice through 5 bamboo sticks, with concentration so remarkable that I had trouble tearing my gaze away from photographs of him taken by my friend. The warrior demonstrations ranged from sword play, a halberd demonstration, and a couple of younger boys sparring. The last presentation was of the 4 year old son of one of the warrions. This cute little boy slowly walked up and sliced clean through a little cucumber. Truly a fantastic experience!

This was then followed by the fantastic experience of seeing a couple of traditional dances. It is a crime that I cannot sit here and explain to you what these dances were about! I simply do not know! This time I took some videos instead of just photos. I feel that the videos do a much better job of showing what the experience was like. The first part of the dances included a scene that almost seemed like a bit of a circus. The little boy was doing flips everywhere, while the 'trainer?' and the 'animals' danced around. Considering the theme of the festival, I think the 'animals' were bulls. But they didn't really look like it. (But who am I to judge?)

The second part of the dancing was like nothing I'd ever seen before. No... I don't know what it's about. This lack of knowledge is making me extremely frustrated! When I know, I will update this blog. I'm mentioning it and posting the video of it, because it's something the world should see! Or at least my lame family and friends back home.

Before the final dance, there was an interesting play and dance performed. I talked to one of the foreigners there with me, and he was able to interpret the Korean enough to be able to tell that there was a daughter, father and mother. The mother and father were arguing about something concerning the daughter. I just loved the mother's dancing! Hilarious!

This ended with a final dance, and a procession of drums and instruments leading to the final closing 6-part ceremony that I initially mentioned earlier in the post.

Before I finish this off, I want to tell you of 2 more experiences I had today. I'm used to being approached by curious Koreans who want a chance to talk to a foreigner (something I can understand, when you consider the massive influence from the west and yet the fact that not many Jeju'ians have had the chance to talk to a real westerner), but this was way out of my comfort zone

At first we were approached by a woman who declared to us that not only did she hate English (she was speaking in English), foreigners, and America (we did point out that we were NOT Americans), but that we were also sucking away her culture. She went on to ask how we imagined Heaven and Hell, and then declared her battle with Jesus (despite being Christian) because he was from the West (we did take the time to point out that he wasn't from the West)! This conversation ended with a question about whether she was managing her disease any better, and a cryptic message about how not only would she battle Christ, but she'd also "see us later".

The second encounter was by another woman who decided to tell me she hated Vancouver and the Canadian government (or at least the BC government), and how Vancouver was dirty and not very environmental. Now, you probably wont see me defend the BC government anytime soon, but.... HEY! Come on! That's my country you're talking about! Oh don't worry, Canada wasn't the only punching bag for her; she also hates Jeju. Now... let me tell you.... being surrounded by Jeju'ians and being the the only white person in area (so you already know people had their eyes on me BEFORE the woman approached me), while a person loudly talks about 'Jeju' with *thumb down* gestures, really gave me a new definition for the word 'tension'.

Yay for life experiences! Especially the ones I didn't think were necessary.

Well that's it for my weekend! In case you're wondering why I didn't post about my Seoul trip, it's because everything I learned in Seoul is writted with the photos on my facebook. All I really have to discuss/post about is palace factoids. If you're interested in hearing about it, tell me and I'll make a post!