Saturday, September 30, 2017

#8: JEONGSEON: ARIRANG FESTIVAL

Hello guys! I need to back on track for my Pyeongchang 2018's supporters activity for the month of September so for the rest of my Korea trip's posts going to up in October. So please wait for it and meanwhile please enjoy this post ^^ 


Jeongseon Arirang is the regional variety of Arirang, Korea's best-known folk song, native to Jeongseon area of Gangwon-do. A festival is held every year in homage to his folk song, designated as Gangwon-do Intangible Cultural Heritage No.1. Jeongseon Arirang Festival inauguarates with a costumed parade and street folk perfomances. The perfomances if Jeongseon Arirang, the main highlight of the festival, is followed by a variety of other folk performances, cultural events nd sporting events. Participatory events are open to public particiption, including Jeongseon Arirang singing competition, reactment of Ttetmok Arari and a local dialect contest.


Admission/Participation Fees: Free
Period: 29 Sep-2 Oct 2017
Address: 112, Bongyang-ri, Jeongseon-eup, Jeongseon-gun, Gangwon-do
Transportation: From Dong Seoul Bus Terminal, take an intercity bus to Jeongseon. From Jeongseon Terminal, take a taxi to festival grounds in 5 - 10 minutes

Story 1 Gyeongbokgung Palace Reconstruction: Jeongseon Arirang spreads out nationwide

In 1867, during the regency of Daewongun (Prince Lee Ha Eung), father of Gojong (Last emperor of Joseon Dynasty), Gyeongbokgung palace buildings were reconstructed and formed a massive complex with 330 buildings and 5,792 rooms. Standing on 4,657,576 square feet of land, Gyeongbokgung again became iconic symbol for both the Korean nation and the Korean Royal family. For the major reconstruction of 7 years, workers throughout he country were called in to Hanyang (Seoul's old name) in order to work on the site. Workers sang many work folk songs together to relieve stress and comforted themselves. Among many songs, Jeongseon Arirang was most popular as it had a nice chorus part to sing along as "Arira-Arirang". after palace reconstruction was completed, workers went to their hometown and Arirang song was spread over all the regions in Korea. In the process, it is said to have given rise to the "Jeongseon Arirang," the "Miryang arirang." and today's most representative "Arirang," the "Gyeonggi Arirang". Throughout dramatic modern Korean history with sorrowful moments as colonial period and Korean war, Arirang as a symbol of Korea has been together with people comforting the heartbroken and sharing the happiness and sadness all the time. 

Arari Village



Ararichon Village has replicas of traditional houses that were located in Jeongseon. Sculptures inspired by Park Ji-Won's novel <Yangbanjeon (A Story of a Nobleman)> are on display throughout the village. here, you can see unique traditional houses of Jeongseon such as Jeoreupjib House, Neowajib House (a single-roofed house), Doljib House (a stone-roofed house) and Gwiteuljib House (log house), which are not found in other regions. 

Arirang School Memories Museum


The Memories Museum is a museum located inside Jeongseon Arirang School, exhibiting historical artifacts from modern and contemporary eras. Items from bygone decades, such as quaint school textbooks and notebooks, ttakji (folded paper cards used for a mae whose object is flipping a card upside down by slapping with another card) are displayed alongside a collection of 1,125 folk artifacts. Exhibits also include household items and other daily objects and close to 4,000 items related to the folk song Arirang.

A (Arirang)-Train


The train opened on January 22, 2015, from Cheongnyangni Station in northeastern Seoul and passes through several stations in Gangwon-do, including Mindungsan and Jeongseon, which hosts the "Jeongseon Five-day Market", and arriving at Auraji Station. The "A" in the train's name comes from "Arirang" (a Korean folk song), and the words "amazement" and "adventure". The song has many variations, and the Jeongseon Arirang is a regional one. The song is listed as an Intangible Cultural
Heritage by UNESCO and sometimes regarded as an unofficial anthem of Korea. 

The train has four themed cars with large windows and glass walls; one is a sky room, one a tea room, and two of the cars are decorated in regional colors of red, yellow, blue and purple representing Jeongseon's geographical features such as the Dong River and the mountain ridges. The train's exterior includes a purple color for the pulsatilla, Jeongseon's official flower, and is decorated with curves that symbolize the Arirang melody. Activities on the train include storytelling, music, magic shows and quiz games. 

The new line to Jeongseon is the first train to be named after a Korean town, and generated additional local interest due to the proximity of the scheduled 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, a nearby town.

Gondrebap


Gondre is a wild vegetable full of vitamin. Gondrebap (Steamed rice with gondre) is very
famous in Jeongseon/Taebaek area as gondre in these area is very soft and crispy.

Kotdeungchigi Guksu


An exemplary food using buckwheat is the buckwheat noodle called Kotdeungchigi noodle.
Kotdeungchigi means "hit the nose" in Korean. This noodle may slap your nose when you
eat it because of a thick and resilient texture.

Ongsimi


Ongsimi, a native food of the Gangwon province, is also one of the foods that you should try
during your visit to the Jeongseon. Ongsimi is made by grinding a potato, draining water out of
it, and mixing it with starch flour to make "Ongsimi (small dumpling)". Potato ongsimi is made
by the province's staple potato which is well known for its great taste.

Story 2 Jeongseon Arirang Academy: Preservation of Jeongseon Arirang


Jeongseon Arirang is a local folk song that delivers the feelings of the people of Jeongseon, a mountainous village and it is also called Arari. The song was traditonally sung by local folks who didn’t know how to read or write, so there is no well-organized record about it. Jeongseon Arirang Academy was established to hand down and promote Jeongseon Arirang, it has teaching room, Jeongseon Arirang Reference room, Jeongseon Arirang performance hall and others. Arirang Classes are held on Wednesday to enable people to learn Arirang from the master singer of Jeongseon Arirang.

That's all for my post today! Hope you enjoy reading and see you in next post.
Thank you :)



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