Browsing through Korea Tourism Organization's list of festivals, I came across one that promised a traditional tug-of-war contest. That's all I needed to know about the Gimje Horizon Festival before deciding I would attend it. However, I did learn one more interesting thing; I learned that there would be a Guinness World Record attempt for most kites being flown at once. So, now I had two reasons to check out this festival.
Gimje is near the west coast of Korea. Beyond that little piece of information, I only know that Gimje is a great place to grow rice. So I guess it's no surprise that farming culture is big in that area. The Gimje Horizon Festival celebrates this farming culture.
And as far as the tug-of-war I read about goes, it's an old tradition. In the tug-of-war, a team of men competes against a team of women, and if the women win, it means there will be a good harvest. I don't know how accurate that information is though. It's what I read online. I actually saw men and women mixed on the teams when I watched the tug-of-war.
Here's how the tug-of-war went down. Two groups of people each carrying a large hand-weaved rope slowly walked around a plaza while traditional musicians played music and walked along the side. The front end of each of the ropes was in the shape of a loop. After a few laps around the plaza, the front ends met in the middle where the farmers tried to connect the ropes.
They were unable to connect the ropes and so continued to march around the plaza. After some time, they tried to connect the ropes again with no success. Finally, after some more marching around, they were able to connect the ropes. This is when the tug-of-war began.
The tug-of-war only lasted for a minute. Actually, it was a little anticlimactic. I suppose I was expecting a bit more of a ‘war' in the tug-of-war. But looking back, I realize that the average age of the participants was probably past retirement age. While the tug-of-war didn't have a youthful energy to it, it still carried the meaning and significance it originally had.
I think that if the event organizers can convince the youth of Gimje to participate, the tug-of-war could become a very exciting event. I think this is especially true if the tug-of-war is done with the idea of ‘performance' in mind in addition to ‘ritual'.
After the tug-of-war, the two pieces of rope were disconnected and paraded around one more time. Then each piece was wrapped around a large pole and a ritual offering of food was displayed in front of it. A man read from a paper that had lots of Chinese characters on it. When he was done, the people watching pushed their way to the food to take a piece before it was all gone. Well, nobody took the pig head.
Soon after the tug-of-war was the Guinness World Record attempt to fly the most kites at one time. This was a community effort. People from different parts of Gimje, and I suppose Korea, began flying kites along the banks of a reservoir. It was really interesting at first, but then people's kites began to get tangled up and fall from the sky. Also, there were lots of kites in the water so it seemed like an environmental disaster. Anyways, later that night I heard that the record was broken.
There were three areas for entertainment. One was a big stage in a parking lot that was used for the evening performances. There were TV cameras set up and lots of chairs for the audience. At least one famous Korean pop star that I recognized came out. Unfortunately, this kind of show isn't my kind of thing.
A second area for entertainment was for traditional music. It was located under two giant dragons that appeared to be weaved from wicker. I watched most of the performances here, but the quality was not great. One guy came out to do some songs, and he lost his voice, but he refused to leave the stage when the stage manager asked him. The guy sounded awful because of it, but I guess he was too stubborn to admit it.
The third area for entertainment was for the cross-dressing singing clown type (각설이). The food stands and stage area for these guys were on a completely different side of the festival grounds, located inside a gravel parking lot. I've never been so happy to find this kind of area. I guess I subconsciously felt something was missing.
In this kind of area, you can find real Korean ‘festival food and drink'. That usually means things like roasted pig, various stews, Korean alcohol, and various other typical Korean festival snacks. In a way, walking into this area of the festival was a breath of fresh air. I had just previously seen second rate traditional music performances and endured some pop star music, and this just felt more like a festival.
The cross-dressing singing clowns are funny to look at and tell lots of jokes between their songs. My Korean ability is still too low to understand everything, so I mostly enjoy them and the area for the atmosphere. I want to understand these guys so much that I am motivated to study Korean harder.
Sitting at my desk and looking back, I'd say this festival was alright. The tug-of-war was less exciting than it could be. The Guinness World Record attempt was kind of interesting, and the entertainment was varied. So while this festival wasn't bad, it wasn't great either. I'd go back if they spiced up the tug-of-war.
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