Dano (Korean festival)
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For related festivals in other East Asian cultures, see Double Fifth.
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Dano, also called Surit-nal, is a Korean holiday that falls on the 5th day of the fifth month of the lunar Korean calendar. It is an official holiday in North Korea and one of the major traditional holidays in South Korea. South Korea has retained several festivals related to the holiday, one of which is Gangneung Dano Festival (강릉단오제) designated by UNESCO as a "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity".[1]
In the Mahan confederacy of ancient Korea, this was a day of spritual rites, and enjoyment with song, dance, and wine. Traditionally, women washed their hair in water boiled with iris (changpo (창포)),[2] believed to make one's hair shiny. People wore blue and red clothes and dyed hairpins red with the iris roots. Men wore iris roots around their waist to ward of evil spirits. Herbs wet with dew on this morning were said to heal stomachaches and wounds. Traditional foods include surichitteok, ssuktteok, and other herb rice cakes. [3]
The persisting folk games of Dano are the swing and ssireum (씨름). The swing was a game played by women, while ssireum was a wrestling match among men. In addition, mask dance used to be popular among peasants due to its penchant for satirical lyrics flouting local aristocrats.
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[edit] Etymology
In Mahan confederacy of ancient Korea, there was a small city to sacrifice to the Heaven, which was called "Sodo(소도, 蘇塗)"[4] . In fact, Sodo is composed of two words such as "Suri" and "Dure", and these two words are abbreviated into Sodo.[citation needed] Suri means highness or divine mountain, and Dure means "social meeting" or "get together". In addition, a Korean famous linguist, Yang Judong, says that Sodo means the Territory of a (Male) God because So is transliteration of Su(수, Male God) and Do is transliteration of Teo(터, Territory), therefore, Sodo is the territory of Mahan to sacrifice to the Male God. [5] He also says that the ancient Koreans think that the Heaven is a Male God and the Earth is a Female God, and the Male God corresponds to Hwanung and the Female God corresponds to Ungnyeo in Dangun myth. In addition, Mahan confederacy people had sacrificed to heaven getting together in Sodo at May the 5th, and such a sacifice day is now becoming to Dano.[6]
[edit] Origin
According to an ancient historical text, people of Mahan confederacy celeberated day and night with dancing and singing after the sowing season in May. It is not clear whether the celebration specifically took place in May Fifth, but it is assumed the date was adopted later by the posterities.
In the ancient past, Dano festival was a sacrificial ritual to the spirits of agriculture, heaven and mountain, in celebration of the end of sowing season. Since the Three Kingdoms of Korea, the ancestral god also became an object of sacrifice. For example, in Gaya, Dano was one of five annual rituals for Suro, the legendary ancestor of Gaya. Since then, more emphasis was given to the ancestral rituals.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Festivals of Gangneung". Gangneung City official site.
- ^ Tour2Korea Dano Festival description
- ^ Encyber Encyclopedia article
- ^ In the chapter of Dongyi(東夷傳) at Records of Three Kingdoms
- ^ 양주동, 국사 어휘고
- ^ Research of Old Joseon History(조선사연구), written by Jeong Inbo(정인보 지음), compiled by Park Seongsu(박성수 편역), 2000, ISBN : 8986438356
The Academy of Korean Studies, ed. (1991), "Dano of May", Encyclopedia of Korean People and Culture, Woongjin (in Korean)
