Last weekend and into Monday and Tuesday of this week, we celebrated Chuseok which is kind of like the equivalent of Korean Thanksgiving. It is a time where families get together and prepare a lot of food and remember their deceased ancestors. For us it meant Trevor got a few days off of work so we got to explore Korea more. We took the opportunity to go to Andong to see the Mask Festival that is pretty famous there. It has been somewhat difficult to discover any deep or significant meaning of the mask festival or of the individual masks. All I could gander was that it's just a fun time to gather and show traditional mask dances, look at traditional masks, eat fair food, and just have fun.
There were a plethora of booths to visit from a large assortment of food booths, to novelty jewelry, to make-your-own-mask booths. I tried my best to be connected to Trevor in some way or another because I was constantly distracted by things to see all around me. Luckily, there weren't very many foreigners there so it was easy to spot anyone in our group. We went there with my friend Janelle and her adorable baby Ryan, and a new friend Elizabeth who came with Janelle. I think this time around, I'll post a picture or a video and then talk about it below the picture/video.
These first three are just a couple of items of entertainment. You can strap your kid to some poles and a trampoline, or watch an entertainer spin around to drum beats. Not pictured: lock your kids in a giant plastic bubble and set them in a swimming pool and make them look like a hamster.
Booths, booths, everywhere. Make a mask, buy some jewelry, eat fried food, hold a bug. There was so much to look at and do and especially a lot to eat. My favorite food were Turkish Kebabs (not like meat on a stick like you're thinking). They were pieces of chicken wrapped up with some sort of cabbage slaw in a tortilla with a sort of spicy sauce and another sauce that was something like ranch dressing. It was pretty delicious and I regret my initial skepticism toward them.
Just some more fun stuff to look at. I think the theme of the festival this year had to do with clowns so a lot of the masks/statues were more along the comical side.
There were several traditional mask dances in a big theater occurring throughout the day. We were able to go to the Chinese one. Although I didn't understand a word that was said, it was still fun to try and follow the story line. There was some fun acrobatics, fire breathing, and quick mask changes. A couple of the actors had like a bunch of different masks and somehow changed the masks like with a sharp shake of their head. Every time the mask changed on a character, the audience simultaneously erupted into ooh and aahs. It was really fun to watch. I'll show a couple of videos below for you.
The whole play/dance was accompanied by a small band playing traditional Chinese music which was kind of cool too
Now please enjoy an odd tidbit that was hard for me to decide whether it was creepy or hilarious.
Trevor says the carts are called rickshaws.
The last day of vacation, Trevor and I went on a fun little hike in the hills about 5-10 minute bus ride from our house. It was really pretty and had a little stream alongside the path and a couple of places that had bridge to cross the stream. Sometimes it's nice to get away from the noise and congestion of the city. Here are a couple of my favorite pictures.
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