To say that I need to catch you up on a few things is a bit of an understatement. I’m sorry… life in Korea is slightly exciting and my blog isn’t always the first thing I want to pounce on when I get home from a long, exhausting trip throughout Korea.
To catch up you to date a little, two weekends ago Brandon and I attended the best festival that ever existed. I will do my best to portray the events that every child, and every wannabe child, dreams of experiencing. But more than likely, no words or pictures will do justice for the AWESOMENESS of the Andong Mask Dance Festival.
After experiencing… the Ginseng Festival, I guess you could say that I was slightly reserved in wanting to attend another Korean festival. However, as Brandon casually cajoled me into at least researching the festival, I quickly went to my handy, dandy search engine, Google (is it coincidence that Google starts the same as God?).
As we scrolled through the list of Google’s most trustworthy opinions of sites containing information on the Mask Festival, I quickly clicked on a link that noted that the festival was cancelled.
Woop! Was this God sending me a message that no festivals are actually worth attending? I think so.
False. The 2009 Andong Mask Dance Festival was cancelled due to the outbreak of swine flu. After scrolling down to read more on the link, we saw these responses:
“NO WAY!!! This is my favorite festival in Korea. I buy Christmas presents here every year! Crapola.”
And
“The Andong Mask Festival (and associated fireworks at Hahoe) is something I've been looking forward to for the past couple of months. Argh. Well, there go my plans for Chuseok ...”
We literally laughed out loud. Really??? You buy all your presents here and this was all you were planning on doing for Chuseok, one of the ONLY times we get off school??? Reallllly?
So maybe this was a little convincing. We threw in the towel- we’re going to Andong.
As we arrived in the city located in the northern portion of Gyeongsanbuk-do, we quickly discovered the rich traditions and specialty foods that this city had to offer. Known as the center for culture, it is no surprise that there is an abundance of folk traditions, specifically mask making and dancing.
The festival is well-planned, with events constantly occurring, and sometimes to our dismay, the nightlife offers simultaneous events. But before fully immersing yourself in the folk traditions, you must wiggle your way through the street vendors, hoping to keep at least some cash in your pockets to purchase all of those Christmas presents that you’ve been dying to send home.
For us, it must have taken at least 3 hours before we made it to the actual mask dancing. But when we made it there, it was surely a treat. For the young men out there, they have half naked women shaking their bellies and booties (in Korea… I KNOW. I was just as surprised). And as always, we got called out for being foreigners. Now when I say we, I actually mean Brandon because he got pulled onto the stage and basically had to dance with the masked men and women. And then the adorable Asian babies came out on stage. What’s a show without showing off your best assets?
Some street food and LOTS of pictures later (check out FB) we got to see a mask dance show. Now this was a show. Not only was there amazing singing, but the performers rapped, did some break dancing, and even brought out the drums. Despite not understanding a word and completely missing the underlying plot (isn’t that normal for an Opera though?), we were blown away.
The next day offered just as much traditional Korean culture. In the morning we ventured to Andong Icheondong Seokbulsang, or better known as Jebiwon Stone Buddha. After weighing our options to head to Hahoe or stay in Andong, we decided that staying in Andong would offer the most cultural experiences with some mask arts and crafts, 40% soju and jjimdak.
Every child should be able to make their own mask at some point in their life, whether it be at 5 years old (as most of the children there were) or 25 years old. Once that putty enters your hand, you immediately convert to a child. Two hours later, we have the most gorgeous mask at the festival.
Now you may think I’m biased, but by the amount of Koreans who stopped to admire our piece of artwork and ESPECIALLY by the amount of professional photographers who snapped hundreds of shots of the Americans making a mask, I firmly believe that we had the best mask at the festival.
And speaking of the professional photographers, HOLY ASIANS!!! At least 10 photographers, all up in my grill, making me pose with my mask, “look natural”, oh the list goes on and on. I actually began to think that I was Heidi Montag, only I didn’t have Spencer next to me bedazzled in crystals. Thank God I actually put on make-up that day. Whew. I will bet 10 bucks that I’m the poster child for the 2011 Andong Mask Dance Festival. Does this mean that I get a cut of the profits?
And or all of you questionable 2011 Andong Mask Dance Festival goers, definitely go!!! Shop for Christmas, try the 40% soju, MAKE A MASK, and definitely try the jjimdak. Sorry this blog was so long—I just actually love this festival!
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