Andong Maskdance Festival 'Festival, Make Me a King'

The 2011 Andong Maskdance Festival will feature a treasure of mask dances from Korea and other parts of the world

The 2011 Andong Maskdance Festival will open for a 10-day run on Sept. 30 in the Nakdong Riverside Maskdance Park in Andong City under the theme "Festival, Make Me a King."
True to the theme, everyone coming to this village will have a magic moment in which each becomes a king during the festival. The mask is a globally common cultural item. One can find people wearing masks in any culture. They express their pleasure, anger, sorrow and delight through masks as if they are revealing their own world hidden in their inner mind, so it is the mask dance that makes both spectators and performers happy.
Visitors will be able not only to take a look into the festival's reenactment of the hopes and dreams of the Hahoe villagers of old times, but also enjoy a retreat from their high-pressure daily lives by performing the globally-universal mask dance.
Mask dance troupes from 15 countries, including Russia, France, India and Indonesia, will be invited to perform along with 13 Korean mask dances, which are designated as Intangible Cultural Assets, as well as 100 additional events that will take place.
The World Maskdance Competition and the World Creative Mask Contest will also take place in which participants can dance while wearing masks in a moment of exhilaration.
On the first day of the festival, ancestral rites will take place to pay homage to the gods of Hahoe Village. They are the largest ancestral rites in scale and substance among approximately 1,500 festivals of its kind being held every year around the country.
In particular, the 2011 Andong Maskdance Festival will highlight the Hahoebyolsinguktalnori, which is 800 years old and is very exciting and significant. While watching the mask dance, you can take a look into the laughing and crying features of ordinary people of the famous Hahoe Village. Figurative features of each Hahoe mask reflecting each person's real life and character are recognized both internationally and domestically.
The Andong Maskdance Festival made its debut on Oct. 1, 1997, based on the Hahoebyolsinguktalnori of the Hahoe Village, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Amid active support from Andong citizens, it went from strength to strength to become the nation's top-rated festival designated by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2002 and later grew into the most competitive of the 1,200 festivals across the nation. The festival has now gained a reputation as one of Korea's representative traditional and cultural festivals.
The 2010 Andong Maskdance Festival has attracted as many as 1 million tourists. Organizers estimated the festival's economic effects at about 30 billion won.
Historical documents show that King Gongmin of Goryeo stayed in Andong to take refuge from an invasion of Chinese rebels in the 14th century, and King Chungryeol also stayed there during the Korean-Mongolian allied forces' military action against the Japanese. Andong's international standing got a boost when Queen Elizabeth II visited the city in 1999. Academics note the fact that King Gongmin was revered as a god by villagers in Andong during his stay of less than two months.
A small Korean city with a population of 170,000, Andong has been increasingly recognized both domestically and globally because of the annual mask dance festival.
Among the maskdances, there will be Andong Chajeonnori (a chariot game of the Andong area) with male performers showing off their physiques, which was presented during the opening ceremony of Expo 2000 Hannover; "Notdaribakki," a spectacular pageant with hundreds of women in their finest dresses allowing the princess to parade into the city on their own backs; "Hyangeupjurae," a Confucian scholars' drinking ritual; a recitation of Confucian scriptures; a "Naebanggasa" (a genre of Korean traditional women's literature) chanting contest; "Handusilhaengsangsori," a traditional pallbearers' dirge for a funeral ceremony; and "Jojonnonmaegi Event," the transplanting, weeding and harvesting of crops.
The International Mask Arts & Culture Organization (IMACO) held its inaugural congress on Sept. 29, 2006 with representatives from 35 countries in attendance. The 2nd IMACO Congress took place in Bangkok in 2009. The 3rd IMACO Congress is slated for Nov. 23-26, 2011, in Bali, Indonesia. IMACO is the world's sole organization for the study of masks and mask cultures. IMACO's roles also range from preserving and studying mask traditions to publicizing the excitement of mask dances and cultural feelings with a concern for the industrialization of mask cultures.
Andong is a center of Confucian culture, inheriting the lifestyle and spirit of old-time scholars with a taste for literature and the arts. A city with the tradition of classical scholars' study, Andong has Korean spiritual cultural roots as one of the highly educational cities around the country, boasting such major tourist attractions as the Dosan Confucian School, Nongunjeongsa Temple, Hahoe Folk Village and the Korea Studies Advancement Center.
Andong is also a hub of Buddhist culture, which plays a role in the history of traditional Korean spirit. The major features of Buddhism in the Andong area are associated with moves to sublimate Buddhism into an ideal society, so people in the Andong district gain enlightenment and peace of mind while visiting temples. To name a few, there are the Bongjeongsa Temple; Icheondongseokbulsang, a Buddhist statue; the Bonghwasa Temple; the Sinsedong seven-story brick pagoda; the Jotabdong five-story brick pagoda; and Dongbudong five-story pagoda.
There are such folklore cultures as "Chajeonnori," "Notdaribakki" and "Jebiwon," a birthplace of a shamanistic religion; and Hahwabyolsingultalnori, a mixture of global mask dance and Korean excitement that can be experienced only in Andong. Such folklore items and experiences such as Hahoesonyujulbulnori, Handushilhaengsangsori and Jeojeonnongyeo are also seen there. nw

Spectators can appreciate street maskdance performances during the 2011 Andong International Maskdance Festival. (below) Children are all smiles while wearing diverse masks in a group photo session.

The 2011 Andong Maskdance Festival will showcase diverse and exhilarating maskdance performances, to be presented by troupes around the world.

Photo on Courtesy of Andong Maskdance Festival Organizing Committee