New Delhi : The World has been gripped by various K-trends recently. But are you familiar with a Korean festival day which has K- food, k-beauty, and K entertainment all three in one?
You might have heard about Korean
festivals Seollal (Lunar New Year) and Chuseok (Mid-Autumn harvest
Festival), but have you heard of Dano? Dano, also known as Surit-nal (day) is
a Korean traditional holiday that falls on the 5th day of the fifth month of
the lunar Korean calendar, this year 3rd June will be “Dano”
festival day. The character 'Dan (단)' in Dano means the first, and the character
'Oh' means 'five'. It had been regarded as a representative holiday along with
Seollal and Chuseok before in Korea. it is the day with the most yang energy in
the year, and various events are held nationwide.
Meaning
The meaning of Dano is the season of the
beginning of the summer, and it represents a wind festival to end rice planting
and pray for a good harvest.
K-Fashion and Beauty
According to Prophecy Market
Insights, a specialized market research and analytics company’s 2020 article, the global K-beauty products
market accounted for US$ 10.3 billion in 2019 and is estimated to be US$ 31.6
billion and to be registered a compounded annual growth rate 12.0% by 2029*.K-beauty
products emphasize significantly on wellness and health, which could be attributed to it’s past traditions. One such example is dano
festival which on this day women wash their hair in water boiled
with sweet flag plant which is a
common plant believed to make one's hair shiny. Women also put Angelica
polymorpha flowers in their hair out of the belief that its aroma would
repel evil. People wore blue and red clothes and dyed hairpins red with
the iris roots. Men wore iris roots around their waist to ward off evil
spirits.
Traditional foods consumed
on this special day included various kinds of rice cakes, that have a wheel
pattern on them as Surit-nal the former name of Dano, the word surit harks
back to suri, meaning "wheel" and “nal” means day. Herbs
wet with dew on Dano morning were also collected and consumed, as they were
said to heal stomach aches and wounds.
K-entertainment
For entertainment many
traditional games were played on Dano like -
1. Ssireum which a folk wrestling style and
traditional national sport of Korea that began in the
fourth century. Ssireum is also inscribed in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists. It is also enlisted as the
131st Intangible Cultural Property.
2. Seokjeon, The stone battle game, where
as a form of martial training two teams throw stones at one another. The first
known record of the stone battle game in korea describes it being played by people of the Goguryeo dynasty in
the sixth century C.E of Korean Peninsula.
3. Taekkyon – Taekkyon is the first martial art enlisted as
the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. It is also the 76th Intangible
Cultural Property of South Korea. It is Taekkyon it is said has also influenced
the name and conceptualization of Taekwondo.
4.Swing games
Traditionally the swing game
was played by women, while Ssireum was a wrestling match among men at Dano
festival. In addition, mask dance used to be popular among peasants due to its
penchant for satirical lyrics flouting local aristocrats.
Though, the celebration of
Dano has become weak in Korea these days, remembering and appreciation of the
traditions has important meaning and stance. Tradition comprises our root or
origin of identity. I have observed many similarities between the two
countries, India and Korea more in its traditions, we can say we are connected
and have shared similar root like family.
Writer: Hwang Il-yong
Director of Korean Cultural Centre India
