2005 Ansung Namsadang Baudeogi Festival!

Anseong Namsadang, Korea’s first professional entertainment troupe plans to introduce traditional Korean culture to foreigners featuring the Six Performances of Namsadang: Pungmul, Eoreum (rope dancing), Salpan (tumbling), Deotboegi (mask play), Beona(spinning hoops and dishes) and Deolmi (puppet play).songs, performing, dance, and acrobatics. And do not worry. There will be no language barriers since the entertainer group will perform their activities by using non-verbal expression.

Choonggyecheon, a polluted stream that covered with concrete since the late 1950s, has been restored with the nature. Seoul will celebrate its restoration and held the ceremony. To commemorate this historical region, it will be filled with various festivities, including music, concerts and dance performances.

CICB(Cheongju International Craft Biennale) 2005

With its theme “Temptation,” Biennale2005, will awake the artistic and functional value of craft with the traditional and the contemporary as well as the coexistence of art and life. You will have the valuable opportunity to appreciate masterpieces of world renowned craft artists in various fields of craft. You will also recognize the originality of Korean craft as well as the challenging trends of the world craft. Visit the precious place you can feel the culture!

Andong, an international tourist city, will hold “2005 International Mask Dance Festival” to globalize its traditional culture. It showcases traditional dances form countries around the world. Transcending ethnicity and ideology, this festival serves as an exciting place to forge international friendships and build a new world.

World Multi Cultural Festival Ansan Light Festival 2005 , which opened on Sept. 2, continues to be held until Oct. 30. 'Planning Pavilion' will show an Italy light festival, luminaries, large-sized lamps from East and West, and major Chinese constructions. The Theme Pavilion will feature multimedia symbolizing three themes: laser, lighting, and sparks. Also, there will be a musical fountain show of light, water, and music in addition to a multimedia art show, world food festival, Sihwa Lake protection campaign, face painting, amateur model competition, a circus show, magic show, and much more. Hours are from 6:00 p.m. midnight. The venue is Exhibition Center, Gojan newtown. Admission fee is 10,000 won for adults and 8,000 won for chilren. It takes 30 minutes by foot from Jungang station, Line 4.

  Nine Buddhist temples of the Jogye Order will be offering special temple-stay programs over the Chuseok holidays.

The programs are for those who are unable to go to their hometowns for the holidays and for foreigners who wish to experience Korean traditions, including Chuseok customs, the order said through a news release.

  The temples offering Chuseok temple-stay programs are Gap-sa Temple (041-857-8981), Buseok-sa Temple (041-662-3824), Musang-sa Temple (042-841-6084) and Yeongpyeong-sa Temple (041-857-1854) in South Chungcheong Province; Chagwang-sa Temple (042-822-9220) in Daejeon; Hongbeop-sa Temple (051-508-0345) in Busan; Golgul-sa (054-744-1689) in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province; and Mihwang-sa Temple (061-533-3521) in Haenam, South Jeolla Province.

  The time has come again for family and relatives to gather in their hometown and celebrate the national holiday, Chuseok, which falls on the 15th day of the eighth month of the year by the lunar calendar. 

  However, there may also be those who cannot manage to return to their hometown, having to stay in the city. For them, enjoying cultural activities during the holidays will be helpful in making the city less lonely. Here are some of the most major activities that you can enjoy on Chuseok from Sept. 17 through 19.

(^-^) Events to take note of~!

    At the Seoul Plaza in front of Seoul City hall on the 18th and 19th, traditional cultural events will be held which offer a chance to enjoy traditional Korean music and play various traditional Korean games such as “yunnori” (a game played with four sticks), “nulttuigi” (jumping up and down on a seesaw), “paengi-chigi”(spinning tops), “jegi-chagi” (kicking a shuttlecock) and “tuho” (throwing arrows into a narrow barrel). (02)3789-2136. 

    Other events such as a circus and Korean traditional mask dance performances will take place at the Namsan-gol Traditional Korean Village at the northern foot of Mt Namsan. Different kinds of alcohol made in eight provinces across the nation will also be exhibited. (02) 2266-6923. 

  Korean Folk Village has prepared special events in which people show various arts on a horse and visitors can experience various traditions of Korea. (031)288-0000. 

  From noon to 6 p.m. on Sept. 17, The National Folk Museum of Korea will show Chonsingut, a special necromancer's ritual for Chuseok. 

  From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from the 17th to 19th, the front square of the museum will offer a chance to experience various folk culture performances. 

    At 2 p.m. on the 18th, a demonstration for Korea's traditional arts will be held. At noon on the 19th, the last day of the holidays, a mask dance performance will be held and a fusion Korean traditional music performance will end the festivities at 3 p.m. 

    The museum has also prepared a folk customs class for foreign workers as well as foreign students in which they can experience Korean culture by learning traditional Korean folk songs as well as how to make Chuseok foods and traditional crafts. (02-3704-3114). 

    It will be another pleasure to watch a full moon through a telescope that magnifies 20 diameters at 63 Building in Yeouido, Seoul, or an artificial full moon installed in an aquarium of COEX in southern Seoul. 

    The National Theater of Korea will hold a cheerful festival in which Koreans and foreign immigrant laborers can both join in various traditional Korean games on the melody of Korean traditional bands. A Martial arts performance entitled “Mumu” will show a combination of Korean dance and oriental martial arts, and the concept of Asian paintings will be applied to the stage. The piece was also one of the most acclaimed artworks in this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August. Traditional dance, music performances, and food from various Asian countries including Mongolia and Bangladesh will be shown and free medical checkups will also be provided by Samsung Cheil Hospital. (02) 2280-4114 

  Additionally, amusement parks _ Lotte World in Jamsil, southern Seoul, Everland in Yongin of Gyeonggi Province, and Seoul Land in Gwacheon, south of Seoul _ will celebrate the holidays with special events ranging from parades, traditional performances and contests to traditional folk games.

The Seoul Drum Festival features percussion artists of the world. With the seventh year, it is becoming acknowledged as a world-class festival representing Seoul. It is a free event of various styles and cultural drum performances. It displays a firework and you can see it in the middle of the city buildings! It will be a fantastic moment, I bet!

The city of Guri hosts the Hangang Cosmos Festival along the side of the Hangang River in Topyeong-dong. You can enjoy the view of various colors of cosmos flowers blooming in the nearby field. If you have someone you love, take him or her to this romantic place, and if you are an athletic lover, you can also enjoy sporting activities after the Festival.
For more inquires, the below listed would be of assistance to you. Make a good memory in S. Korea.

Instruction
Ginseng (Insam) and herbs symbolize strong and healthy life. The Geumsan Insam Festival 2000 is a health festival attempting to make known to the world the mysterious virtue of insam and other herbs and to make known the traditional culture of Geumsan in Chungcheongnam-do. This festival offers Geumsan traditional folk performances, demonstrations of the ginseng cuisine cooking process by famous chefs and Special Experience Sessions, teaching skills like grubbing the roots of ginseng.

Location
Ginseng Exhibition Complex, Ginseng and Herb Streets