Jeongseon Raft Culture and Nampyeong Tobang Building Play Designated as Local Cultural Heritage

On November 19, Jeongseon County in Gangwon Province designated the Jeongseon raft culture and the Nampyeong tobang building play as local cultural heritage. The Jeongseon Auraji Raft Preservation Association and the Nampyeong Folk Play Preservation Association were also recognized as holding organizations.

This designation was made in accordance with the Jeongseon County Local Cultural Heritage Protection Ordinance. The culture, which had been suspended since the 1960s, was restored under the leadership of the residents and has continued for over 30 years, thus being recognized as a systematic protection target under the ordinance.

The Jeongseon raft culture embodies the history of the Han River navigation. Jeongseon residents wove logs cut from the mountains into rafts and transported them along the Han River to Seoul. This method, which continued until the 1960s, disappeared with modernization but was reenacted at the Jeongseon Arirang Festival in 1992, and has been demonstrated annually since 1993 through the Auraji Raft Festival. This August, the 33rd festival was held.

The Jeongseon Auraji Raft Preservation Association has been recording and passing down raft-making techniques, navigation methods, and related rituals for 33 years. During the festival, experiences of riding rafts, ritual demonstrations, and Jeongseon Arirang performances are conducted.

The Nampyeong tobang building play is a folk art that reconstructs the process of building a house with logs and soil as a game. From selecting the house site to installing the chimney, the entire process is accompanied by Jeongseon Arari, Mokdo sounds, Terdajigi sounds, and Nampyeong Nongak. The Nampyeong Folk Play Preservation Association has been showcasing this play at the Jeongseon Arirang Festival every year since the 1970s.

This play, which has been demonstrated since the first Jeongseon Arirang Festival, embodies the mutual aid methods of the Nampyeongri residents and traditional architectural techniques. As it is passed down in the form of a game, it also serves an educational function. In September of this year, it participated in the Korean Folk Art Festival as a representative of Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province.

Kim Jae-sung, the head of the Jeongseon County Culture and Sports Department, stated, "The designation of local cultural heritage has laid the foundation for systematically protecting and inheriting local traditional culture," and added, "We plan to develop it into a cultural asset that can be enjoyed by both residents and tourists."