The Andong Chajeon General and Princess Noguk Festival runs for five days from May 1 to 5. The stage is Ungbu Park in the middle of downtown Andong and the stretch of the Nakdong River that flows below it. Spring comes late to this inland basin, and the festival begins around the time the river wind finally turns lukewarm.
The backbone of the festival is a reenactment of chajeonnori. While the dongchae, built from thick timbers lashed together, push against each other and hold, the dull sound of dry wood colliding and the smell of dust rising underfoot settle low over the square. It is a game pushed upward by human shoulders and waists, so there is no place for machinery to enter.
Princess Noguk, whose name is in the title, comes from the story of the days when King Gongmin of Goryeo fled south. The legend that the king and queen reached Andong has been handed down as the origin of the game, and each year the festival puts that legend back on the square. There is always some gap between the history left in records and the memory a village has carried by word of mouth.
What has changed this year is the way the schedule is built. Instead of a day trip in which visitors arrive in the morning, watch one round and leave in the evening, programs experienced over several days have been placed at the center of the festival. The five-day span reads as a length set to carry that change.
As the time spent staying grows longer, the festival spreads beyond the square. While visitors eat, sleep and walk the downtown alleys and the riverside, a trip taken to watch one round of the game turns into a trip through the city. Here is one way for intangible heritage to take root in a region.
There is no shortage of tension. A National Intangible Heritage is something whose original form must be preserved, and at the same time a game that barely continues when people gather. The more the round is polished for the audience, the better it looks, and the better it looks, the more the game's own rough grain is shaved away bit by bit. The choice of five days is closer to an attempt to carry both within a single year.
Getting there is not difficult. Ungbu Park sits in Andong's old downtown, placed together with the market and the alleys within walking range, and the Nakdong riverside continues straight on if you head south from the park. Details of operation, including fees and reservation methods, will be organized in time for the opening.
For the first five days of May, in Andong you can hear for yourself the sound of wood and human strength colliding. The vibration of the moment the dongchae is pushed upward does not carry to a screen. Clear a day and go, but if possible leave one more night behind, and that is the way this festival proposes this year.
Event Information
Dates: May 1 (Fri) - May 5 (Tue), 2026
Venue: Ungbu Park and the Nakdong River area, Andong
